Production of Exchanges: Celebrating 25 years of Friendship was made possible by grants from Fort Wayne Sister Cities International increasing international understanding through person to person contact between Sister Cities.

International promotes cultural exchanges, business relationships and educational opportunities with Takaoka, Japan, Korea, Germany and France.

Poland.

More information on how you can think internationally by acting locally is available by contacting Fort Wayne Sister Cities International at P.O.

Box 5332, Fort Wayne, Indiana.

46895.

The Chapman Exchange Student Scholarship Fund providing scholarships for students who are interested in living or studying in Fort Wayne Sister City.

The Chapman Exchange Student Scholarship Fund is administered by Fort Wayne Sister Cities International, which has longstanding relationship with Takaoka, Japan.

Gera, Germany and Plock, Poland.

More information about the Chapman Exchange Student Scholarship Fund is available by contacting Fort Wayne Sister Cities International at 5332, Fort Wayne, Indiana.

46895.

Birthdays, graduations, Weddings, anniversaries, celebrations, celebrations that don't simply mark the passage of time, but honor who we are and what we've become while stirring in anticipation of what lies ahead.

This is no ordinary celebration.

This is a unique opportunity to honor a friendship that has developed between two communities from opposite sides of the world.

Two communities who have made a commitment to one another.

A commitment to break down barriers of stereotypes and distance in order to exchange ideas and experiences directly with each other simply to better understand one another.

Fort Wayne Sister Cities International is celebrating 25 years of exchanges with Takaoka, Japan.

Time flies.

I see those photographs of 25 years ago and I wonder who those kids are.

We started in 1975 when I went to Seattle, Washington to visit my brother Bruce, who was on the city council there, and I learned from him about their Sister City in Japan and he asked if Fort Wayne had a Sister City.

And I said, Well, I didn't think we did.

He said, Well, my gosh, you should do that.

You should have a Sister City and make that a project for the bicentennial, because the 1976 was coming up.

And all over America, people were doing various things to celebrate the bicentennial.

And we had a committee here in Fort Wayne working on it.

So I said, Well, that's good.

So when I came back, I called LaDonna Huntley, who was the person in charge of the celebration for 1976 for Fort Wayne, working for Mayor.

Ivan Lebamoff at that time.

And I told her about this.

I said, this is a really good idea.

Fort Wayne could have a Sister City.

And as a project for our bicentennial, that's that be something that your committee could do?

Well, she thought that was a good idea.

And so about a week later, I got a letter from Ivan.

Lebamoff and it says, Howard, I'm appointing you chairman of our Sister City committee.

We think back to 1975 when we kind of got started with the idea of a Sister City.

And I was thinking of old time was one of those with us tonight at Don Doxsee, it was Don Doxsee who called me up when I was the chairman of the Sister City committee and said he had a gentleman from Japan and his office that was interested in considering a Sister City with Fort Wayne.

A salesperson who was trying to deal with Essex Wire, stopped by the Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce, and he had previously talked to some people from Takaoka, Japan, and they indicated to him that they were interested in Sister City in America and so he was kind of following up on that.

And he went to the Chamber of Commerce.

And at that time I was chairman of the World Trade Committee of the Fort Wayne Chamber, and they didn't know quite what to do with him over at the Chamber of Commerce, but they knew I was chairman of this committee.

So they said, I we'll send him over to see Don Doxsee.

Don came over with who was here on business, and Terry told us about Takaoka, Japan.

He said, I know a city very comparable to Fort Wayne.

I think they would like to find a Sister City in the United States.

And I wonder if Fort Wayne would have an interest.

And I said, Well, that's just what we're doing.

I became involved in 1976 when the first group came over here, led by Mr. Hashimoto, and there were four Mr. Hashimoto and four young gentleman representing the Junior Chamber of Commerce, and we met with them over a three or four day period.

Some of the JCC members made an organization before making I mean, Sister City affiliation.

They came here to research in advance and then after that they gave the necessary otherwise to our administration.

But it rained the entire time they were here.

And I can distinctly remember, as we put them on the plane, that's the last we will ever see of those people because of the bad weather.

My first impression was very American city and there are a nice list of people who are ready.

So after coming back to Takaoka, I recommended the mayor.

the city of Fort Wayne is very good for the people of Takaoka.

In 1977, we took an official delegation to Takaoka.

