Cambodia-Japan Cooperation Center (CJCC)
KOJIMA Kaori

The Cambodia-Japan Cooperation Center (hereinafter “CJCC”) undertakes activities in three core areas – “Business,” “Japanese Language,” and “Japanese Culture.” Of these three pillars, the Japan Foundation provides support for “Japanese Language” and “Japanese Culture.” Close to about 1,000 people study Japanese throughout the year in Japanese-language courses held at the CJCC, and furthermore, around 75% of them are students, including lower and upper secondary school students. As this data shows, Cambodia is a very “young” country.

The CJCC also plans a variety of events related to Japanese culture, not just Japanese-language courses, and as such it could be described as a core presence in the field of Japanese culture and Japanese-language education in Cambodia. The annual Kizuna Festival was held from February 22 to 25 this year. This event is the largest Japan-related event held in Cambodia, and this year over 23,000 people visited the CJCC over the four-day period.

Here, I will introduce the “Hiragana/Katakana Catch Up Class,” a Japanese-language course that was newly trialed last year, and the “Interschool Quiz Contest,” which was held at the Kizuna Festival.

1. The Hiragana/Katakana Catch Up Class

Hiragana/Katakana Catch Up Class

In November last year, I held the “Hiragana/Katakana Catch Up Class” for CJCC Japanese-language course members who had just started studying Japanese, but did not yet feel confident in studying hiragana and katakana. To start with, students shared their methods for studying hiragana and katakana with the classmates and the Cambodian teachers. The students introduced websites and apps for Japanese-language learning, and the Cambodian teacher, who is further ahead as a Japanese-language learner, shared stories about the experience of starting to study Japanese. Following that, I held a hiragana and katakana game. The game generated more enthusiasm than I had expected. It is my hope that events such as this will motivate CJCC course members to eagerly continue studying Japanese, even a little more.

2. Interschool Quiz Contest

The “Interschool Quiz Contest” was held on February 24, 2018 as one of the events in the Kizuna Festival. The schools that appear in the contest are Japanese-language educational institutions from within Cambodia, and this year 13 schools from Phnom Penh and other regions took part. Participants were questioned about topics relating to the languages and cultures of both Japan and Cambodia. Not only the contestants, but also those who had come along to watch the contest thought about the answers and when the correct answers to problems were announced the venue became very animated and erupted in shouts and cheers of joy. In a survey of those who attended the quiz, one of the respondents said that “we have come to know the Japanese culture.” One of the CJCC’s key roles is to increase the number of people who know about – and have an interest in – Japanese culture and Cambodian culture.

Interschool Quiz Contest

As this shows, the teachers and staff who run the CJCC’s Japanese-language courses do not just offer classes. They must also come up with ideas to make learners feel that they want to continue studying Japanese, and must also run the various Japan-related events that are held at the CJCC. This reflects the fact that as a core presence in the field of Japanese culture and language education in Cambodia, the CJCC is called on to perform a variety of roles.