Japanese students Outshine at International Science Olympiad

Japanese high school students bagged many medals at this year’s International Science Olympiads (ISO), a group of worldwide competitions in scientific disciplines such as mathematics, biology and geography.

Japanese students brought home 10 medals this year in the ISO’s mathematical and biological divisions which included one bronze medal, 4 silvers and 5 gold medals.

Medals are usually awarded to the top 60 percent of all the participants. Out of this 60 percent, students in the top 10 percent receive gold medals while in the next highest 20 percent bracket are awarded silver medals and those in the bottom 30 percent are given bronze medals.

Naoki Konno, who is a second-year student at Komaba High School in Tokyo, has won a silver medal in the International Biology Olympiad. Animals such as snakes had always fascinated him ever since he was a primary school student.Konno said, “Seeing so many creatures was simply amazing when I first looked through a microscope. That changed my world.”

Nobuhiro Kurata bagged a silver medal,who is a third-year student at Hiroshima Gakuin High School in Hiroshima Prefecture and wants to be a psychiatrist.Kurata said, “Human thoughts and emotions are unbelievably complex. I want to find mental happiness for each individual that can’t be measured in terms of lifespan or material wealth.”

Fierce competition from all over the world demands extensive preparations by the students. 560 participants from more than 100 countries and regions took part in the International Mathematical Olympiad this year. Takahiro Ueoro, a third-year student of Waseda High School in Tokyo, who bagged a gold medal in the tough competition told, “I ended up with a silver medal last year and therefore I started gearing up in February.”