→Application Guidelines for the Japanese Essay Contest

When applying for the JITCO Japanese Essay Contest for Foreign Technical Intern Trainees/Trainees, you need to use Japanese manuscript paper. Please refer to the information below:

1.Paper

Please use A4-size 400-character Japanese manuscript paper on which squares are printed.

2.Handwriting tool

Any handwriting tool may be used. When using a pencil, however, please use an 2B grade or darker pencil.

3.Vertical/horizontal writing

You may write vertically or horizontally. Please start writing from the upper right corner with the paper set long from side-to-side when writing vertically. If you are writing horizontally, the shorter side of the paper should be at the top.

4.Title and name

At Japanese schools, titles and names are usually placed inside the grid. For the JITCO essay contest, however, they should be placed outside the grid.

5.One character in one square as a general rule

In principle, please write one character in one square.
Small 「ゃ」「ゅ」「ょ」「っ」, 「ん」, punctuation marks ( 。 、 ), and symbols ( 「 」（ ）!, etc.) should also use one square.
If a quotation mark is used immediately after a period ( 。), however, the quotation mark and period should be placed in one square.

If a line starts with a punctuation mark ( 。 、), it should be moved to the last square of the previous line.
(You may also write punctuation marks outside squares.)

6.Orientation of characters and symbols

(ⅰ)A long sound 「ー」(for example, 「プール」「タワー」) must be written vertically, it should be written as 「｜」.

(ⅱ)Quotation marks (「　」) should be written as follows:

(ⅲ)Small characters such as 「ゃ」「ゅ」「ょ」「っ」and punctuation marks ( 。 、) should be placed in the following positions instead of the center of squares.

7.The beginning of paragraphs