 Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention, please? Your Excellency, Mr. Yasumasa Nagamide, Japanese ambassador to the UK, Sir Alan Parker, a chairman of France Group. Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, good evening. My name is Hiroshi Fuji, Deputy Director General of JETRO London. Thank you all for joining us today. I'm delighted to announce this year's Sir Peter Parker Hours, the 30th Hours since it began in 1990. First of all, I would like to invite Professor Stephen Hopgut, Deputy Director and Pro Director to say a few words on behalf of the organizers. So Professor Hopgut, please. Good evening, everyone. I'm here on behalf of my boss, the director, Baroness Valerie Amos, who is a tremendous supporter of this event and always likes to pretend, unfortunately, she's unable to be here this evening. So I'm here to welcome you all to these Sir Peter Parker Awards for Spoken Japanese. I'm here to thank all the generous sponsors who have maintained this as such a premier event and premier prize for Spoken Japanese. And so thank you all very much for your continued support. Here to thank the Embassy of Japan and His Excellency, the Ambassador for the continued support that the Embassy has provided for this award as well. And to invite the next speakers to come up, to encourage you to enjoy your evening and to remind you that there will be a reception afterwards. So please remain in the building and we'll take you upstairs for that. So welcome to SOAS, and I hope you enjoy your evening. Thank you. Thank you so much, Professor Hopgut. Now to represent as co-organizer, we have Mr. Takumi Fujino, Director-General of JETRO London. Mr. Fujino, can we have a few words, please? Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. It is a great pleasure to welcome you to the Sir Peter Parker Award for Spoken Business Japanese. This contest has been running since 1990 to deepen business relationships between the UK, Europe, and Japan, and support a growing desire in Europe to develop skills in spoken business Japanese. As you know, the UK left the EU at the end of last month. We believe that they will both remain important political, economic, and cultural partners. But on the other hand, the UK has entered into free trade agreement negotiations with the United States and other countries in great Japan in order to strengthen business relations with the rest of the world. As such, I'm convinced that SPPA will become more important than ever. Today, we are celebrating the Sir Peter Parker Award 30th anniversary, an amazing milestone showing how the relationship between our countries continues to grow. We are honored to host this important event with great support from the Embassy of Japan in the UK, His Excellency Yasmasa Nagamine, Ambassador Excellenary and President Portionary, and Sir Alan Parker, the chairman of the committee. Thank you very much. We were fortunate to receive dedicated support from the judging panel and interlocutors, as well as the representative from these companies that are sponsoring today's contest. Special thanks must, of course, go to the co-organizer of this event, so as for the continued cooperation and bilateral friendship. We received 26 applicants this year, six more than last year, and the top seven among them spoke here today. These years, applicants were from the UK, Italy, and Romania, and France. It was a great pleasure to listen to their excellent speeches, and I know that the panel must have had a very tough time. We are sure that this event will motivate you in your own language studies. Finally, I'd like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone here today. I hope to see you all at the reception right after this hour's ceremony. Thank you very much. Thank you so much, Mr. Fujino. This year, we are honored to invite His Excellency, Mr. Yasumasa Nagamine, Japanese Ambassador to the UK. Ambassador Nagamine, could you please make a few remarks? Good evening, everybody. First, I thought that, well, since I came to the UK two months plus days ago, I have been making English speeches here and there, and I thought that tonight, I would have an opportunity to speak in Japanese, because this is a Japanese speech context, and everybody understands Japanese. But seemingly, it should be English that I'm expected to make a speech in. So please forgive me in making some remarks in English. Alan, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, this is my great pleasure to be with you for this wonderful occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Business Speech Contest Awards. My wife and I are very much thrilled to come here for this event. But unfortunately, we arrived a little bit late so that we were not able to enjoy the speeches. But maybe after this award ceremony will be given, and then our dees will make some kind of speech in Japanese once again. I would like to at the outset express our profound gratitude and respect to the hosts of this event. First of all, Professor Stephen Hobgood, the Pro Director of SOAS. This is a wonderful venue. SOAS is really an epicenter of a Japan study in the UK, and then the speech contest venue. This is the best venue, I'm sure, and the wonderful auditorium we are in. And also, Mr. Takumi Fujino, the general, always organizing and supporting this speech contest. And well, we are very much honored to be part of this event from the embassy in the past