Hollister
– Delegates from Hollister’s Japanese sister city and a handful
of locals filled City Hall Friday for a brief ceremony to reaffirm
the international friendship that has thrived for nearly two
decades.
Hollister – Delegates from Hollister’s Japanese sister city and a handful of locals filled City Hall Friday for a brief ceremony to reaffirm the international friendship that has thrived for nearly two decades.
During the ceremony, Etsuji Fugii, a member of the 18-person delegation from Kato City, Japan, signed a new friendship agreement between his city and Hollister. Hollister Mayor Robert Scattini and local sister city co-presidents Geri Johnson and Ruth Erickson also signed the document, which pledges continued friendship and cultural exchange between Hollister and Kato City.
“I feel like the president of the United States,” Scattini said as members of the delegation photographed him signing the agreement.
In 1989 Hollister agreed to be sister city to Takino Town, Japan. Recently Takino Town merged with two other Japanese cities and became Kato City, Johnson said. The friendship agreement signed Friday includes all of newly formed Kato City.
“It’s to reiterate that we want to continue being a sister city to all of Kato City,” Johnson said.
The sister city program is aimed at increasing person-to-person contact between people of different countries and cultures, Johnson said, with the ultimate goal being to foster understanding and respect in hopes of ending war.
Kinugasa agreed, saying she hopes the program will bring world peace.
“It is to know a different culture,” she said. “For us it’s important to know American culture. And I think it’s good to introduce Japanese culture in other places.”
Before the ceremony Friday, members of the delegation explored City Hall and the City Council chambers. Many of them sat in the mayor’s center seat at the dais and posed with his gavel for photographs. After the ceremony the group hand a lunch of sandwiches and locally grown cherries.
The delegation flew into San Francisco Thursday and were brought to Hollister by bus. There isn’t much leisure time included on the delegates’ itinerary. Hours after getting into town Thursday, they were part of the Saddle Horse Show and Rodeo parade that ran down San Benito Street. After that they had a banquet at Paines Restaurant.
On Friday, in addition to the ceremony at City Hall, delegates toured Marich Confectioners and the Ozeki Sake plant. In the evening, they headed off to Bolado park to participate in opening night of the Saddle Horse Show and Rodeo – a favorite for many from the Kato City group.
“I’m looking forward to seeing tonight’s rodeo,” Kato City resident Yuko Kinugasa said Friday afternoon. “We’re not used to seeing real horses in front of us. We know them only from the movies.”
Today, delegates will tour the Central Coast with locals. On Sunday they will board a bus bound for San Francisco. From there they will fly to New York and eventually go to Washington, D.C., before heading back to Japan.
Luke Roney is city editor for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 33s or at
lr****@fr***********.com
