A UNBC Student is one of 145 winners of the Shortest Letter in Japan contest and the only non-Japanese resident among the winners.
Briana Greer, a Global and International Studies major, submitted to the contest as part of a class assignment for her Japanese Conversation and Composition course.
The contest, put on by the Maruoka City Culture Foundation, asks applicants to write on the theme of ‘seasons’, and limits contestants to 40 Japanese characters or less.
“It’s meant for native speakers primarily, but people from around the world are allowed to enter,” explained Greer.
Over 32,000 people competed this year and 46 of the contestants were non-Japanese, according to the contest.
“I wrote about a cold night, cuddled up close to the fire wishing my sweetheart was with me.”
Standard writing in a second language is already difficult, but the poet explained creative writing is a completely different beast.
“Writing, in general, is totally different, just because of the structure of the languages,” she said.
“You have to take the English out of your head and think with a different perspective.”
Greer admits she was forced to eat her words when she got the good news, because the odds of getting published were so low, she didn’t think to keep a copy of the poem.
“I thought it was crazy! Just absurd! I am just a student still learning the language!” exclaimed Greer.
“It was just an assignment and the chances of foreigners winning are pretty low so it ended up in the recycling! I actually don’t have it!”
The contest winners will be published in the book The Shortest Letter of Japan: Season this spring.
“I think this has inspired me to do more with the language. I’d like to take my JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test).”
Greer is the second UNBC student to have a poem selected for publication. In 2003, Shirley Hung’s short letter on the topic of emotion was published.
Greer has received an invitation to attend an award ceremony in Maruoka-Cho, Fukui, Japan on April 26.