years. And this is the Sir Peter Parker Awards is really a very important event for connecting Japan and the UK each year. So it is a great honor for us to have with Sir Alan Parker, Chairman of the Brunswick with us, the Sir Peter's son, and then kind of succeeding the legacy of this very great event this year too. So this is a 30th anniversary year. This long-lasting Japanese language speech contest for business people was the brainchild of Sir Peter and is a part of the wonderful legacy of a person in whose life Japan played a very important part and then who contributed to mutual understanding between Japan and the UK in so many ways. We are here together at this outstanding university, SOAS, where he studied the Japanese language and gained the tools and inspiration for his lifelong contribution to UK Japan business exchange and the Japanese language education in the United Kingdom. Sir Peter must surely be looking down at us from somewhere up there and no doubt enjoyed impressive speeches from today's finalists already done. Clearly, our two countries, Japan and UK, enjoy an extremely cordial and mutually beneficial relationship. An important element of such a relationship in underpinning bilateral friendship is the enhancement of mutual understanding between our two peoples, especially through learning each other's languages. Well, for Westerners, Japanese language can be a bit difficult to master, but the reward makes them very much worthwhile. All of the finalists today must have gained great satisfaction from their endeavors, which will open many doors for them, both in business and socially in future. There should be no shortage of opportunities for British people to display their Japanese language skills in the future, in business, in social life, as well. It is really a fact that over 1,000 Japanese companies have been operating here in the UK. And accumulated investment would be surpassing 80 billion pounds and then creating more than 180,000 people in the UK. Furthermore, the Japan-UK seasons of culture, perhaps you have heard of it, now in full swing. It's a connecting between last year and this year, between rugby World Cup and the Tokyo Olympics and the Paralympics coming summer. More than 600 events have already been registered under the umbrella of Japan-UK season of culture. This event is also part of season of culture? I hope so, yes. Say, award finalists and those people who devoted to strengthening the cordial ties between Japan and the UK, namely each one of you, each one of us. Oh, Sir Peter, our enduring gratitude for everything he did to advance cooperation and productive interaction between two peoples. So keeping that memory very much in mind, I'm sure this award will be very much successful this year. And we do hope this event will grow further, strength to strength in the years to come. So I'm so proud and I'm so privileged to be part of this evening's event. And next year I will make a pledge that I will come earlier and then enjoy the speeches that time. Thank you very much. Thank you so much, Ambassador Nagamine. Now, this year, I'm pleased to say a member of Sir Peter Parker's family is also here tonight. I'd like to invite Sir Alan Parker, Sir Peter's son, chairman of the Brunswick Group, up next. So Sir Parker, could you have a few remarks, please? Thank you very much, your Excellency Ambassador and his good wife. Lovely to see you here today. And I'd hugely applaud your support and appreciate it enormously on all our behalf. As I would for Mr. Fregino and of course, so has Professor Hopkins. Absolutely terrific. Speaking, I can steal his words of pride and privilege. It makes me enormously proud to be here and is an incredible privilege. It's an amazing thing that this award has gone on for 30 years and seems to grow. And I would almost say it's more important now than even when it started. So it's a great delight that I have of even saying a few words here today. I do believe that what Jethro does and what Sohas does in promoting these kind of links is unbelievably important. And we in Brunswick will try and support it in every way we can. And to see his Excellency presence again, I just cannot understate how much difference that makes. One of the things that seems to keep getting better is the standard of speeches. I'm told I was speaking to one who did it, one in 1991 who did slightly worryingly say he's not sure he would have won it this year. The standard keeps rising. I personally feel that's a generational perspective overall. But it is amazing how good the quality of speeches are. I won't personally make a lot of comments on the individual speeches. I inherited a lot of things from my father, not his competence in Japanese, I'd like to say. But I do think his passion for this came from a very deep and profound belief in two things. One, that heritage and culture are incredibly important. And you will do more with people you understand better. And he linked that to the study of other people's cultures in any of our backgrounds is incredibly important. The more you can understand someone else's culture, the more you can come together with that person. And almost the pinnacle of understanding a culture is the language. Now I have to say, English I'm told is a very, very difficult language. I'm told Japanese is not that easy either. And I've got to say for most of the Brits I know, we feel truly humbled at how well so many