15th Annual Seattle Sister Cities Reception

Kobe may be Seattle’s first sister city, but it is not the only one; Seattle has a total of 21 sister cities around the world.  Every spring Seattle holds a Sister Cities Reception that showcases four of their sister cities on a rotating basis.  As in years past, the Kobe Trade Information Office attended the reception held at Seattle City Hall on April 28th.

The doors opened at six and not long after performances began by representatives from each of the four sister cities being showcased.  This year Korea, Ireland and Taiwan had dance performances while Iceland’s male chorus sung Icelandic folk songs.  These were followed by remarks from Master of Ceremonies, Deputy Mayor Smith, and the 2011 Honorary Co-Chairs: the mayor of Seattle, Mike McGinn; the council president, Conlin; and sponsors, such as Nancy Koeper of UPS.

Next were the Award Presentations.  Every year different sister city associations are recognized for their hard work on various projects that help or foster relations between the two cities.  The first award was for Best Single Project and this year there was a tie. 

•  The Seattle Mombasa Sister City Association won for its “Sustainable Coconut Oil” initiative.  The project was designed to address poverty eradication, health promotion and interventions to halt the further spread of HIV/AIDS in Kenya.  The association helped provide a coconut press machine to women in poverty in Mombasa and established a sustainable coconut oil operation.

•  The second award for Best Single Project went to the Seattle Pecs Sister City Association. For their project they presented two gifts to the city of Pecs in commemoration of its selection as the 2010 Cultural Capital of Europe.  The first gift had two parts: a column carved from red cedar that resembles both the traditional totem pole of Northwest natives and a Kopiafa—an ancient Hugarian carving with symbolic designs.  The second gift was a wall plaque by Native American artist Andrew Peterson showing a blue heron hunting salmon.

The other award presented this year was a special, one-time event in honor of Ed Mandity’s four years of service as the sister cities reception chair.  He was awarded an Outstanding Sister City Service award for, “his patience, attention to detail, organizational skills, tireless service and deep commitment to the Seattle Sister Cities Program as Chair of the Sister Cities Reception Committee for the past four years.”

Last but not least were some words of recognition for Tsering Yuthok.  After years of dedicated service in Seattle’s Office of Intergovernmental Relations, Tsering Yuthok retired this year.  In recognition of her hard work, Seattle City Council Member Sally Clark and Kobe Sister City President Karin Zaugg Black both gave speeches in her honor.  We at KTIO say thank you to Tsering Yuthok for all she has done and wish nothing but the best for the future.

Karin Zaugg Black presents an award to Tsering Yuthok for her years of service

Happy Spring Fan Dance by Hengda Dance Academy

 

Below is a list of Seattle’s 21 Sister Cities, along with the year their Sister City relationship began:

Kobe, Japan (1957)

Bergen, Norway (1967)

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (1973)

Beer Sheva, Israel (1977)

Mazatlán, Mexico (1979)

Nantes, France (1980)

Christchurch, New Zealand (1981)

Mombasa, Kenya (1981)

Chongqing, China (1983)

Limbe, Cameroon (1984)

Galway, Ireland (1986)

Reykjavik, Iceland (1986)

Daejeon, Korea (1989)

Kaohsiung, Taiwan (1991)

Pécs, Hungary (1991)

Cebu, Phillippines (1991)

Perugia, Italy (1991)

Surabaya, Indonesia (1992)

Gdynia, Poland (1993)

Haiphong, Vietnam (1996)

Sihanoukville, Cambodia (1999)

Emi Meyer’s Relief Concert

Emi Meyer, the 2007 Seattle-Kobe Sister City Jazz Vocalist winner, held a Great Eastern Japan Earthquake relief concert at a Seattle Japanese sushi restaurant on April 1^st and 2^nd.

In an effort to raise money for the victims of the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake, many sushi restaurants throughout Seattle have donation boxes or host relief effort events.  At the restaurant where Ms. Meyer held her concert, there were several ways they tried to raise money for Japan.  In addition to her concert, prior to the event, T-shirts were for sale and the proceeds were donated to charities for Japan.  Also, the restaurant pledged to donate 10% of their profits to Japan.

Ms. Meyer held one concert on Friday and two on Saturday.  In addition to the money earned from the concert, she donated a portion of her CD sales to the relief effort.

Ms. Emi Meyer

Seattle's Annual Cherry Blossom and Japanese Cultural Festival

The 36^th Annual Seattle Cherry Blossom and Japanese Cultural Festival took placed at the Seattle Center on April 2^nd and 3^rd.

The event is usually held in the middle of April, but despite being help two weeks early this year, the cherry blossoms were nearly in full bloom.  By comparison, the blossoms had nearly all fallen off by the end of March last year.

There were many displays and performances of traditional Japanese culture done by local Japanese culture clubs.  For example, there were Taiko drum performances, traditional Japanese dances, displays of Japanese-style flower arrangements (called ikebana), and Japanese calligraphy, among others.

The Seattle-Kobe Sister City Association (SKSCA) once again had a booth with the Hyogo Business and Cultural Center to promote Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture and the Sister City relationship with Seattle.  One of the highlights of the SKSCA booth was the kimonos.  Visitors could come to the booth, choose a kimono and SKSCA volunteers would dress them.  Once the volunteers finished dressing them, many visitors had pictures taken to remember the experience.

In addition to the kimonos at the SKSCA booth, there was a Kimono Fashion Show emceed by Ms. Yuri Nishimura, an SKSCA board member.  As the audience listened to Ms. Nishimura’s explanations and facts about the kimonos, people took pictures and videos of the models.  The event was so popular that all the seats were filled quickly and people had to stand in the back to watch the show.

We are grateful to Ms. Yuri Nishimura, Ben Erickson, the SKSCA board members and all of the volunteers who helped out at the festival.  We really appreciate all of their hard work.

On March 11, 2011, Japan suffered a magnitude 8.9 (some say 9.0) earthquake and tsunami near Sendai, on the east coast of Japan.  Many people lost their lives, their homes, or a combination thereof.  In order to raise money to help those in need, at this year’s festival there were donation boxes and t-shirts for sale.  The t-shirts were red or blue, with the words, “Tsunami of Love,” written on the front.  The victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake (also called the Tōhoku Earthquake) still need your help and you can donate to organization such as the Red Cross or Peace Winds America.

Next year is the 50^th Anniversary of the opening of the Seattle Center, and hopefully next year’s Cherry Blossom and Japanese Culture Festival will be bigger and better than ever before.

The words, “Ganbare! Japan” are made out of paper cups.  The words translate as, “Keep your chins up Japan!”  There is a message written inside each of the cups.

 

Some of the models of the SKSCA Kimono Fashion Show

The Kimono Dress-Up Corner