After a six year-hiatus, delegates from Shiso City, Japan returned last week to its sister city Sequim to hold conversations about restarting the student exchange program that began 30-plus years ago.
It was halted in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors.
Shiso City representatives, Deputy Mayor Kenji Tomita and Satoshi Ishihara with the city’s Planning and Coordination Department, visited Sequim from Oct. 13-17 taking in the sights and meeting with various community stakeholders.
Through translator Jennie Petit with the Sequim-Shiso Sister City Association, Tomita said in an interview that due to COVID-19, they were unable to continue the student exchange program as planned.
“Coming to Sequim allows us to again re-deepen that relationship, re-strengthen that relationship, again, so it’s really an important visit for us,” he said.
In an Oct. 15 meeting, members of the Sequim-Shiso Sister City Association agreed to delegates’ proposal to start a three-year exchange cycle: the first year being an online exchange tentatively slated for Jan. 24-25, 2026, while the second year five Sequim students in high school and three chaperones would visit Shiso City in 2027, and in the third year Shiso City students and representatives would visit late summer 2028.
Organizers said the visits used to be about 10 days to Japan, and the new proposal is now for about a week.
Volunteers with the Sequim-Shiso Sister City Association said they’ll seek letters of support for the new exchange program from Sequim School District and the City of Sequim, as the program is a separate nonprofit.
In a meeting earlier this month between the Sequim-Shiso Sister City Association and Japan-America Society of the State of Washington, participants said Shiso City officials wanted to rethink exchange activities due to some changes since COVID in Japan, including higher costs for families to travel and host.
Jim Stoffer, president of the Sequim-Shiso Sister City Association, said participants feel very positive that the program is continuing and that this recent trip helped shore up their relationship with Shiso City.
For more information about the Sequim-Shiso Sister City Association, call Stoffer at 360-775-9356, email to sequimsistercityassn@gmail.com, or visit sequimwa.gov/239/Sister-City.
Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash Shiso City delegates Deputy Mayor Kenji Tomita and Satoshi Ishihara with the Planning and Coordination Department stand with volunteers of the Sequim-Shiso City Friendship Garden on Oct. 14. The garden was first constructed in 1997, and it’s continued to be improved and maintained by the group and City of Sequim parks staff.
Group, garden beginnings
Founded in 1993, the Sequim Sister Sister City Association has helped coordinate 120-plus Sequim students (ninth graders) to represent Sequim in Japan from 1994-2019.
The student exchange program focused on culture, education, friendship, and more while they lived with host families. To raise funds, the students held car washes and garage sales, and worked odd jobs to help pay for the trip.
Sequim agreed to a Sister City agreement on June 5, 1993 with the City of Yamasaki, Japan.
As a gesture of friendship in November 1994, then-mayor of Yamasaki Junzo Yasui offered to establish a garden in Sequim, which they would go on to help fund for 10 years. City councilors would approve the garden in August 1995, which became the Sequim-Shiso Friendship Garden near Blake Avenue around Carrie Blake Community Park’s pond.
In October 1997, a stone lantern was sculpted and delivered by a friend of the Yamasaki International Friendship Association and he came to Sequim to help install it where it remains today.
The cities’ partnership was reaffirmed after Yamasaki merged with three other towns to form Shiso City on April 1, 2005.
City of Sequim parks staff provide on-going maintenance of the garden while about 10 volunteers work weekly from April to October to maintain it. Through the years, various service groups, such as the Sequim Sunrise Rotary and Sequim Valley Lions Club provided time and labor, and local nurseries and private funds have helped fund or provide in-kind donations.
Photo courtesy Rachel Anderson/ Shiso City delegates Satoshi Ishihara with the Planning and Coordination Department and Deputy Mayor Kenji Tomita stand near the Welcome to Sequim sign on the eastern side of the city.
Current trip
Some of the Japanese delegates’ excursions included stops at the Sequim City Council meeting, the Sequim-Shiso Sister City Friendship Garden in Carrie Blake Community Park, Sequim Museum and Arts, Greywolf Elementary, Dungeness River Nature Center, and many other Sequim attractions and events, including a Gala Dinner on Oct. 15.
Sequim Mayor Brandon Janisse read a proclamation about the Sequim-Shiso City partnership at the Oct. 13 Sequim City Council meeting, saying that the friendship between the cities “reflects a shared vision of peace, cooperation, and respect that transcends national boundaries, enriching both communities through enduring personal and cultural connections.”
