On Wednesday, 20 Feb, staff members of CLAIR Sydney visited Councillor Glenda Barratt; and Ms. Linda Goss-Wallace, International relations and Projects Manager at Hutt City Council. Hutt City established a sister city relationship with Minoh City in Osaka in 1995 and since then, many residents of the two cities—from primary school students to senior citizens—have been interacting in many ways such as conducting video calls via Skype, art and sport exchange. There is a historical heritage constructed in 1904 at the park in the middle of the hill in Hutt City. It was renovated and was opened as “Hutt Minoh Friendship House”. The house is a basement for interactions between both cities. In addition, Minoh puts emphasis in the city’s English education, and there are currently many Assistant Language Teachers (ALT) appointed through the JET Programme including New Zealanders and they are actively working in the city.
CLAIR Sydney would like to continue to have more dialogues with local councils in New Zealand such as Hutt City Council. We would also like to continue to provide support for Japanese local governments’ activities in New Zealand.
