By Gary Haakenson
Mayor of Edmonds

Delegation to Sister City makes triumphant return

Here I am in Japan again! This is the 20th anniversary of our Sister City relationship with the city of Hekinan, Japan. In 1988, Edmonds Mayor Larry Naughten came here to sign the agreement with Mayor Kobayashi of Hekinan. That year was also the 40th anniversary of the incorporation of Hekinan as a city. So our delegation has come to Japan to celebrate both the Sister City 20th anniversary and the 60th anniversary for Hekinan’s incorporation.

Our flight over was long and a little bumpy (100-mile-an-hour headwinds), but not too bad. There were 17 of us onboard from Edmonds and we were excited to get here.

We landed safely, and at the gate were greeted by dozens of Hekinan Sister City staff and several staff officials from Mayor Nagashima’s office. They would be our constant companions throughout our stay. We hopped on the bus for the first of literally dozens of bus trips and were taken to the hotel.

I had asked for a room with wireless Internet access. Three years ago we stayed in a twelfth-floor suite; very large but no wireless access. This time I had wireless internet service, but the entire room was smaller than my bedroom in Edmonds. It was not a room to share as a married couple for a week in Japan!

After some interesting marital discussion, we went to bed. As I expected, I couldn’t sleep for more than a couple hours. So I logged onto the City’s website and started responding to the 117 emails that had come in since I left.

The next morning brought sunshine, and a bus trip to Hekinan City Hall to visit with the Mayor and receive our official welcome to the city. It was good to see Mayor Nagashima again. His three terms as mayor were coming to an end as their elections take place at the end of April. They hold an election the last week of April, and the new mayor takes office on May 1 - not a lot of transition there.

The pace of the visit became so hectic that I didn’t have time to write after that first day, so from here on I’m working off my memory. Frankly, it became a blur. Each day was filled with events and ceremonies; even the fun side trips had an incredible pace to them.

Again we were treated to a trip to the temple city of Kyoto. It was even more beautiful than last time because the sun was shining, as opposed to the heavy rain of our 2005 visit. We rode a city bus every day as it transported us to our destinations, sometimes two or three different stops each day. The week culminated on Friday and Saturday with formal dinner receptions.

Friday night’s dinner was a celebration of our 20 years of sharing a Sister City bond, and the one-year anniversary of Hekinan’s fledgling alliance with the city of Pula in Croatia. Their mayor was “much” younger than me; In fact, he was younger than both my sons! The Croatian ambassador to Japan was also in attendance at the dinner.

Saturday morning we participated in the 60th anniversary of the incorporation of Hekinan as a city. Many ex-mayors from Hekinan were in attendance, and there were many, many speeches, all in Japanese - except mine, which was in English and translated to Japanese. The event was a big deal, and I estimated about 800 people in attendance.

We moved from that event to the grand opening of the Hekinan Art Museum, and I participated in the ribbon cutting. A tour of the museum followed, and then we were whisked away again on the bus, this time back to City Hall for the Hekinan Sister City Commission’s friendship party.

After returning to the hotel, we had an impromptu pizza-and-beer dinner in the lobby. A week away from Edmonds gave us a craving for something other than what we had been eating! It was good way to start our trip back home.

After being back home for four days, a couple things stand out to me about the trip. Once again, our hosts treated us as royalty, and we never lacked for anything. And secondly, my body still hasn’t returned to the correct time zone!

Twenty years ago, city leaders had the foresight to create the Sister City alliance with Hekinan. It has been both educationally and culturally rewarding on both sides of the Pacific. My thanks to those who had the wisdom the forge this bond. It is well worth the effort.