The Japan Times will hold its ninth annual spelling bee Saturday in Tokyo, with students from Japanese, international and United States military base schools across the nation competing to be recognized as the best speller in Japan.
The winner of the Japan Times Bee qualifies to compete in the televised Scripps National Spelling Bee final in Washington, D.C.
The U.S. is the birthplace of the spelling bee, and the finals winner of the U.S. event, popular nationwide, is invited to meet the president at the White House. This year, 42 schools from across Japan will participate in the Japan Times Bee, which was first held in 2010 and is the only spelling contest in the nation officially endorsed by the U.S.-based administrators of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Each school holds their own school bee to determine their representative ahead of the Tokyo competition. The rules are simple: Contestants aged 8 to 15 must verbally spell out the words — spoken aloud by the moderator — within a reasonable period of time. Misspelling the word or taking too long results in disqualification.