A Tokyo junior high school girl and an Okayama elementary school girl won a prestigious English-language speech contest Monday for students in Japan, beating some 44,000 fellow competitors from around the country.
Mari Masuko, a third-year student at St. Margaret's School (Rikkyo Jogakuin) of Tokyo was named best speaker in the junior high school division of the All Japan Junior English Speech Contest, said the event's organizer, Japan LL Education Center.
Ayaka Yamamoto, a sixth-grader at Ishima Elementary School in the city of Okayama, won the elementary school division.