Photo/Illutration Kazuo Omori, right, and his wife, Hiroko, spent decades helping foreigners learn and master Japanese. Photo taken in Tachikawa, western Tokyo, in August (Nobuo Fujiwara)

Kazuo and Hiroko Omori are embarking on the final chapter of their decades-long mission to help foreigners learn and master Japanese.

The husband and wife, both 84, have been doing it for 36 years, and reckon they will soon have accomplished all they can.

The couple decided to resume holding their Japanese essay competition that had been put on hold earlier due to Kazuo’s health problems.

In August, the Omoris put all their activities on pause. They were quickly inundated with messages from international college students and Japanese language teachers expressing dismay at the development.

The pair are particularly well known for publishing the quarterly bulletin Nippon (Japan) dedicated to providing readers with information on Japanese culture and daily life.

The Omoris began the Japanese essay competition in 1989. Their aim is simply to review and commend the manuscripts submitted by international students of the language. Over the past 26 rounds of the contest, the pair received more than 60,000 essays from 92 countries and regions.

Last year, Kazuo was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Not only Kazuo, but also Hiroko, felt it was perhaps time to hang up their hats in view of their age and health.

In August, to mark this episode in their journey, they released their book, “Sekai no Nihongo Gakushusha ga Kaita Sugao no Nippon” (Japan’s true faces portrayed by Japanese language learners the world over), via Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc.

With that out of the way, Kazuo and Hiroko planned to bring an end to all their programs.

But no sooner did the Omoris announce the end of their endeavors than they began receiving a steady stream of emails nearly every week from university students and Japanese language teachers with whom they had connected through their projects.

One fan simply expressed “regret over the competition’s discontinuation,” while another begged the couple to “restart the contest again” at some point.

Messages calling for the event’s reintroduction came in from individuals in more than 10 countries and regions, including China, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.

Encouraged by these sentiments, Kazuo and Hiroko made up their minds to “take on the challenge” of organizing the competition once again. Despite his cancer, Kazuo is determined to do what he can go in between medical checkups.

The outpouring of appreciation for what the Omoris have accomplished made them “realize the meaning of the path we have walked thus far.” Looking ahead to their “truly final effort,” Kazuo and Hiroko modestly expressed their hope to “cater to people’s expectations.”

The theme for the latest competition is “your favorite Japanese words.”

Applications can be submitted on the website of the Omoris’ international exchange research institute at (https://www.nihonwosiru.jp/). Any non-Japanese individual is eligible to apply as long as they are studying or researching Japanese.

The deadline for applications is May 1 next year. The results will be announced on Aug. 16.

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