Ulhasnagar student wins grand prize in Japan competition

Ankita G Menon

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ankita.gopakumar@htlive.com

Trishit Banerjee, 22, has bagged the grand prize at the 8th Annual all Japan Student English Presentation Contest in Tokyo.

More than 700 students from over 200 universities from across the world participated in this competition.

Banerjee, a resident of Ulhasnagar, is studying in Tohoku University’s Graduate School of Science and his proposal for a convictive working holiday plan to attract foreigners to Fukushima Perfecture got him the award.

An alumnus of Birla School, Kalyan, Banerjee writes his own blogs.

He has been writing poems since he was in Class two. He took part in literary events during his school days and got appreciation from the University of Oxford.

“It was the people of Fukushima, who gave me time and helped me with the project. They helped me understand the situation faced by those in Fukushima. I got the idea after I saw the problems faced by those in Fukushima,” added Banerjee.

Under his plan, foreign applicants would work at locations such as fruit orchards and hot spring inns in Fukushima Prefecture, which they would choose through a matching process. They could also experience Japanese culture first hand through events such as calligraphy and Kokeshi doll-making. He emphasized that his plan would ease labor shortages in the area that was hit by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequent tsunami, and could be adapted to aid in the recovery of other disaster-hit areas.