THE REPUBLIC



 

Columbus will welcome international visitors from one of its sister cities next week.

A delegation of city officials from Miyoshi, Japan will be in town from Sunday night to Thursday, including Mayor Tasuku Oyama, Yoshihiro Masuoka, vice chairman of the Miyoshi city council, Yuichiro Kondo, mayor’s secretary, and Chihoko Jo, general manager of the Miyoshi general affairs department.

A group of students from Miyoshi will arrive on Wednesday to visit their counterparts at Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. BCSC families hosted 21 guests from Miyoshi last August, where they saw the downtown, visited Columbus City Hall and Columbus North High School, and got a tour of the district’s C4 program.

The city delegation will receive a welcome from Mayor Mary Ferdon, a representative from Columbus City Council and all three Bartholomew County commissioners on Monday morning. The guests will be honored during Tuesday’s city council meeting.

On Thursday, Miyoshi city officials and students will receive a tour around the city.

Columbus began its relationship with Miyoshi in July 1994 when then-Columbus Mayor Bob Stewart and then-Miyoshi Mayor Michio Tsukamoto signed a cultural status agreement. Their sister city status was formalized on Nov. 30 of that year.

The cities were introduced when local Garry Seim and Miyama Co., Chairman Dick Yamamoto met through business introductions.

Sister cities are an official agreement between two cities and require a signature from the highest elected office of each. Sister cities encourage cultural awareness, educational opportunities, and provide a number of other benefits that may look different depending on the specific relationship.
Columbus has sister-cities in Löhne, Germany (since 1994), Xiangyang, China (since 2011) and Pune, India (since 2019).

Although similarities are not required for sister-city status, Columbus and Miyoshi have a few. The two cities have similar population sizes, location in relation to large cities and automotive manufacturing is a major aspect of their local economies.

Columbus also has a number of Japanese companies and companies with connections to Japan, including Toyota Material Handling, NTN Driveshaft, CAPCO and Enkei America Inc. Cummins, Columbus’ largest employer also has operations in Japan.

Ferdon was part of a 15-person delegation the city sent to Miyoshi while she was executive director of administration and community development for former Mayor Jim Lienhoop. The group spent seven days in Japan, also visiting Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagoya, among other places.

That had been the first trip representatives from Columbus made to Japan since before the pandemic.

The delegation included city, civic, nonprofit and business representatives, including Jason Hester, former president of the Greater Columbus Economic Development Corp.; Cindy Frey, president of the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce; as well as representatives from Toyota Material Handling, CAPCO, BCSC., and Purdue Polytechnic Institute, among other organizations.

The brick alleyway between Fourth and Fifth streets was constructed with bricks gifted by citizens of Miyoshi. Emblazoned on the bricks are the names of families, individuals, and businesses from the Japanese city. Miyoshi has also donated a number of cherry trees to Columbus.