大会：第６回学生のための国際ビジネスコンテスト OVAL Seoul-Tokyo 2008
主催：OVAL 2008実行委員会
会場：独立行政法人国立オリンピック記念青少年総合センター
開催日： 2008年8月6日～8月17日（オープニングレセプションは8月9日）
スピーチ：アゴス・ジャパン 　横山　匡（プロフィールはこちら ）

※OKUBOの日記 にて、スピーチの構成・スピーチならではの言い回しを簡単に紹介しています。こちらも併せてどうぞ！

（▼大会オープニングレセプションに当たってのスピーチ）
Good morning.

Ms. Sun, Mr. Yon-Hak, Mr. Kajihara and the 6th Annual OVAL International Business Contest organizing committee members, invited guests from sponsoring and supporting organizations, former OVAL contestants, and 120 delegates for this year’s contest, 40 each from China, Korea and Japan, ladies and gentlemen,

I am privileged and honored to be standing here before you today to make the opening statement for this year’s OVAL contest.

First of all, I’d like to congratulate all of this year’s contestants for thinking about participating in this contest, actually acting upon your thoughts, and then winning the preliminary to get to this stage here today.

I’d also like to congratulate and thank 50 organizing committee members in Japan, 20 organizing committee members from China and another 10 organizing committee members from Korea who are here today in Tokyo. Your dedicated work is the primary reason why all of us can celebrate this annual event today.

Next, I’d like to extend our heartfelt welcome to the contestants from China and Korea for coming to our country to build your idea, build friendship and build an international bridge of mutual understanding among three leading nations in Asia. To those who have visited Japan before, WELCOME BACK, and for the first time visitors, YOKOSO (Welcome) to Japan.

Instead of everybody looking and staring at me, I’d like to recognize the people who are here. Would all the organizing committee members stand up and be recognized?

The three nations represented here are the three Asian nations that hosted the summer Olympic Games in the Olympics history, so let me introduce the delegates in the order of the year the Game was hosted. The first one was held in Tokyo in 1964, and none of you were here yet! Would this year’s contestants from Japan stand up and be recognized?

Next, would the delegates from Korea stand up and be recognized?
The Olympics were held in Seoul in 1988, 20 years ago, around the time, most of you were born. Congratulations and welcome!

And last but certainly not least, the Beijing Games opened yesterday, and I would like to welcome those who traveled
to Tokyo in this particular time to participate in this year’s contest in　Tokyo. Would the delegates from China stand up and be recognized? Thank you for coming. Congratulations and welcome!

My company AGOS, stands for “to lead” in ancient Greek. OVAL stands for Our Vision for Asian Leadership, I understand. So we have “LEAD” in common. Leading our own futures, leading our reciprocal respect among the three countries and among all the contestants, and leading the way for future generation participants of OVAL in years to come, is exactly what you are doing this week by taking part in this event. For that, all of you have already won, and I would like to offer my sincere congratulations for taking your thought to action, which I consider as the most important one step in any aspect of life.

I turned 50 years old a couple of weeks ago and while I look forward to the second half of my career, what I remember and cherish the most in the first 50 years is the faces and memories of people I met. The heated discussions over six-packs of Coke when I was a student at UCLA, long and challenging meetings full of disagreements as a professional, all the meetings, or we say DEAI in Japan, came as results of taking thoughts to action, and

Today, everybody talks about the world becoming borderless. It is true in many ways but I hope that this week’s activities will lead to borderless friendship, limitless imaginations and, as Master Card says, priceless memories.

I wish all of you the best of luck and for all the visiting guests from overseas, enjoy your week in Tokyo.

See you all next Thursday, GAMBATTEKUDASAI!

Thank you!