Ten-Member Delegation from Newport's Japanese Sister City Arrive Next Week

(file photo)

From City Hall:

Mayor Jeanne Marie Napolitano and the Newport City Council invite the public to join them at a reception on Thursday, July 16th from 5:30 to 6:30 pm in lobby of the Gateway Center at 23 America’s Cup Avenue to welcome members of a delegation visiting from Newport’s Sister City, Shimoda, Japan. Light refreshments will be served.

There will be ten people representing Shimoda, Japan and four students visiting Newport from July 16th through July 20th in conjunction with Newport’s 32nd Annual Black Ships Festival. Representatives include Shimoda Mayor Shunsuke Kusuyama and his wife Kuniko, Mr. & Mrs. Ryohei Watanabe and their grandson Yosuke Kinoshita, Mr. Tatsuyuki Takamura, Mr. Ryuji Uematsu, Shimoda city staff member Ms. Kaori Ozawa and teacher Kentaro Mori. Students include Takuma Hirakawa, Ayumi Inamoto, Yukina Matsumoto and Chisaki Fujii. The students will be staying with the families of Rogers High School students Caeli Palmer and Michael Ashby who visited Shimoda in May.

Newport was twinned with Shimoda, Japan on May 17, 1958 when Mayor Henry C. Wilkinson and Mayor Sadao Suzuki were in office. It is one of the oldest sister city relationships in New England. Shimoda is a city and port located in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan at the southern tip of the Izu peninsula about 60 miles southwest of Tokyo. Shimoda’s location, with the Amagi Mountains to the north, and the warm Kuroshio Current to the south give the city a humid, sub-tropical climate.

Shimoda celebrated its 76th Black Ships Festival in May of this year. Councilors Naomi Neville and Lynn Ceglie were in attendance for the occasion. In addition to members of the delegation from Shimoda, citizens from Hikone and Yokosuka will attend this year’s festival. Uraga Yokosuka was the first port where Commodore Perry anchored his four black ships in June 1853.

While Commodore Perry was the person who successfully negotiated with Tokugawa Shogunate Government to sign the Treaty of Kanagawa (Japan-US Treaty of Peace and Amity) that allowed American people to visit and land in the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate in 1854, the 13th Lord of Hikone was the one who agreed to sign the Treaty of Amity and Commerce in 1958 that allowed the trade and commerce with the US. This year is the 200th birth year of the 13th Lord of Hikone, Sir Naosuke Ii. Representatives from Hikone City, including its mayor, Mr. Okubo, are visiting Newport to pay tribute to the achievement of Commodore Perry.

The Hikone city delegation will also bring their mascot “Hikonyan”. Hikonyan, a white cat from Hikone Castle that is said to have waved to the Lord of Hikone, has a big following in Japan and will make several appearances in Newport including the Opening Ceremony of the Black Ships Festival on Friday, July 17th and at the Festival in Touro Park on Saturday, July 18th.

The Sister City program was created by Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956. Sister City programs are established between cities that are similar in size, have common features (all of Newport’s Sister Cities are seaside towns) and an interest in developing cultural, historic and economic relationships. Sister Cities provide opportunities for citizens to learn about, experience and explore other cultures through long-term community partnerships. For centuries, cities throughout the world have established informal relationships based upon common cultural, economic or historic ties. The relationships provide a forum for the exchange of perspectives and ideas of culture, education, government and economic development.

Newport has five other sister cities - Imperia, Italy, Kinsale, Ireland, Ponta Delgada, the Azores, Skiathos, Greece and St. John, New Brunswick Canada.