Japanese speak our language. So I think it was a real cause to say we want more British people to speak this and speak it really beautifully. And to see not just the standard of the presentations today, but the commitment of some of the people really to getting up to that level is genuinely and truly inspiring. I hugely applaud the Japanese Festival of Culture and Arts. I think this is as a season, I think this is incredibly important. Again, my father chaired that 1991 festival. I see a few heads nodding back there. You were only eight years old then I think it was, but it was incredibly important because whilst he believed culture was so important and language was so important, he profoundly believed the second point is that Britain and Japan have a huge natural linkage in being island races, in being races with great heritage and yet seeking great futures. He absolutely understood that and said, however far we are away, these are two natural partners in the world. And so he was very keen to do that, which is why I think, I believe the Japan Festival genuinely made a great impact. And I think he would be delighted this year. I think they're back, I think obviously, when I think my father originally opened with Prince Charles, the lovely garden in Holland Park, back with what was then the Crown Prince. And Prince Charles and of course, the Crown Prince is now a wonderful emperor. And I think it is still a wonderful testimony of that culture right in the heart of Kensington. So I think to see those cultural engagements really carried on, I think is a really incredibly important thing and deserves all of our support. We actually are also supporting another particular one I know a lot of our chums are involved with, which is a cherry tree. It turned up to me the other day and said, we're planting some cherry trees. And I thought, well, that'll be a nice avenue. He said, yes, we're planting six and a half thousand of them in Britain. And I thought, well, that's a certain kind of ambition that is very important when you're looking at how we might share our cultures together. I can't think of a time in my lifetime where it's been more important for our two countries to be close and get on well. We are facing extraordinary times in the world. I think we do have a lot of natural things that bring us together as nations. I think we've heard the ambassador speak very articulately about the depths of investment, the number of companies. But I think that comes from, as I said, a natural connection and a deep sense of heritage that we must continue to build on at this time. From where I sit as Brunswick, we are very proud to have built a very strong business in Japan and obviously were based originally in London. And I've got to say, on my own behalf, I absolutely applaud and respect how honourably the Japanese have dealt with the issues of Brexit. They've done what I believe really long-term, deep friends do, which is act honourably and constructively and think long. I have a client when I was talking the other day about how well I thought Japan had dealt with the issues of us coming out of Europe and how clear they've been, how supportive they've been. And he said, yes, Alan, you've got to understand, it's a major oil company that had had real problems. And he said, Alan, do you remember when we were in the depths of our problems? And I said, yes. I remember vividly I was there, it was a major company and old companies have crises sooner or later. And he said, right in the middle of that crisis, you're looking around the world for who would be our friend. And a Japanese bank turned up to us and said, you have real problems. And we would like to support you. We'd like to work with you for the next 75 years. And by the way, just as a marker of that, at this troubled time, we would like to put a billion dollars at your disposal to be pulled on for whatever you like and please consider this for any joint ventures or anything you think we can come in on. And my client said, quite simply, there is no other country in the world that approaches business at that angle with that kind of confidence, trust and long-termism. And I thought it was an amazing story of that is the difference and that is the kind of relationship that I think both sides of Britain and Japan must be looking for as we go forward in this increasingly complex world. I do believe that right now, as I said, it's gonna be important, but equally, I think we're both looking forward. What can be done? You're talking about the trade deals, what can be done? And that does come down to quite a granular level of everybody somewhat leaning into this challenge. And if, as my father believed, business and culture are absolutely inextricably linked, then I think that what we're looking at in trying to promote the British and Japanese approaches is a deep heritage that one does draw for a lot of values, for a lot of social strength, but actually ambition and modernity that puts both countries right at the front of the world. So I think that we have a huge amount to learn from both sides, certainly Britain from Japan in these matters. And I would hope that if we can continue to grow closer and with the kind of talent we're seeing tonight, I hope that is the sort of encouragement we need. But people who have learned, bothered to learn the language, have made some of that commitment. But I hear more and more of my clients who say how important Japan will be in the next of thinking and their next round of investment as they look at that region and how we can build international links. So I'm a huge optimist as to what is possible. And I think what's a delight is having a night like this when we're celebrating how close we can be at that cultural and hopefully business level too. So I would thank all of you again for all of your support and particularly the institutions, but the individuals as well. I know how much it's meant to all the individuals who've worked so hard to get to this level. