KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 25 school children around Malaysia have been selected as winners of the 17th World Children Haiku Contest 2021-2022 Malaysia Chapter.

The winners, comprising five JAL grand prize winners and 20 JAL prize winners, were selected from 307 Malaysian children aged 15 years and below from 17 schools nationwide who had submitted their Haiku in Bahasa Malaysia on the theme of "Towns" with creative hand drawn artwork.

They take home a certificate, medal and memento from JAL Foundation and Japan Airlines Kuala Lumpur.

Speaking at the prize presentation ceremony held at his residence here Thursday, Japanese Ambassador to Malaysia Takahashi Katsuhiko hoped that the contest would spark an interest among the young winners towards Japanese culture and forge a long lasting understanding between the people of the two countries.

"One of the important jobs as the Ambassador to Malaysia is to encourage our Malaysian friends to learn more about Japan.

"I will be happy if your interest in Japan increases by winning the Haiku Contest this time. I will even be happier if you start for example studying the Japanese language, start attending Japanese martial arts sessions, watch more Japanese anime or start doing anything related to Japan. I will also love to have you actually visiting Japan one day," he said.

The Ambassador said Malaysians also can look to Japan as a good option to further their studies in future via Malaysia's Look East Policy or the Japanese Government Scholarship programmes.

Initiated in 1990, World Children's Haiku Contest is a biannual contest organised by the JAL Foundation.

The 17th edition of the contest, which ran from Nov 1, 2021 to Feb 28, 2022, was participated by 17,699 children from 49 countries and regions from around the world.

The contest in Malaysia was also held as one of the events to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the Look East Policy.

The Malaysia chapter of the Haiku Contest was organised by the JAL Foundation, sponsored by Japan Airlines Kuala Lumpur and supported by the Education Ministry, Embassy of Japan in Malaysia and Japan Foundation.

Also present at the ceremony were Vice President and Regional Manager of Japan Airlines Malaysia Sakaguchi Tomohiro and the Head of Malaysia-Japan Research Centre at Universiti Malaya Dr Jamila Mohd who was also the contest judge.

-- BERNAMA