JAL Foundation to sponsor World Children's Haiku Poetry Camp in Akita

The JAL Foundation is to sponsor a World Children's Haiku Poetry Camp in Akita, northern Japan from July 23 to 28, for the 21 winners of their 8th World Children's Haiku Contest, held biannually since 1990. Haiku are a traditional form of classic Japanese poetry, using only 17 syllables to make their point.

In October 2003 until March this year, the JAL Foundation promoted the 8th World Children's Haiku Contest in 26 countries, receiving about 70,000 entries. The theme of the contest was, ''Water''.

From the thousands of haiku poems submitted, 21 winning entries were selected and the young writers, aged between 12 and 15, will attend a special haiku camp at the town of Yuwa, in Akita Prefecture, the birthplace of Rogetsu Ishii, one of Japan's best-loved haiku poets.

Overseas participants will attend from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Guam, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, The Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the USA. In Yuwa they will join Japanese junior school children for the 6-day poetry event.

The Haiku camp activities will include stays with local families, excursions, sightseeing and haiku creation sessions.

Founded in 1990, the JAL Foundation organizes cultural events linked to transportation themes on behalf of the JAL Group. The Foundation supports the World Haiku Contest with the aim of nurturing creative vision and encouraging international exchange through haiku poetry. 

The support includes round trip flights on Japan Airlines for the winners, plus accommodation, meals and transportation in Japan.