JFTC Essay Competition

Award Winners of JFTC Essay Competition 2006

December 15, 2006

Japan Foreign Trade Council, Inc. sponsors of the "JFTC Essay Competition 2006" are very pleased to announce that we received a total of 118 submissions from 29 different countries for the competition this year. After a strict screening of all the essays, the four submissions below have been selected as the winners of the competition in 2006. We would like to express our congratulations to the winners and thank all the participants for taking part.

Selection Committee
Chair Dr. Iwao Nakatani, Director of Research, Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting Co., Ltd. and President of Tama University
Vice Chairs Professor Yoko Wake, Faculty of Business and Commerce, Keio University
Vice Chairs Mr. Kazuo Mori, Deputy Editorial Page Editor, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Inc.

Remarks by Selection Committee Chair

The Grand Prize of 1,000,000 yen

"The Potential of Brand Japan"
Mr. Erik Magnus HAUAN (Norwegian, age 25)

The Prizes for Excellence of 200,000 yen

"Shu-Ha-Ri" (守破離)
Mr. Daisuke SUGIYAMA (Japanese, age 26)

"The Cornerstone of  'Japan-Brand' : The Tradition of Succession and Transformation, and the Future of This Practice"
Mr. Yoshimi SUGANO (Japanese, age 49)

"Building Depth into 'Brand Japan'"
Mr. Hideki SATO (Japanese, age 38)

Essay Requirements

Subject "The Potential of Brand Japan"
Language Essays may be written in English or Japanese
Length No more than 4,000 words in English
Deadline September 29, 2006