On April 4, the Northside’s Japan Bowl Team placed 4th at the national level.
What is Japan Bowl?
The Japan Bowl is a national trivia competition that tests students on the Japanese language and culture. Students form teams of two or three people across three levels. Levels 2, 3, and 4 correspond to the level of Japanese they are enrolled in. Northside placed first in Illinois to qualify for the national competition.
During the actual competition, contestants will answer on paper with the help of their teammates during 2 rounds with 25 questions each. They are tested in the Japanese language, Kanji (Chinese characters), and Japanese culture.
Questions are usually in English but can also be in Japanese at higher levels. At the national level, the competition consists of 80 questions over 3 rounds. Then, the top 3 teams are selected for a final quiz round with buzzers. The contestants are competing for an all-expenses-paid trip to Japan.
Axel Olson-Brady, Noah Shankman, and Mika Alcain are on Northside’s level 4 national team. Clara Chi Sensei coaches all of the teams. To create the teams, Chi Sensai hosts tryouts in December and holds meetings flexes 3 and 4 to help teams prepare. During the practices, students study for the first half and then switch to group practice problems for the second half. This allows students at least 10 dedicated study sessions prior to the state competition in March.
In addition to the flex meetings, participants also spend a lot of their free time studying. Teams often divide up the subjects, so each member will become an expert in their subject. Axel’s subject was modern history and geography. To study, he would go down “rabbit holes looking at different sources as [he] tried to cover every aspect” of his subjects. This would take up the vast majority of his free time, forcing him to choose between studying and his other commitments. However, the team also had to be careful of over-studying. They had to find the balance between studying and resting to retain all the information.
