From 31 October-3 November, a delegation led by the mayor of Koshigaya, Mr Tsutomu Takahashi, visited their sister city, Campbelltown in NSW to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their Sister City relationship. On 31 October, the delegation visited our office to gain knowledge from our director Mr Tanabe’s presentation in regard to local government in Australia, recent issues, and Japanese local governments’ recent activities in Australia. In the evening, we joined the delegates at the art award opening ceremony held together with the Fisher’s Ghost Festival, one of the biggest events in Campbelltown. Both mayors declared this year was the 30th anniversary of the sister city relationship to many lot of residents and the art award’s competitors.
On 1 November, they attended an official lunch reception and then had a look at the Fisher’s Ghost Parade. Campbelltown is known as a culturally diverse city, so they really enjoyed the multicultural parade there. To welcome the Koshigaya delegation, there were many Japanese-related parade parties.
Both cities conduct a bilateral staff exchange program every two years. Our office has have supported staff from Koshigaya during their exchanges to Campbelltown.
By sheer chance, Ms Erisa Morita, a staff member from our Tokyo headquarters and Koshigaya native, visited Sydney to join our multicultural study tour, which we held around the same time as the visit from Koshigaya. She visited Campbelltown as an international exchange participant when she went to school in Koshigaya. This year, using the opportunity of being in Sydney, Ms Morita visited Campbelltown as well on this great occasion and fondly remembered the places and people she visited so many years ago.
