There was a tie for first place in the 2017 English Reader Marathon, Mio Nakamura and Kensaku Ueda. Congratulations to our top prizewinners and to all the winners and participants of the 2017 English Reader Marathon! Below is a complete list of upper division winners.

1st Prize:  Mio Nakamura & Kensaku Ueda - Over 430,000 words!
3rd Prize:  Mayu Jimbo - About 250,000 words!
4th Prize:  Wakako Ishihara - Over 235,000 words!
5th Prize:  A Ken Tatto - Over 203,000 words!
6th Prize: Kana Nakao - Over 180,000 words!
7th Prize:  Masakazu Takada - Over 146,000 words!

Honorable Mention: Aya Noumi, Katsunori Ishii, Ayaka Nishi, Chiho Sugishita, Takumi Masuko, Takeru Kyoushima, Mina Hongawara, Takaya Suzuki, Ikumi Asayama

There was a tie for first place in the 2017 English Reader Marathon Freshman Division, Shukou Asahi and Manami Nochi. Manami Higuchi won 3rd Prize. Congratulations to our top prizewinners and to all the winners and participants! Below is a complete list of freshman division winners.

1st Prize:  Shukou Asaki and Manami Nochi - Over 30,000 words
3rd Prize:  Manami Higuchi – Over 25,000 words

Honorable Mention: Mika Takagi, Ryou Satake, Chikara Ogata, Sae Tsunoda, Chisato Morishita, Takumi Sudou, Masami Ando, Rin Ichikawa, Natsumi Nagasaka, Riku Tanaka, Yui Imamura, Ayane Ida, Kasumi Kikawa

2017 POP Contest prizewinners are as follows:

GOLD MEDAL — Puss in Boots by Haruka Goto
SILVER MEDAL — Buying Some Gloves  by Minako Furukawa
BRONZE MEDAL — Curious George Goes Camping by Manami Higuchi

Honorable Mention by Judges (Book Cafe members)
Stitch — Haya Rato
Uncle Elephant — Chisato Morishita
Strange Tales from Kwaidan — Chihiro Akimoto
Beauty and the Beast — Arisu Fujiki

Honorable Mention by book editor, Michiko Fukaya
Martin Luther King Jr. — Tomoka Yagihashi
The Great Gatsby — Tomoe Hirai
Chicken Licken — Nagisa Yasuda

Also, Honorable Mention by Shuhei Yamashita, newspaper reporter
Biggest Leaguer — Miho Kamagaya

The winner of the 2016 English Reader Marathon was second year student, Wakako Ishihara, who defended her winning title from last year. The winner of the freshman division was Shouma Nagaoka. Congratulations to our top prizewinners and to all the winners and participants of the 2016 English Reader Marathon! A complete list of winners follows.
 
Freshman Division
1st Prize:  Shouma Nagaoka - Over 170,000 words read!
2nd Prize:  Rieko Ueda - Over 115,000 words read!
3rd Prize:  (tie) Kensaku Ueda, Mayu Inoue – About 100,000 words read!
4th Prize:  Kana Nakao - Over 83,000 words read!
5th Prize:  Emu Imai - Over 64,000 words read!
6th Prize:  Mami Onoda - About 22,000 words read!
7th Prize:  A Ken Tatto  - Over 17,000 words read!
8th Prize:  Tomoe Oikawa - About 15,000 words read!
9th Prize: Risa Kayahara – About 10,000 words read!
10th Prize: (tie) Takaya Suzuki, Nanami Ooki – About 9,000 words read!
Honorable Mention:  Takahiko Inaba, Rio Akiyama, Mayu Abe, Kazuki Takahashi, Haruka Goto, Ushio Ushioda
 
Upperclassman Division
1st Prize:  Wakako Ishihara - About 415,000 words!
2nd Prize: Ayako Harayama - Over 320,000 word!
3rd Prize:  Kotomi Higuchi - Over 288,000 words read!
4th Prize:  Takeru Kyoshima - Over 258,000 words read!
5th Prize: Shunya Miwa - Over 219,000 words read!
6th Prize: Natsuki Kanezaki - Over 213,000 words read!
7th Prize:  Manami Iwabuchi - Over 206,000 words read!
8th Prize:  Masakazu Takada - Over 190,000 words read!
9th Prize:  Aona Kagamishima - Over 151,000 words!
10th Prize:  Ikumi Asami - Over 144,000 words read!
Honorable Mention:  Mio Nakamura, Aya Noumi, Satomi Kimura, Erika Yamamoto, Mizuki Tomioka, Kazuki Ikematsu, Ryoma Morisako, Miki Nishikawa

[Sorry for the delay in getting these names and photos posted! - Kevin]

Great academic success! Tsurumi University English Department Graduate student Takuya Matsuda has been chosen to receive the highly prestigious Fulbright Scholarship for post-graduate study in the United States. This scholarship program facilitates a select few to study at a college or university in America, with tuition, expenses and extensive benefits paid. Takuya will begin studying toward his doctorate (PhD) at the University of North Texas from the late summer of 2014. His particular area of academic study is in modern American literature; authors such as Thomas Pynchon, John Cheever, Nathanael West and others. Takuya is excited about getting the chance to read and examine American literature in the USA among American scholars and fellow students.

Takuya graduated from the under-graduate program at Tsurumi in 2009, and then went on to obtain his Master of Arts degree (M.A.) at Tsurumi in 2011. Even now, Takuya spends almost every day on campus, reading, studying and writing about the modern American literature he loves so much. From the summer, he will travel to America and begin his studies at the University of North Texas –he foresees he may be there for a few years at least, deepening his knowledge and understanding of American literature, culture and lifestyle. A wonderful new chapter opens for Takuya Matsuda, and we wish him every success in his great American adventure!

2013, the third year of the English Reader Marathon, was a great year for this contest. More students than every before participated, and the number of books read keeps going up and up! We'd like to congratulate all students who participated this year, and we hope you will continue to read in English during the holidays and in future years! Gambatte! Photo album for the awards presentation on Nov. 19, 2013 is here.

2013 Prize Winners
1st Prize - Jiro Mori & Ayako Harayama (tie); over 100 books and over 300,000 words read!
3rd Prize - Rika Mochida; over 100 books and over 200,000 words read!
4th Prize - Yoshiyuki Nagamori; over 60 books and about 150,000 words read!
5th Prize - Maya Suzuki; over 50 books and over 125,000 words read!
6th Prize - Kotomi Higuchi; over 75 books and about 100,000 words read!
7th Prize - Daiki Shinji; over 35 books and about 100,000 words read!
8th Prize - Kana Maezawa; over 20 books and over 64,000 words read!
9th Prize - Aona Kagamishima, Hiromi Taniguchi, Miyuki Hiroike (tie); over 40 books and over 40,000 words read!

Honorable Mention - Shunya Miwa, Rei Watanabe, Yuuki Kurashima, Satomi Kimura, Rina Nagaoka, Satoshi Sakurama, Manio Ergin, Shouta Ookoshi, Mika Hamada, Chiaki Tayama (from 15,000 to 27,000 words read!)

Certificates - Masanori Kuge, Yuko Mase, Haruka Nakayama, Aisa Doi (12,000-15,000 words read)

Special Prize - Hitomi Toda; many, many books read! Great job!