Pacific Students Earn Accolades at Japanese Language Competition

Pacific University students studying Japanese are excelling — for the second year in a row.

Morgan Fenn ’22 finished third in the Level II competition of this year’s Toyama Cup, a regional Japanese language speech contest sponsored by the Japan-America Society of Oregon. Elias Harold ’25 and Phuong Kimberly Huynh ’24 finished second and third, respectively, in the Level I competition, which is for first- and second-year students.

The students’ success follows exceptional performance by Pacific representatives in the competition. 

In 2021, Tanner Arakaki ’21 took the grand prize in Level II, winning a free trip to Toyama, Japan. Arakaki, who came to Pacific from Hawai‘i, double majored in business administration and Japanese. He also took third place in the Toyama Cup in 2019.

Fenn, now a senior, also took third in last year’s Level II competition; Maggi Trettin ’22 took third in Level I; and Daniel Ortiz-Rojo ‘22 also competed in 2021.

The Japan-America Society of Oregon is a coalition of scores of businesses and nonprofits that support bonds between Japan and the United States. One member organization is the Association of Teachers of Japanese in Oregon, and Pacific instructor Yoko Sakurauchi is its president.