At that time, Bob Armstrong had become our new mayor.

I felt an important follow through on what we call President Eisenhowers Sister City thoughts and that was that the more we knew about other countries, other cities, their religion, their culture, language, all these type of things, their business, the industry, that there would be peace in the world because we knew more about each other.

We left Fort Wayne on April 4, 1977.

In the whole group.

We went 52 people.

The youngest one was seven.

The oldest one was 77.

We got off the train and old car and we felt like rock stars because there must have been 150 photographers, television cameramen, bulbs and flashbulbs.

One of the things I never felt like a tall person in their life.

They closed the schools.

The city was like, you see in the Three Rivers Festival downtown Fort Wayne on on the parade day.

That was our band playing The Star-Spangled Banner.

People giving us flowers, even borrowed a form of India and the United States cards in the parade.

And there's a convertible, but there was no convertible available in Takaoka, so they had to ram two convertible 200 miles away to be able to have it.

They had us in busses to go through town and people were lined up six deep on both sides of the street through the city.

We were met by literally hundreds and hundreds of people and particularly schoolchildren.

There had little American flags and they were all lined up and we ran this.

There's a pathway through this large group of people there.

Armstrong and Mayor Hori each signed the documents to officially declare that Fort Wayne and Takaoka were Sister Cities.

After the formalities of signing the document.

We went to the top of the park.

I forget the name of the top of the park, but we planted two trees and on those two trees was an emblem.

We said, as the trees grow, become stronger.

So it must.

The relationship between Fort Wayne, Indiana and top with Japan.

And we've been added ever since.

Sister City partnerships began in the United States shortly after World War Two, when President Dwight Eisenhower proposed the People to People program at a White House conference in 1956.

His intention to help foster world peace and understanding one friendship at a time.

The Sister Cities International organization evolved from this People to People program in 1967, carrying on the ambitious vision of President Eisenhower.

And like many communities around the world, Fort Wayne, Indiana, eagerly adopted this Sister City model.

Since the first relationship was formalized with Takaoka, Japan, in 1977, Fort Wayne has broadened its international understanding by establishing relationships with Poland and Germany, as well as our principle goals.

A cultural exchange and education.

And I think the overall Sister City idea of creating a better understanding between different cultures so that people don't fight.

And a lot of people have said during this, if we had Sister Cities, we wouldn't have had that war.

I think mainly those years where, uh, friendship and to be acquainted and forget the past and also for younger people and we were more interested in exchange in the art and the music.

And there was an article in the Journal Gazette yesterday talking about the fact that Fort Wayne is a very desirable community because of the fact that we have what we're termed, quote, creative minds, unquote.

And I think that this program is just a reflection of that, that we are a community that is very receptive and open to people and cultures, and that certainly is one of our strengths.

So if we weren't open to this kind of thing, we would not be what we are.

I think we do a great deal towards promoting international exchanges and international relationships that otherwise wouldn't be here.

And I, I, I credit the founders, people like Howard Chapman and Dan Doxsee, who saw back in 1976 the benefits of doing that.

We went to a luncheon and they did a veteran did a dance in honor of all veterans in that war.

And he was a samurai sword and he danced with a samurai sword during when he finished, he put it in a sheath and he went over and he handed it to me.

Well, that was a beautiful samurai sword, and I didn't think it was a gift.

So I bowed and I handed it back.

And then Yamanaka came up with.

No, no, mayor, You've just insulted him.

He's that is a gift from one veteran to another veteran who both fought in World War Two.

When I first tried to find families for the kids that were coming from Japan, I would have grandma and grandpa saying, We don't want anything to do with them Japs.

I mean, this was a grandma and grandpa's who had been through World War Two and had no use for Japanese.

But, you know, within about two years, as I started to get families to host the kids, now they begged to host the kids and it just proves that you've got to have experiences one on one so that you understand that they're all people and they're all we're all alike.

And a lot of ways, I believe, you know, this the expansion of this kind of activity is reassuring that to the world peace are the main reasons for the trip to talk our friendship, diplomacy and fun.

But certain members of the Fort Wayne delegation have ulterior motives.

City council member Vivian Schmidt says she's interested in Japanese industrial innovations.

Well, I'm planning to be meeting with municipal officials who were there and we're going to be touring some of their industries.

We're interested.

