Hollister
– San Benito County is about to host some guests from across the
Pacific.
Hollister – San Benito County is about to host some guests from across the Pacific.
Twenty-one visitors from Kato City – Hollister’s sister city in Japan – will be touring the county starting today. In addition to spending quality time with local host families, the visitors will tour Pietra Santa Winery and Don Belt’s Japanese temple garden.
Ruth Erickson, who planned the event for the Hollister Sister City Association, said the visit normally lasts one week. This visit will be cut short because Hollister’s former sister city, Takino, merged with two other Japanese towns to become Kato City.
Kato City now has three sister cities, including Olympia and Chelan in Washington, and Kato’s sister city delegation will be visiting all three towns during its trip.
“No one’s going to get much visitation,” Erickson said.
San Juan Bautista resident Gayle Sleznick has been hosting visitors from Takino for the past 10 years. Sleznick said she’s disappointed by the shortened visit but she’s still looking forward to the event.
“It’s always a lot of fun,” she said.
Things should go more smoothly this year, because both of Sleznick’s guests speak English. In the past, Sleznick said the language barrier has created some challenges.
“There was a lot of pointing and bowing,” she said, laughing.
According to the Hollister Sister City Association’s roster, 15 of the delegation members do not speak any English. Seventeen of the guests will be making their first visit to Hollister.
The visit’s timing also created some challenges, Erickson said. The delegation normally arrives in time to visit the San Benito County Saddle Horse Show and Rodeo, but this year’s visit falls between the rodeo and the motorcycle rally.
“This weekend, nothing’s going on,” Erickson said.
She eventually decided that a visit to Pietra Santa seemed like a perfect opportunity to show off the local wine industry.
The cherry blossom trees and Japanese stone lantern at Hollister City Hall both attest to the sister city relationship between Hollister and Takino, which began in 1989.
Sleznick, an artist, said she became involved in the Sister City program when the association donated one of her paintings to Takino. Shortly after, Sleznick traveled to Japan to watch officials dedicate Hollister Street in Takino.
Sleznick struggled with some Japanese customs, but she still describes the visit as one of the best trips she has ever taken.
“I was just so impressed with the people, the food. It was just very comfortable,” Sleznick said.
