Lower Merion's Andrew Chin Earns Accolade In Arts & Culture Contest

Press release from the Lower Merion School District:

2021-03-02

Lower Merion High School's Andrew Chin won second place for his submission in the American Association of Teachers of Japanese's (AATJ) 2021 Year of the Ox Nengajo Contest – a nationwide competition for students of all ages that serves as an excellent opportunity to both learn about Japanese culture and express one's creativity.

Chin's piece, which was entered in the "Computer Generated" category by LMHS Japanese teacher Hanae Nakamura, was selected out of 472 submissions from all over the country. This is the first time that one of Nakamura's students has won a prize in this competition. Chin's winning card will be featured on the ATTJ website for the remainder of the year!

According to the Japan Information & Culture Center (JICC), "Oshogatsu, or Japanese New Year, is a very special time in Japan—a time for people to return to their ancestral homes, spend time with their families and get in touch with their roots. One of the most important and most celebrated Japanese holidays, preparations begin long in advance as people clean their homes from top to bottom (osouji), prepare traditional food to be eaten during the first three days of the new year (osechi ryori), and write New Year's greeting cards, or nengajo. Originally celebrated on the lunar calendar, the Japanese have used the Gregorian calendar since 1873 so oshogatsu coincides with the Western New Year on January 1st."

The American Association of Teachers of Japanese (AATJ) is an international, 501(c)3 non-profit, non-political organization of teachers, scholars, and students of Japanese language, literature, and linguistics, which works to promote study of the Japanese language at all levels of instruction in the field and to broaden and deepen knowledge and appreciation of Japan and its culture.

This press release was produced by the Lower Merion School District .The views expressed here are the author’s own.