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very, very much. Thank you so much, Sir Parker. I would now like to introduce the supporters and sponsors of today's hours. May I ask each representative to stand up when your name is called? So, Embassy of Japan in the UK, represented by Ambassador Nagamine. Department for International Trade, represented by Mr. Simon Fisher. Access Appointments Consultancy Limited, represented by Ms. Junko Hashimoto. Brunswick Group, represented by Sir Alan Parker. Japan Airlines Company Limited, represented by Mr. Masato Shi Takeuchi. Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the UK, or JCCI UK, represented by Mr. Takaaki Hanaoka. Japan Center Group Limited, represented by Mr. Masaru Ishikawa. JPT Europe Limited, known as JP Books, represented by Mr. Shinya Masuda. Minamoto Kichouan, represented by Mr. Shuta Nihai. Mitsubishi Corporation International Europe, represented by Mr. Isawa Kano. Mitsubishi Electric Europe, represented by Mr. Yoji Saito. Nikkei Europe, represented by Mr. Wataru Suzuki. Riko UK, represented by Mr. Kazuhiro Tsuruta. Sagamiya, unfortunately no one could attend this evening. Sake Samurai, represented by Ms. D. Yoshitake. She was there, but now she's not here. So next up, Tempura Onos, unfortunately no one could attend this evening. The Great Britain Sasaka Foundation, represented by Mr. Brandon Griggs. The Japan Society, represented by Ms. Heidi Potter. So she's not here. So Zoom Japan UK Limited, and unfortunately no one could attend this evening. So then I would now like to ask today's Chief Judge, Mr. Takeshi Ito, to comment on today's contest. Congratulations to all the finalists. This is the first time for me to serve as a jury, and I was presently surprised, the excellent performance of you all finalists. I asked the jurors who served several years in this contest, and they said that, it seems that every year, the performance keeps improving, and it was a difficult decision, and somewhat painful to decide on prizes, but I'm pleased that there are good prizes for everyone. Thank you very much for the sponsors. The many finalists demonstrated not only great skills in using Japanese language, but also in utilizing great ability in utilizing statistics data, or episodes and anecdote tests very effectively, like there's an episode of failures in interpretation during business negotiation, or the experiences in working with Japanese bosses and colleagues, and some uses even quotes from Japanese authors, and it was particularly impressive to hear a quote from Murakami Haruki in question and answer session. And also, the ability in time management was great, to which I have to be also careful too. And I'd like to especially say that the great power of communication was, I was impressed with the great power of communication exhibited by some finalists who have never lived in Japan, never worked in Japanese environment, or never studied Japanese at school. And yeah, congratulations again, congratulations, and thank you very much. Thank you so much, Mr. Ito. Before announcing the winners, let me introduce our remarkable finalists. Please stand up when your name is called. Let's welcome with great applause. So Mr. Chiko Oh, Mr. Ben Jones, Mrs. Shang Hong Lau, Mr. Victor Chua, Mr. Viv Paranjapé, Mr. Sami Nareinen, Mr. Bruce Kirk, thank you. Now we'd like to begin with the third prize. This year's third place winner will receive the following prizes, a certificate present by Professor Hobgut, a nightbot and the accessories donated by JCCI UK, present by Mr. Hanauka, 300 pound gift voucher for Stanton House Hotel, donated by Access Appointment, presented by Ms. Hashimoto, Japanese sweets donated by Minamoto Kichouan, presented by Mr. Nihai, Doraemon Cushion donated by Japan Center, presented by Mr. Ishikawa, 30 pounds meal voucher donated by Sagamia, presented by Mr. Fujino, one-year Zoom Japan subscription donated by Zoom Japan UK, presented by Mr. Fujino. And now the third place prize winner is Mr. Sami Nareinen. Moving on to the second place prize winner, this year the winner will receive a certificate presented by Professor Hobgut, 1,000 Amazon voucher donated by Mitsubishi Corporation, presented by Mr. Kanou, Japanese sweets donated by Minamoto Kichouan, presented by Mr. Nihai, and Doraemon Cushion donated by Japan Center, presented by Mr. Ishikawa, meal voucher donated by Tempura Ono, presented by Mr. Fujino, one-year Zoom Japan subscription donated by Zoom Japan UK, presented by Mr. Fujino. The second place prize winner is Mr. Ben Jones. Before announcing the first prize winner, we would like to give a special prize to another finalist who has impressed the judges. These prizes are a certificate presented by Professor Hobgut, a digital camera donated by Riko, presented by Mr. Tsuruta, 200 pounds meal voucher for Kanadaya and Machia, donated by