The ninth inter-school Japan Quiz was held at the Sri Sathya Sai Auditorium on 7 November 2012. Organized by Quizcraft Events & Communications, one of India’s premier knowledge-solutions companies, for the Embassy of Japan in India, the event saw 160 teams from 60 schools in the Delhi-NCR compete for the honour of lifting the glittering trophy and being crowned champions!

The teams and accompanying teachers were welcomed to the quiz by Mr Ryoji Noda, Counsellor, Embassy of Japan in India, who expressed his happiness at seeing the large number of students who had come to participate in the contest. Mr Noda also explained that – unlike previous years – the winners of the 2012 Japan Quiz would be going to Japan under the Kizuna Project, not JENESYS, to encourage and acquire first-hand greater awareness and understanding of the country and people of Japan.

The teams sat for a written preliminary test, from which the top 12 teams were selected for two Pre-Final quizzes, which were both like multimedia trailers leading up to the grand finale – the Final Quiz which featured the top 3 teams from each of the Pre-Finals. The questions for the preliminary test, like the later rounds, were drawn from a variety of fields, like history, geography, sports, culture and arts, literature, science and technology, and other fields of human endeavour in which Japan and the Japanese people have made their mark.

This Final was a 75-minute long multimedia show that used a variety of interesting question formats to test, intrigue and challenge the teams on their knowledge of all things Japan. From Miso to Manga, Kurosawa to Kawasaki and Heian to Haiku – quizmaster Adittya Nath Mubayi left no topic in his quest to find the real deal – the team that knows Japan inside-out, and is worthy of being selected to go to Japan under the Kizuna Project!

The final was a keenly contested affair, with the team from Apeejay School, NOIDA (comprising Saqib Javed, Saksham Kapur, and Siddhant Misra) finally winning the battle in the last round, off the last question, in fact, to pip their nearest rivals New Era Public School, Mayapuri to lift the title. Well played, boys! And enjoy the grand prize, which is the trip to Japan sponsored by the Government of Japan.