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<TITLE>Mishawaka-Shiojiri Sister City Partnership Committee</TITLE>
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<H1>Mishawaka-Shiojiri Sister City Partnership Committee</H1>
This is the story of a friendship�a friendship that spans an ocean, transcending time and the divergence of cultures.</P>
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Out of this friendship, Shiojiri, Nagano Prefecture, Japan, and Mishawaka, Indiana, U.S. A., became �Sister Cities.� And out of this relationship a garden grew. In many ways this garden is helping the people of both cities see the world through new eyes.</P>
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<H2>The seeds are planted�</H2>
Ironically, the Sister City relationship between Shiojiri
and Mishawaka did not begin in Japan or the United States. It began in the small
country of Java. There, on a train in 1937, Helen Amos, a world-traveling
school teacher from Mishawaka, met a young Japanese man named Kenichi Midzuno.
Their conversation led to correspondence when they returned to their home
countries. However, World War II interrupted the exchange of letters.</P>
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After the war, they resumed their correspondence. Then in 1952, Mr. Midzuno was sent to Chicago to manage the Dai Ichi Bank. This enabled him to visit Miss Amos, and their friendship grew. After being transferred to a bank branch in New York, Mr. Midzuno happened to meet a group of Japanese printers who were touring American print shops. One of them was a man named Hiroo Takasuna from Shiojiri. Mr. Takasuna, who was vice president of the Shiojiri Nishi Primary School PTA, had brought the children�s school work with him in hopes of visiting an American school. Mr. Midzuno, remembering Miss Amos and her elementary school, called her from New York. At his suggestion, Shiojiri�s Nishi Primary School and Mishawaka�s Battell Elementary School became sister schools. After this arrangement was formalized, an exchange of letters, artwork and gifts began in 1964 and still continues today.</P>
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<H2>First blossoms�</H2>
The sister school relationship proved so successful that Mr. Komatsu, then mayor or Shiojiri, proposed the idea of Mishawaka and Shiojiri becoming Sister Cities. Mayor Margaret H. Prickett accepted the request and the Sister City relationship was unofficially initiated. Interest and enthusiasm in this Sister City relationship began to gain momentum. In 1967, Mr. and Mrs. Takasuna invited an exchange student from Mishawaka High School to live with them in Shiojiri and attend a year of high school. The following year, the Takasunas' daughter attended Mishawaka High School as an exchange student. Other youth exchanges followed and nearly every year since 1970 individuals and groups from one city have visited the other.</P>
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Finally, in 1972, the Sister City relationship between the two communities became official. During that summer, a delegation from Shiojiri, including Mayor and Mrs. Hanamura, the City County President and his wife, and Mr. and Mrs. Takasuna, visited Mishawaka. Before their visit, the Shiojiri City Council passed a resolution officially establishing a Sister City relationship with Mishawaka. While the Japanese delegation was visiting Mishawaka, the Mishawaka City Council passed a similar resolution.</P>
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<H2>A garden grows�</H2>
Several years later in 1976, the United States was celebrating its Bicentennial Anniversary. In observance of this event, Shiojiri presented Mishawaka with a gift of flowering cherry trees. These trees were planted under the supervision of the Mishawaka Garden Club in a square block of Merrifield Park, which was renamed Shiojiri Grove by the City Council.</P>
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In celebration of the Mishawaka Sesquicentennial in 1983, Mayor Robert Kovach invited a delegation from Shiojiri to join in the festivities. That summer, seven prominent Shiojiri citizens, including Mr. and Mr. Takasuna, visited Mishawaka. As a tribute to their generosity and their contributions to international good will, Mr. and Mrs. Takasuna were made honorary citizens of Mishawaka. All of the other delegates were honored at the Sesquicentennial ceremonies as well.</P>
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During that same year, the Sister City relationship was further strengthened when representatives of the Shiojiri and Mishawaka Lions Clubs met at the International Lions Convention in Hawaii. They signed a document confirming a special relationship between the two clubs. The Mishawaka Lions Club later donated flowering dogwood trees to the city of Shiojiri. This project, like the planting of the Japanese flowering cherry trees in Mishawaka, serves as a constant reminder of the growing friendship between our cities.</P>
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On 21 September 1986 an authentic Japanese room was dedicated at the Hannah Lindahl Children�s Museum. Designed by David C. Brown, architect, the project was funded largely with a grant from the Mishawaka Lions Club. Later the same day, ground was broken for the development of an authentic Japanese-style garden in Shiojiri Grove, also referred to as Shiojiri Niwa (Shiojiri Garden).</P>
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<H2>In the fullness of time�</H2>
In June 1987 an eight-member delegation represented Mishawaka in Shiojiri at a formal celebration of the fifteen year Sister City relationship. During the course of many social events, home stays and a parade, new friendships were made and old ties strengthened.</P>
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On 23 August 1987, Mitsuhiro Ono, mayor of Shiojiri, headed a large delegation of visitors to Mishawaka for the dedication of Shiojiri Garden. Designed by Shoji Kanaoka, the Japanese landscape architect at EPCOT Center, Disney World, Florida, Shiojiri Niwa contains more than 20 different varieties of large plant materials, over 200 large boulders and a teahouse pavilion. One of the garden�s focal points, an authentic Japanese stone lantern, is an earlier gift from the citizens of Shiojiri.</P>
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The 1.3 acre garden is probably the first of its kind in Indiana. The project took two years from inception to completion and was financed almost entirely with private donations, including a generous gift from the citizens of Shiojiri. It promises to become one of the area�s outstanding tourist attractions.</P>
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<H2>A living legacy�</H2>
Thanks to the cooperation and leadership of Mayor Robert C. Beutter and Mayor Mitsuhiro Ono � as well as that of previous administrations in both cities dating back to 1964 � I has been possible to build on the international exchange first promoted by Hiroo Takasuna and Helen Amos.</P>
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Reflecting upon the historical relationship of Japan and the United States, it is evident that international friendship and understanding can transcend the tragedy and anguish of mistrust and war.</P>
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School children of Shiojiri and Mishawaka planted the seeds of this thriving Sister City relationship when they first exchanged letters and gifts in 1964. The dream of Shiojiri Niwa has become a reality. Today, we again recognize the contribution of our youth who raised money to help construct the bridges in the garden using the theme, �A Bridge to Understanding.� May our Sister City relationship serve as an inspiration to people of all ages throughout the world to create their own bridges of understanding.</P>
--adapted from �A Bridge to Understanding,� a history of the Sister City relationship between Shiojiri City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan, and Mishawaka, Indiana, United States of America (2000)<BR>
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