One of the things that interests Americans more and more about Japan is their industrial development and how they are extremely productive in comparison to American factories.

So I hope we'll be able to get in to see some industrial plants.

Along with Schmidt, the Fort Wayne delegation includes city clerk Charlie Westerman, state Senator Elmer McDonald, and Sister City Chairman Bill Castiel.

John Hoylman, News 15.

When the Sister City relationship started both economies in 1976 77, the economies of Japan and the US were were both very good there.

Later in the eighties, the economy of the US went down.

The recession of 82 through 84 and was particularly difficult here in Fort Wayne.

But during all that period of time, the economy of Japan kept going up until it looked like in the late eighties that Japan was even going to surpass the US as one of the strongest economic powers in the world.

And that was true up until early nineties, when Japan went into recession and turned down.

But during the late eighties here, we looked to Japan for all types of things, and a number of people, including Mayor Moses and myself, went over to try to get Japanese suppliers to come and locate in Fort Wayne.

The early 1980s, rather turbulent times in Fort Wayne history.

We had the worst flood International Harvester left, so I didn't have time to go in the first time.

And they were a little insistent that we should do some more.

So it wasn't until about 1985, 1986 that I was able to accept their offer to go over.

In those days, of course, everything revolved around how to get more jobs for the city of Fort Wayne, and we'd worked hard locally, but it was important also to have a a national and an international relationship, and this seemed like a perfect venue to accomplish that.

And the chamber employed Dan Yamanaka full time.

Dan Yamanaka was the liaison we had not only with Japan, but with the whole Far East.

And we were successful in bringing business from Japan.

I believe there are about five Japanese companies in the area and the property of about $100 million investment in the area.

It's not one of these.

Within five years we want five businesses to locate because of it.

And I think some people will look at and say, you know, what has been the what's been the economic payoff?

And if there isn't a direct economic payoff, then it must not be worthwhile.

There have been economic positives from it.

I think that the chambers of commerce have a relationship.

There have been other Japanese businesses that have come here partially because they knew we had the relationship.

But that's not the principal thing you look at.

I think the thing I look at is, is this relationship still in place?

Is it still going strong?

Is it still vital and vibrant, even though it's been 25 years now?

And it is.

And if we've got a relationship that's gone through changes, the mayors on both sides of the ocean that we've gone through, changes in the people and it's still going strong.

That means it's going to stay there for a long time.

It could be downtown Fort Wayne or Anytown, USA, but something's wrong here.

The players are Japanese and the setting is Takaoka, Japan.

The occasion, the dedication of an authentic American heliotek or sundial, handmade out of Indiana limestone still there in front of City Hall, in fact, identical to the one we have here in Fort Wayne.

The dial was sent to Takaoka in exchange for this Japanese garden.

The garden was put in last fall and is now on public display here at the east end of the Performing Arts Center.

And we have the dedication.

This is only the 22 years ago.

In 1980, uh, this was donated by Japanese.

Not if not the monarch.

I hope it will convey the true atmosphere of the Japanese garden to the people of Fort Wayne.

Since the establishment of Fort Wayne Sister Cities International, many high schools now celebrate the commitment to international student exchanges.

Having built a strong relationship between our cities early on, students not only get a rich and fulfilling experience of studying in a foreign country, but they greet one another with mutual feelings of comfort, familiarity and trust, making this exchange program unique among the rest.

We believe that these international experiences for all young people, have positive value.

As nations in the world become more interdependent, it becomes increasingly important that high school students develop a sense of global citizenship and the skills necessary to succeed in an interdependent world.

One July day during the Three Rivers Festival in the late 1970s, Mayor Armstrong called me and asked me if we'd be willing to meet with a delegation from Tokyo and Japan that then included some high school officials.

So I took a couple of students and a couple of teachers and we went down and met with the Koryo High School school officials.

And we agreed at that meeting that we would have some kind of an informal relationship.

In 76 is that when the girls came to, they brought a group of girls over here, 16 high school students, and we hosted a young woman who came and stayed with us.

And I remember the first day I got up early and there she was sitting out in the front yard playing her her guitar.

What was she playing?

She was playing some instrument and music was in her kimono and she added a lot of spice to our life for several weeks.

And then we decided to go to a more formal relationship.

So in September of 1982, Koryo sent a delegation of teachers and students to North Side for several weeks, and at that time we signed a formal covenant agreement between the two schools that we would begin exchanging teachers and students.

