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The 22nd JDA Kyushu Debate Tournament, the Japanese language, was held at the Ito Campus of Kyushu University on December 15, 2024.

The resolution of this year’s tournament was “Japan should ban the use of SNSs (social networking services) for junior high school students or younger.” This is a timely topic as a similar bill was passed in Australia just a few days before the tournament, and the controversial TikTok ban was reported in the United States.

The event was a great success, with six participating teams ranging from junior high school students to university students, and about thirty participants including judges, tournament staff and observers.

This year’s tournament introduced a “slowed-down” debate format (see below) to make debates more accessible for beginners. Speeches were transcribed in real time using the dictation function of Microsoft Word, and Japanese character counts were capped to discourage the rapid delivery common in competitive debates, which can make debates less inclusive. As a result of this new rule, the speed was slower compared to the same debate tournament in previous years, making the tournament more welcoming to newcomers.

The affirmative sides in the debates presented the advantages of banning the use of SNS by junior high school students and younger, such as reducing the exposure to crimes and encouraging face-to-face communication. On the negative side, the disadvantages of prohibiting the use of social networking services included the limiting of access to emergency communication in the event of a disasters and the restricting of learning opportunities (e.g., for English conversation).

After three rounds of competition by all six teams, the first-place winner was the team “Anti-work” (Munehiro Yamaji from Keio University, and Koki Oshima from Oita Uenogaoka Senior High School), and the runners-up were “Site No. 4 Sugimoto Shoji” (Ryunosuke Hayashi and Rio Koide from Fukuoka Prefectural Shuyukan High School).

The judges were Mami Matsuse and Hina Namisaki, both fourth-year students in the School of Economics, and Ryo Takase, a third-year student in the School of Law. All three, with their extensive debate experience, offered constructive advice to the participants, and explanations for their decisions.

This tournament was conducted using an experimental format as part of the research project “Developing Education Methods for Inclusive Debate” (KAKEN Project No. 22K18593). The project is led by Professor Emeritus Narahiko Inoue from the Faculty of Languages and Cultures (FLC). The FLC actively supports debate activities both on and off the campus, including international programs.

For further information, please contact: Debate Education Support Group, FLC, Kyushu University (debate[at]flc.kyushu-u.ac.jp)

The 22nd JDA Kyushu Debate Tournament

Sponsor: Japan Debate Association (JDA), Kyushu Chapter
Co-sponsors: Faculty of Languages and Cultures, Kyushu University and International Society for Teaching Debate (ISTD)

Format of debate

1. Affirmative constructive speech: 1,600 characters or 6 minutes maximum.
2. Cross-examination from the negative: 3 questions maximum without time limitation.
3. Negative constructive speech: 1,600 characters or 6 minutes maximum.
4. Cross-examination from the affirmative: 3 questions maximum without time limitation.
5. First negative rebuttal speech: 1,200 characters or 6 minutes maximum.
6. First affirmative rebuttal speech: 1,200 characters or 6 minutes maximum.
7. Second negative rebuttal speech: 1,200 characters or 6 minutes maximum.
8. Second affirmative rebuttal speech: 1,200 characters or 6 minutes maximum.

Preparation time: Each team can use a total of 30 minutes before any speech or cross-examination period.