SEQUIM — Two cultures came together once again Friday to celebrate the friendship between Sequim and Shiso City, Japan.
City leaders, hosts and an interpreter greeted 14 Shiso City ninth-grade students, Shiso Mayor Katsu Toji, City Council Chairman Hatsuo Okada, and Kazushige Kotera, Shiso’s chairman of the International Relations Committee among other chaperones on Friday after they arrived by bus from Seattle.
The group will visit Sequim through Tuesday.
Similar to Japan
Through an interpreter, Mayor Toji said his first impression was that Sequim and vicinity, with the Olympic Mountain as a backdrop, was similar to parts of Japan.
The students, excited to have arrived in Sequim, tried out their newly learned English when approached by their American hosts.
“I like America and America’s food. It’s delicious,” said Masanobu Ogura, a 15-year-old who attends West Yamasaki Junior High School.
Through Sequim Japanese interpreter Ryoko Toyama, Yuki Azuma, 14 and attending Yamasaki West Junior High, said she looked forward to “learning a lot.”
Taking a quick tour of the Museum & Arts Center of the Sequim-Dungness Valley, which is across West Cedar Street from the Sequim Transit Center, the students took turns hugging Peeper Squeak the duck, MAC’s mascot that usually drops in with owners Helen Bucher and Becky Horst during their volunteer stints each week at MAC.
The duck is trained to hug and kiss anyone daring enough.
Rewarding experience
Jessie Rhude, who has been with the Sequim-Shiso Sister City program and has hosted Shiso visitors for 15 years, said it was a rewarding experience.
“You learn about friendship and how to make it,” said Rhude, who was also involved in building the Friendship Garden at Carrie Blake Park, part of the Sister City program.
Been to Shiso City
Carol and Ron Farquhar greeted the Shiso visitors, saying they both have visited the Japanese city and would host two adults from Shiso.
Ron Farquhar — a former Sequim City Council member — joked that the Japanese treated his wife like a queen because she is blond.
“I like to see the camaraderie that happens between the students,” Carol Farquhar said, adding that when Sequim students go to Shiso, they renew the friendships they developed in Sequim.
Bus transportation is provided by Hyogo Business and Cultural Center in Seattle, whose director, Ginn Kitaoka, was with the group.
Seeing the area
The students’ itinerary included a visit the city water reclamation facility in a trip hosted by city Public Works Director Paul Haines as well as assisted living centers and the Sequim Open Aire Market on Saturday.
They were also to take tours with Sequim Mayor Ken Hays and Pete Tjemsland, Sister City Association chairman, whose daughter, Andrea, is part of the program.
Ann and Pete Tjemsland were to host two of the Shiso students at their home.
The students will attend a “Sayonara Party” at the Guy Cole Convention Center at Carrie Blake Park at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Nine students from Sequim will visit Shiso City in late October, said Toyama, the Shiso student translator.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