I knew that the students could no longer base their future on their local culture.

They just had to be more aware of other cultures, other languages in order to succeed, because we are definitely a global community.

We had we were involved in a program called J Lex which sent a Japanese person to Fort Wayne to help teach our classes.

So for about four or five years, we had a Japanese teacher here to help with our teaching classes.

Mr.

Vow was here, and in 1983 at that time asked for a teacher to come to Fort Wayne North Side to teach Japanese culture.

He then asked me if I would just work with the teacher and help out, and I was bored and decided to learn the language.

And so then I studied at Indiana University and to develop it into a three year program.

Some years we would have kids from all over the world there.

One year we had 41 foreign exchange students at North Side.

The other schools were Elmhurst has a school, Snider has a school and Bishop Luers has a school.

So therefore schools, sister schools in Fort Wayne.

I was interested in just to learn about a different culture.

My family had never really done anything like that before, so it was a really good experience.

Actually.

I haven't been on a trip like that since, and just to learn about a different culture, it was just really neat and it wasn't a case of their feeling that they were going to go over there to show the Japanese students how Americans lived and how we did it, but rather that they wanted to learn from the experience of being involved in their culture.

The school's relationship with Takaoka was further cemented in 1989, when the schools under Principal Dan Howe was invited to celebrate with Takaoka because their 100 years as a city taking 245 people to Japan, all of the instruments that had to be packed, all the negotiating and the traveling experience that had to go through getting all those kids so they could learn a few words of Japanese and getting them ready to go and then getting their back.

We had talked to her just a day or two ago.

We have come halfway around the world with a desire to deepen the understanding and friendship between our cities.

Marching bands are a really big deal in Japan.

Communities are held in high esteem that have good marching band.

We had the Arrowettes which was our dance group, our flag group, and they just it really didn't have a lot of that.

And those young ladies had choreographed some things to Michael Jackson and everything, and that just was very outstanding.

The Japanese just thought that was great and we had to march with them.

We marched behind them and we had all kinds of parades.

And of course, the band would be playing and the Japanese kids would be playing in their band.

And then I was would be following and people that were like and people all over the city were there watching stuff.

They would come and hand your gifts.

Can you believe that when you're walking along and talk to you and hand you stuff.

So when we finished a parade, we were just laying down with presents.

We're very proud of our young people and our adults that are here.

They they've had a just an unbelievable experience.

And the people here in Japan have just treated them like $1,000,000.

And we couldn't be more pleased.

Now, how many people are in this parade today in the band?

There are about 40 bands.

And with the little dinky kids really stealing the show, I'm glad our students are at the end where they don't have to be compared with those cute little kids.

The kids themselves were so totally impressed with the respect that was shown and the hospitality and the actual.

When they left.

Kids were crying and parents, the host parents were crying and wanting them to come back.

I can't imagine how in ten days you can develop that kind of a relationship.

And some of those kids still hear from their host parents.

Youve been just great.

I can never repay you.

We were told this by the Japanese travel people that that was the largest delegation from a single high school to ever go to Japan.

And they were just amazed that the endeavor that we would even take on something like this.

And, you know, there were some times when I wondered, too, but the kids were great.

The parents were good.

And it was really one of the really big highlights of my career at North Side was a marvelous experience for our students as well as the rest of us who went along.

What can I say, it was an experience of a lifetime as the years have gone by, more and more scholarship programs and foundations have grown as a result of this international partnership.

Countless students and families who lack their own resources are now able to reap the benefits.

International exchanges.

I had a lot of fun today, and I got to experience more than just the city in the school.

I got to go out into the countryside and experience the natural beauty that makes Japan so such a wonderful country.

When I first found out that I'd be going to Japan, I never thought that I would see such beautiful lakes and the mountains that I saw were just gorgeous.

And this has been a great experience for me, and I'm very thankful that I've given the opportunity to come along with them.

And I'm very grateful for their time and concern for expanding the knowledge of the Japanese culture.

After having just a taste of foreign study experience, many students motivate themselves beyond their own dreams and expectations, making a lifelong commitment to broadening their perspectives of the world.

The thing about the Japanese program that's so unique was that I was 17 years old and I took this couple of culture classes, like I said, and next thing you know, I have the opportunity to to go overseas.

