On December 15th, Team Sotobori Green (Hiyori Nakamura/Senior, Saya Ishi/Senior, Yuta Nakagawa/Junior, Luisa Tomota/Junior) won first prize in the final round of the Marketing Competition Japan 2019; it is the third year in a row a team from Dr. Fukuoka’s seminar has won the accolade. The competition took place at the Kobe City University of Foreign Studies and the task from the Nagasawa Bungu Center, a main sponsor of the event, was to present a practical marketing plan based on the theme “Creation of a new writing (drawing) culture: marketing the Kobe INK story.” A delighted Dr. Fukuoka and the winning team shared their feelings on the victory after the result had been announced.

Dr. Fukuoka:
“Three teams from our seminar participated in the final round of this contest. The winning team’s marketing plan and delivery in the presentation were near-perfect, attracting the votes of six honorable judges. The other two teams made a tremendous effort, although they could not win a prize. I was impressed that even seminar members who could not make it to the final round also supported the finalists. I’m very proud of all my seminar students!”

Hiyori:
“I feel extremely honored to win first prize. We could only have done it by working together as a cohesive team!”

Saya:
“Thanks to cooperation and discussion, our idea improved a lot. I’m delighted that together we won the first prize! Thanks to all of you!”

Yuta:
“I want to thank all the members of the Fukuoka seminar and professor Fukuoka himself for supporting us! Most importantly, I’m so proud to have those ink-redible teammates! I’ll be back next year!”

Luisa:
“It was a fantastic experience that helped me learn many things. Moreover, I am very thankful to both my team members and our seminar members for all the support; we couldn’t have won without it.