JAPANBITE, our Japanese confectionery subscription service, partnered with Japanese Language Week (JLW), a student-led event in New Zealand, to give local primary school students a chance to explore Japanese food culture.
What is Japanese Language Week?
Japanese Language Week is a cultural activity event led by New Zealand student Aaron Huang, then in Year 12, and his peers. It offers primary school students opportunities to experience Japanese culture through language learning and traditional games.
JAPANBITE's role
JAPANBITE provided boxes of Japanese confectionery as prizes for JLW activities, helping students deepen their understanding of Japanese culture through food.
Event programme
In May 2024, cultural activities were held at Our Lady Star of the Sea School in New Zealand, including:
- Interactive games to learn basic Japanese vocabulary
- Traditional games such as Hasami Shogi and Daruma-san ga Koronda
Comment from the organiser
Aaron Huang explained that starting JLW was difficult. The team contacted many companies for support and worried that the event might receive none when most declined or did not respond. JAPANBITE understood their vision and helped them incorporate Japanese confectionery into JLW. The curated boxes enabled hands-on learning about tradition, which he described as a major achievement. Although convincing schools to host the event proved difficult and its scale was smaller than hoped, the team was proud to launch JLW at Our Lady Star of the Sea School. He saw it as a first step toward growing JLW and holding week-long events at schools throughout the community.
What the partnership achieved
The partnership gave us an opportunity to reach a new audience and contribute to a meaningful Japanese cultural experience. Above all, seeing the excitement and joy on the children's faces made it very rewarding. Aaron and his team told us how difficult it was to build JLW from scratch, and we were honoured to play a part in helping people in New Zealand experience Japanese culture. As part of our product promotion and corporate social responsibility activities, we will continue to support cultural exchange and education.
For more information about our snack boxes or partnerships, please feel free to contact us.
Japanese Language Week
https://japaneselanguageweek.godaddysites.com/
JAPANBITE
GRID Start, Ltd.
Hideo Takahashi, Representative Director and President