I mean, at that point, my parents had never been over the ocean before and my parents were behind it 100%.

And they thought it was the neatest thing in the world and couldn't believe I was going to be attached to that.

And do you want to go?

And I'm like, Yeah, I'll go.

I'll go spend my summer in Japan.

Sounds like a great time.

And I went with Tony Casiano, Jackie Keirstead and Susan Lane, and Susan and I really hit it off in Japan.

We were buddies in Japan.

We'd go everywhere together.

We'd go drink coffee at a coffee shop, and she was obviously the best out of the four of us in language.

I think she had a natural she had a knack for it.

[Speaking Japanese] It's good to have a variety of age groups attend the International Cultural Exchange program.

It's advantageous to join at a young age like I did.

I participated in the exchange student program when I was young, and it has definitely impacted my life greatly.

A couple of years ago, I got a chance to meet up with her again before she got married to her Japanese husband.

And so at it's an it's fascinating.

Out of the four people that went there, you know, I took it as far as I did.

And she continues, not only does she continue with it, but it's become a part of her life.

And ended up I took it took five years to graduate from my you because I wanted a degree in Japanese as well as my job as well as my business degree.

So I finished up in the in the five years at IU and I was talking with my private college professor I had for Japanese and said, Where can I go with this?

I want to go do something.

And and she had found a program of teaching English and American culture in Japanese high schools.

Public high schools is called the Jap program and the Japanese Education and Teaching Program.

I can't remember her exchange and teaching program, but I was too qualified for it.

They wouldn't take me.

I had too much Japanese.

I had too much culture.

I'd actually been there.

Oh, this is what I was told, that they didn't want people like me.

So she found another program at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana that took teachers over to do the same thing, but they only have 30 high schools as opposed to the large national scope that the JET program had.

So I had my own little area, I had my own little life, and I lived there for two years and I taught English and I call American culture.

That's what my classes were.

I taught American culture and English to two Japanese public high schools.

People ask me about it.

I don't even classify it as a job.

I say it was another two years of college because it was like I was still learning.

It was like a grad school, an intensive Japanese program.

I mean, who knows where where we'd be without the, you know, the North Side program that even got us started with the whole thing.

It's quite, quite amazing to think about when we were giving these kids worldly experiences.

It was really ironic to see that the first time a kid ever rode on a train was a bullet train over in Japan, and they were going 130 mile an hour or the first time they ever went on a plane trip, they flew nonstop from Chicago to Tokyo.

And a lot of these kids had never been outside the state of Indiana.

Yet their first trip outside the state of Indiana was to Japan.

As Takaoka and Fort Wayne celebrate 25 years of growing together.

The student exchange program also celebrates its ability to grow and mature along with the students of today's generation.

I still remember the day when I was coming from middle school and, uh, when I was an eighth grader going to talk to the foreign art booth and Mrs. Goodwin was like, Are you sure you want to take Japanese?

I was like, I'm positive.

And she's like, It's pretty tough.

She was warning me that it was a very difficult language and that if I was strong willed, I would be able to do it.

And and here I am.

I've already taken four years.

I've gone to Japan and I loved it there.

I became very close with my host family.

First of all, you're not going to Japan.

You're going to me home.

You know me all the languages, the home, the you need to be there 2 hours ahead of time.

Bow like this, this.

A nice bow.

Okay.

You'll probably find yourself bowing a couple of times and also on the telephone you may say, I tell you what, going to go to Tokyo going.

I spend the night in Tokyo and we're going to go meet our host families and stay in Japan for three weeks.

I think it'll be good to learn about their culture and stuff.

I'm really looking forward to it.

I know when I get back I won't be the same.

I'll be after doing all that stuff.

It's going to be fun.

My greatest concern is that we don't have enough fun.

It's the day that she's been.

She's been waiting for a long time.

I'll never do it.

And she deserves that.

And I'm happy for Sayonara Adios The trip to Tokyo or to Takaoka was just a beautiful, beautiful train ride.

We went up into the mountains and it's something that I have never seen before.

Just.

Just straight up into the mountains.

Just beautiful scenery.

And then when we got to Takaoka and the train station, after we had to go through the bullet train and off all this other stuff, and we had a great big meeting, everyone just coming in, greeting us.

Our families were there.

They had a huge banner.

Everybody was taking pictures.

It was great.