Access Appointment, presented by Ms. Hashimoto, Japanese sweets donated by Minamoto Kichouan, presented by Mr. Nihai, Doraemon Cushion donated by Japan Center, presented by Mr. Ishikawa, 30 pounds meal voucher donated by Sagamiya, presented by Mr. Fujino, one-year Zoom Japan subscription donated by Zoom Japan UK, presented by Mr. Fujino. The special prize winner is Mr. Viva Parajampe. And finally, the moment has come to announce the 30th Sir Peter Parker hours winner. This year, the winner will receive the following fabulous prizes. The winner's cup will be handed by his excellency, Mr. Yasumasa Nagamine, Japanese ambassador to the UK. The 30th special anniversary plate, designed by Ms. Gio Fensho, presented by Sir Parker, a certificate to be presented by Professor Hopugut, JAL Marriage Bank, 70,000 miles donated by Japan Airlines, presented by Mr. Takeuchi, 1,500 pounds donated by Mitsubishi Electric, presented by Mr. Saito, Japan Railway Pass donated by Japan Center Group, presented by Mr. Ishikawa, Doraemon Cushion donated by Japan Center Group, presented by Mr. Ishikawa, Japanese Suites donated by Minamoto Kichouan, presented by Mr. Nihiei, Mille Voucher donated by Tempura Ono, presented by Mr. Fujino, one-year Zoom Japan subscription donated by Zoom Japan UK, presented by Mr. Fujino. The 30th Sir Peter Parker, our winner is Mr. Chikou Oh. Chikou-san, Chikou-san. So, could you please say a few words, please here? Jeffery-san, thank you so much for giving me this opportunity. I always talk about Supervise at Oxford University, and I have been working on it for about 10 or 20 years. It's a strategic course, but how can I tell you all about it? I hope I can share what I thought about it with you all. Recently, COVID-19 has been very common, and I have a Chinese business chance, and I think that I will continue to expand my business in Central Asia, especially around China. I hope that I can continue to work on it, and I hope that I can continue to work on it. Thank you. Thank you so much, Chikou-san, and congratulations. In addition, the three-year remain finalists who are just as out of standing and the winners, we have something for you too. A Japanese gift donated by Access Appointment Consultancy, a Japanese gift set donated by Japan Center Group, a gift voucher donated by JPD Europe, and moreover, all the seven finalists will receive one-year free membership by the Japan Society, Japan Society publication by the Japan Society, a bottle of sake donated by Sake Samurai Association, a Nikkei online ID donated by Nikkei Europe, free month subscription to A-Coc News Digest donated by A-Coc News Digest, and I must not forget to mention that the following sponsors also supported us financially. Access Appointment Consultancy, JPD Europe, Mitsubishi Electric Europe, the Great Britain Sasaka Foundation, Mitsubishi Corporation International Europe. Now, we would like to introduce all the judges, interlocutors, and timekeeper to thank them for their hard work. Could you please stand up when your name is called? So, Chief Judge is Mr. Takeshi and MSU of Japan. Judge is Ms. Mitsue Uchida Finch, Access Appointment Consultancy Limited. Mr. Takahaki Hanaoka, ZCCI UK. Mr. Hans Young Hinkel, Mitsubishi Electric BB. Mr. Isao Kano, Mitsubishi Corporation International Europe. Dr. Yoshikatsu Shinozawa, SOAS. Mr. Masato Shitake Uchi, Japan Airlines Company Limited. Interlocutors are Mr. Setsuo Kato, Kato Media. Mrs. Keiko Cummings, Japan Seas UK Limited. And the timekeeper is Mr. Tomoya Yamaguchi, SOAS. And the class, okay, thank you. And thank you all very much for giving us your time for this event. Now, we'd like to have a raffle draw to award some fantastic prizes to the audience. There are eight available prizes, five bottles of sake, two vouchers for meal at the Japanese restaurant Sagamia, and one voucher for Tempura Restaurant Ono in Tokyo. First, the five bottles of sake. Professor Hopugut, could you please draw five raffle tickets? Number 13. Number 70. So that's 70. I should thank you all. So number 57, 26, 53, 13, and 70. Okay, thank you so much. And then to Sagamia's meal voucher, Sapaaka, could you please draw two raffle tickets? Two, yes, please, two. Number four, yes, please. Number 61. Number 48. Thank you, Sapaaka. Finally, one Tempura Restaurant Ono meal voucher, ambassador Nagamine, could you please draw one raffle ticket? Number 65, please draw another. Number 30, 30, 30. Number 30. No? Could you please draw one more? Number 47. Number 47. Congratulations. Thank you so much, ambassador Nagamine. So after the hour of ceremony, could the eight winners please come up to the registration area for your prizes. I would now like to conclude this year's Sapaaka hour ceremony. Thank you all very much for your attendance. And once again, congratulations to the winner. Let's have a big round of applause for all the finalists. Sponsors, supporters, judges, visitors and the timekeeper. The reception, including commendation ceremony for Mrs. Yoshiko Jones by Embassy of Japan in the UK, is being held in the Brunei Suite, which is on the ground floor of this building. Please make sure you take all your belongings with you. And I would like to remind the finalists and platform party all the representatives of the supporters and sponsors that there will be a photo session after this ceremony. So please stay in this room. Thank you once again and enjoy the reception. Thank you so much.