~ Article and photos from Ms. Hiromi Morris, President, Sister Cities New Zealand~
With Miyazu Mayor Inoe, Hiromi (centre) and Charis Chu, JET Assistant English Teacher in Miyazu City
It was a memorable encounter meeting with JET participants during my recent visit to Japan especially as I had an opportunity to greet them at the farewell function in Wellington only a few months earlier.
I visited Miyazu City in Kyoto Prefecture, a sister city of Nelson, and they will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the establishment of their sister city relationship in 2016.
It was great to meet with Charis Chu who seems to enjoy working at a local school and settled well in the community with support of locals who have connections with Nelson.
Minoh City in Osaka Prefecture and Lower Hutt City, New Zealand are celebrating the 20th anniversary of their sister city relationship this year and I was fortunate to visit Minoh City as a member of Lower Hutt Mayoral delegation in October.
From right – Erin Reale-Key from NZ, Hiromi and Sarah Swanson from US, at New Zealand Autumn Fair in Minoh City
It was at the New Zealand Fair held at a shopping mall in Minoh when I happened to meet with Erin Reale-Key from New Zealand and Sarah Swanson from USA. They are both working at local schools as Assistant English Teachers and appreciating their experiences in Japan. I met Sarah earlier at Saito No Oka Gakuen School where she teaches and the school established a permanent Skype connection with Tui Glen School in Lower Hutt. Currently New Zealand has 42 sister city relationships with Japan, the most out of all countries in terms of number.
This year JETs have placements in areas with sister city links in Otaru (Dunedin), Eniwa (Timaru), Tomakomai (Napier), Miyazu (Nelson) and Shinagawa in Tokyo (Auckland).
From right – Erin Reale-Key from NZ, Hiromi and Sarah Swanson from US, at New Zealand Autumn Fair in Minoh City
The JET programme is a wonderful and generous programme set up by the Japanese Government for young people to promote internationalization at a grass-roots level which is similar to the objective of Sister Cities New Zealand.
I hope JET participants will apply what they learnt and achieved in Japan to sister city activities upon their return to New Zealand.
Hiromi Morris
President, Sister Cities New Zealand