Everybody was so nice.

That really set the tone for what, the next two weeks and Takaoka was going to be like The most important place in town where everything gathers around is the Eki.

Eki.

All those years where Ms.. Gerber was telling me that I was going to kick myself in the butt.

When I got to Japan, I did, because even after four years of Japanese, I felt like I knew absolutely nothing about it.

Um, so to all you young people out there study, I didn't really feel the kanji overwhelming me.

Like where I'd be astonished and that all these people were like, different than me.

The language barrier is different.

I didn't really notice that at all.

This is kind of walk through here every morning (Singing) I think that you can talk, talk about things, talk about things, talk about things.

But until you actually do things, then you're not you're not complete.

And I think these students are probably tell you the same thing that, you know, it's neat to learn things in classrooms.

It's neat to talk about things.

It's neat to watch videos, but it's just incredible to be there.

It taught me a lot.

And I mean, not only I didn't learn only about Japan and stuff, but I learned about life itself and like, I think I saw some of the stuff that surprised me.

In Japan, we're not even so much the differences, but the similarities between people over there and people here.

And so I learned more about like, you know, being human and stuff and how I don't think that the Japanese are as different as I used to think they were.

I mean, and now, like, even when I see like Asians, like around Fort Wayne and stuff, I no longer think of them as, you know, foreigners, whatever.

It's almost like I think of them more as friends and they're not so strange to me anymore.

If you ever look at a history book, the usually the modern day is like about a paragraph when everything else is in full detail.

I wanted to know more that paragraph.

And I went there, came back, and now I have pages full rather than just that paragraph.

It's the most inspiring experience of my life.

But considering that I've hardly been out of Indiana, that's I don't have much to say because I'm sure we have like a lot of that stuff here.

But I got it all at once in Japan.

And when I was over there I found that the people were just like us.

The kids were just like American students.

They laughed.

They just they hung out with their friends.

They went to the mall.

They just did whatever pretty much what we did.

It's just so inspiring, the different things.

They have things over there that I never even thought of existing over here.

And so I did a lot of journaling too, like that.

And writing things down in notebooks that one of these like just like a pet.

I just love aquariums.

And we went to an aquarium and we got to see all of the life that lived in the sea.

All the fish there were octopus.

There's a dolphin show for us.

I just thoroughly enjoyed myself.

There's like a little petting section.

I've got pictures of me picking stuff up and Mr. Jellies over here, like, and I'll give you two bucks if you pick that up.

You know, I was really touched that they, like, made this stuff especially for me.

And I know, like, this is something that I'll keep forever.

And I thought at the elementary school, the kids were absolutely adorable.

And when they started giving me all this stuff and showing me everything, I was it was great.

It was the elementary school.

It was one of the best times of the trip for me.

I think one of the most poignant moments of the trip for me was the last day in Takaoka when we were at the train station and just the, you know, the emotion with these kids is just tears running down their faces.

And I don't think Harry wanted to leave.

I think, you know, we had to drag Harry out of the train.

But it really hit home to me how much these kids cared about their families and how big of a bond or how solid of a bond they've developed.

And just two short weeks.

You know, if you're a good educator, the walls of your school expand, you know, throughout the world.

And that's what we were trying to do.

And I think it was it was it was a goal that I think we accomplished.

Uh, I have never seen this type of program in any other Sister City programs.

I think we're very proud of that.

We can provide.

Uh, I think tens of a student has been to Japan, and I'm hoping those people, when they grow up, they become much more internationalized people.

I think kids are pretty much kids all over the world.

Programs may change.

You may get more money from one program or scholarship from the other program.

But, um, I, I don't know that they even really realize that they have these goals.

I think that comes years later when they then realize, Oh boy, am I glad my mom got me into that program.

Um, and I think that's the responsibility of Sister Cities and of parents and of the educators to have that opportunity available.

I have a two daughters, one that's 12 and nine, and I think if they ever had that opportunity, I would want them to try a different culture.

And I think going and experiencing that is totally different than reading about it.

They are more aware of career implications as far as activities are than they may have been at one one time.

And I don't mean to say that they look at it as a resumé enhancement experience, but they know that it is, and they realize that it could help them get into a better school, perhaps to be able to say that they were part of this exchange program.

And certainly if they've studied the Japanese language, that can be helpful to them.

So they're pretty sophisticated these days.