After Janisse read the proclamation, Tomita presented traditional Japanese performing arts masks from Shiso City that represent friendship, connection and happiness. They’ll be on display inside the Sequim Civic Center’s Sister City display case in the near future, staff said.
Sequim’s Deputy Mayor Rachel Anderson, who volunteers with the Sequim-Shiso Friendship Garden and the Sequim Sister City Association, said supporting the partnership with Shiso City is one of the most important things they can do as councilors.
“I’ve been dreaming of this moment for four-and-a-half years,” she said of meeting the Japanese delegates.
City councilor Harmony Rutter told the delegates that she hopes many Sequim and Shiso City students will continue to travel through the program.
During a tour of the Sequim-Shiso City Friendship Garden, Petit said that Tomita was impressed that council meetings include both public comment and youth representatives as they do not do that in Japan, and those are elements he wants to discuss with his local officials.
Photo courtesy Rachel Anderson/ Jennie Petit with the Sequim Sister City Association introduces Shiso City, Japan’s Deputy Mayor Kenji Tomita and Satoshi Ishihara with the Planning and Coordination Department to a class at Greywolf Elementary School last week.
This was Ishihara’s first time abroad and Tomita’s second visit to Sequim. He first accompanied then-Mayor Katsu Touji in October 2010.
Tomita was appointed Shiso City deputy mayor on May 28, 2021, and reappointed four years later.
Petit said there were a lot of new elements to Sequim to see since 2010, including the Sequim Civic Center.
Asked about his impression of Sequim, Tomita said Sequim is very open and wide, and more than he expected, but what stood out most were the people.
“They’re so friendly and open and I just feel so welcomed by their warmth,” he said. “And that to me, the involvement of people in the community, I can feel so strongly here.”
Tomita said he wants Sequim residents to know how much the partnership means to Shiso City’s people.
“It’s really important that the friendship continues to be strengthened between us and that we really appreciate the friendship,” he said.
“And at a time when there seems to be (various) conflicts going on in our world, it’s important for us to even just have a small amount of positivity that we can bring into making the world a better place. That would be great.”
The Sequim-Shiso City Sister City Association meets at 1:30 p.m. the second Tuesday of each month in the Sequim Civic Center’s Burkett Community Room, 152 W. Cedar St.
Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ Shiso City Deputy Mayor Kenji Tomita presents Sequim Mayor Brandon Janisse one of three masks during the Oct. 13 Sequim City Council meeting. The traditional Japanese performing arts masks represent friendship, connection and happiness and will be in the Sister City display case with more detailed information inside the Sequim Civic Center in the near future, staff said.
Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ Shiso City Deputy Mayor Kenji Tomita admires a donor plaque of Japanese residents who helped fund construction and maintenance of the Friendship Garden in Carrie Blake Community Park.
Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ Sequim city councilors stand with Shiso City delegates Satoshi Ishihara with the Planning and Coordination Department and Deputy Mayor Kenji Tomita on Oct. 13. Sequim and Shiso City, originally Yamasaki, have been sister cities since 1993.
Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ Jan Danford, volunteer coordinator for the Sequim-Shiso City Friendship Garden, provides a tour for delegates and members of the Sequim-Shiso City Association on Oct. 14. Shiso City residents, formerly Yamasaki, donated to help construct and maintain the garden for 10 years.
Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ Shiso City delegates Deputy Mayor Kenji Tomita and Satoshi Ishihara with the Planning and Coordination Department stand near the lantern made by a Japanese artist from their city in 1997. It was donated and installed in the Sequim-Shiso Friendship Garden and remains a popular attraction in Carrie Blake Community Park.
Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ The lantern in the Sequim-Shiso City Friendship Garden was donated by a Japanese artist in 1997 and remains a popular feature nearly 30 years later.
Photo courtesy Jim Stoffer/ Part of the Sequim sights delegates from Shiso City, Japan experienced included a tour of the Dungeness River, the Railroad Bridge, and the Dungeness River Nature Center.
Photo courtesy Jim Stoffer/ Part of the Sequim sights delegates from Shiso City, Japan experienced included a tour of Sequim Museum and Arts.
Photo courtesy Rachel Anderson/ Satoshi Ishihara with the Shiso City Planning and Coordination Department tours the Sequim Police Department during his recent visit to Sequim as a delegate for the Sequim-Shiso Sister City Association.