It's not all just going for the fun of it.

They do know why they're going.

It's so much fun to make an opportunity available and then see kids take advantage and and see them grow.

You know, you wouldn't think they could grow in ten days or a month.

They do.

I mean, changing their lives while keeping up with the constantly changing generations of exchange students.

Fort Wayne Sister Cities International must also involved with each generation of its city's leaders.

With the change in mayors from Armstrong and Mayor Moses.

And from Mayor Hori to Mayor Sato, the challenge was to bring the Sister City relationship into a new generation of mayors and our our second and third decades course.

The main thing that we talked about then was that, uh, it's been a while since there had been a delegation from Fort Wayne to Takaoka and that, uh, I can't remember exactly when I heard about it, but I guess I think even early on in my term, which started January one of 88, they knew that that was going to be the 100th anniversary of Takaoka as a city.

In 1989, we took a delegation, including the Chapmans and the Buskirks and Mary Brant and a number of those that are here to Takaoka for Takaoka because 100th anniversary is the city.

Yeah, I need a few more people that are almost totally in a completely different world, far different than other parts of the world that I travel.

But when we got there, just the friendship, the friendliness, the hospitality, I mean, we're treated like visiting royalty.

It seemed like as the head of the delegation, it was even more the flowers, the children, the flags, the enthusiasm, government officials, the Sister City development committee of Takaoka.

All the people of Takaoka, I bring happy birthday greetings from the citizens of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

The United States of America.

(Speaking Japanese).

We are not only celebrating the 20th anniversary, but I am confident in the fact that of all Sister City relationships, ours is probably the most diverse with respect to cultural exchanges taken place.

In the back of your mind, you're thinking these are people that we fought with not that many years ago.

And in the end, just to see the warmth there and I think a real desire on the people of Takaoka to to become friends with with Fort Wayne and to learn about Fort Wayne and to care about Fort Wayne.

It was a very interesting experience for us When Don came home and said that there was a group going and he'd been asked to go with then-Mayor Paul Helmke and represent the city, and I said, I can't go.

I don't like things Oriental, I don't like raw fish.

It's not a good time for me.

I was president of the Philharmonic Women's Committee and we were having our biggest fundraiser during the time that the group was going to be gone.

I said, I can't do this.

Our children are too small.

And he said, Well, get over it because we're going.

And we did.

And it was the most wonderful experience I'd ever had.

I was so grateful to have had the opportunity, as I have come to know the Japanese people, they are very warm and friendly.

They welcomed us, they treated us like royalty.

Takaoka is a lovely, charming city, much like Fort Wayne.

Very many things in common, from the three rivers to the economics.

And it was truly one of the nicest visits I'd ever had for all the whining I did beforehand.

They have a major parade with with the festival and these these floats that are these old, ancient, huge, heavy things that you pull basically through the streets of town.

And now we have a Three Rivers festival and it's all motorized underneath.

These are pushed by humans.

And and it was a great honor.

I think it was the first time they'd ever had folks from from outside be part of the group to push it.

So to the to be able to be part of the festival and helped push the float, even though it was heavy as all get out and you you were worried, you know, can we do this?

Can we do it right?

Well, we embarrassed ourselves.

I was excited.

I've been to Japan four times and visited Takaoka four times.

Each trip was still the same.

It was just the excitement that to see us, to meet us, to talk to us, to learn from us, to teach us.

And the visits that we've had from there.

But it's it's one you're it's like seeing a friend from high school that you haven't seen for four years that you remain close to.

You just you just feel good being with it with that person.

I think it's that with Takaoka, it feels good to be there and it feels good to have them here.

Friends from Takaoka, thank you for your friendship.

Thank you for being there for us.

Domo arigato.

Its good to see you.

Just tell them what they still on the snake.

You know, this trip of ours gave me the pleasure of meeting Mayor Richard for the first time.

Before that, Mayor Helmke had been in office, so I had many chances to see Mayor Helmke this time.

I talked to Mayor Richard about our efforts from now on to promote and keep our relationship, and I hope we exchange our information about our cities and make efforts to promote our Sister City relationship.

The experience of learning, the sharing of hopes and the sharing of peace continue for another 25 years with our Sister Cities.

I have to see a lot of my good friends and family and playing golf.

One of the benefits of a Sister City's relationship is to be able to see old friends again.

As it is true tonight with Kimi Ovi, Mayor Sato, we treasure those friendships very much.

(Singing) Mr. Hashimoto was the he brought over the first group that came and he was very much involved all the way through the early years and became a good friend of a lot of us.

And we exchanged letters and he spoke very nice English.

And he wrote poetry, wrote poetry in English.

I remember one letter he wrote said, May there always be a rainbow between Fort Wayne and Takaoka.

He had a stroke.

And when we went back in, what, 86, 97, he was not well at all.

But he and his wife did make the effort to meet with us.

And we met at the hotel.

It's unbelievable to see you all here.

Yes.

And it was a pretty tearful reunion because I know he could understand this, you know, And we enjoyed being with him.

We all saying we all sang to Mr. Hashimoto and there wasn't a dry eye.

No.

Somebody brought pictures of passed in counters, albums, and we all gathered around.

And that's what made him very emotional.

We all sang “Home on the Range” and we couldn't get through.

It started crying.

People were crying.

And I looked at Mr. Nakashima and he was crying.

And then I looked at the TV cameraman and he was crying.

Your city ... in commemoration with the signing of the agreement 25 years ago.

Ohisako Tanabe came over here in the summer of 1976 with nine 15 and 16 year old girls who were coming on the experiment in international living and she was their English teacher, and they stayed with different families around Fort Wayne.

And we got to have her stay with us for three weeks.

We stayed good friends ever since.

And when did we see her next?

Well, in 77.

Oh, yeah, 77 this spring.

We went to the first trip to Takaoka and we got to have got to see her a lot.

And we didn't stay with her, but we did have a day with her and her family at her house and in.

So her young daughters were so cute.

And, uh, it was, it has been fun through the years to see them grow up.

is for you.

(Inaudible conversation).

Even though I'm not mayor, when I see, uh, uh, Kiyori or Mayor Sato or hear about, uh, some of the other folks that I'd had a chance to meet, uh, the schools, the businesses, the downtown.

Um, you get excited, you want to see the pictures again, It's it's like looking at a friend's grandkids or something.

You might not have met them, but you want to know that they're doing well as this pledge.

And these goals have come to fruition for the past 25 years.

We do now take the opportunity of the visit of the mayor of Takaoka and the city of Fort Wayne to reaffirm the covenant and confirmation of the Sister City relationship between our two cities and that's a long time, 25 years to maintain a relationship and still have enthusiasm from both sides of the ocean.

Um, so it was just a real gratifying kind of experience to see it come together.

And I thought that celebration was so much fun and so neat.

Didn't you think it was really a neat occasion?

(Speaking Japanese) Thank you very much for inviting us to your city.

All the 22 members of the Takaoka delegation are deeply impressed with the warm hospitality you've given us during our stay here.

Many events and home visits have enabled us to interact with lots of people in your city.

And we like Fort Wayne more than before, and we'll do our best to continue our relationship.

Without Takaoka, we would not have our other Sister City relationships.

We would not be as good of a city as we are today.

It brought me as a as a person, both from a cultural standpoint and just, uh, of of knowledge of things.

And, you know, I'd still a little midwest kid from Auburn, Indiana, with not a whole lot of, uh, broad horizons if it wouldn't have been for this.

If we didn't have our Sister Cities, I think we would be culturally deprived as the way I would put it.

And especially the high school students who over the years have been able to participate and it's been a great experience for them.

It's it allowed me to be a better mayor.

It's allowed me to be a better lawyer and I think a better person.

If you understand, you have a better chance of understanding yourself.

It went on and went on and went on nights over 25 years and I'm still in it.

I think it's I'm going to have to make room for a younger generation to take care of that.

Things have changed naturally.

Even the Japanese people have changed from 25 years ago.

As long as people are willing to adapt to the philosophies of Eisenhower when he developed this program, and they use that as the basis for having a Sister City organization and I think will continue to grow.

This program is one that deserves to continue and be expanded.

It is very helpful to Fort Wayne to have my Sister City relationships, whether it's Takaoka, Gera or any other cities that we might choose to be partners with, We gain every time we have a treasure here and take care of it and keep it healthy.

But if we can think of it as a plant, needs a little water once in a while, a little fertilizer, keep it growing.

Uh, but it's well worth it.

To the development of the program and the promotion of all of our come by in Japanese way.

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