How serious do people view Sister city associations ?

I knew this existed where lots of cities say they are the sister city of X, Y and Z place... and honestly, you wonder if it even means a damn.

I just figured out that Montreal is paired with Hiroshima, Ironically, I now have Luc that is there, but I am talking about the natives: Do they know such city groupings exist, and do they think they are worth something or if they're a bunch of ceremonial hooey ?

Here in Maine....

our sister city is Shinagawa, Japan. We only hear it mentioned once or twice a year at most. The city of Portland sends representatives over there and some business people every so often. I don't think the average person has a clue about what it all stands for?

Frank

:?

The Japanese side of the sister city relationship with my hometown cares a huge, huge deal about the program.

This is in part because it is not a huge city, like Hiroshima, Tokyo or Osaka. It is a town of about 40,000 people in Hyogo.

Also, the program has been running some 40 years with exchanges almost every year. In Japan, the longer something runs, the more respect it gets.

City hall (in Japan) has a department where part of their job is to worry and work on the sister city program. They have a budget, planning meetings, and do a lot of footwork to make the thing a success.

However, on the American side, it is all a volunteer basis. We get no funds from city hall, we get no support from any official organization and the only reason it works is because people are willing to spend a lot of their own money. However, the community loves to see the exchanges happen. The newspaper comes to the events, we get rave reviews from business leaders about improving the community - but when it comes time to ask for money we meet a lot of closed doors.

But this is a grassroots thing. No business deals involved, only meeting people on a personal level and doing the whole internationalization dance.

I would say it is the American side in our sister city relationship that doesn't give a darn. The ones who do work really, really hard to keep it afloat.

Yeah. Where I'm from, there is a heavy Irish background (about 95% of ppl I know have some Irish in them), so our area is sisters with somewhere in Ireland, and Italy. Nobody really cares though. The only way I even know is there is a sign near the mall that has it. If not for that, I don't think I would have ever even heard of the sister city idea.

my city has a sister city, and every summer a group of japanese come here or we send a group there, on alternating years. we here it mentioned at japanese class and occasionally in the newspaper, but other than that not many people know about it at all. however, it's kept sorta quiet, and those who host those who come over are intellectuals at the university or one the area schools.

Frank D. White said:

The city of Portland sends representatives over there and some business people every so often. I don't think the average person has a clue about what it all stands for?

Click to expand...

Portland is the sister city of Sapporo. I have not met anyone from Portland but I know that Sapporo residents can get money from the sister city association to visit Portland. Sometimes I have seen small exhibitions of Portland on the subway but this is in a quiet room and is not easy to find. Also in Pole Town which is a subway shopping mall in Sapporo, there are clocks which show the time in our sister cities. Portland has been a sister city of Sapporo since 1959. I did not know this!!!!!

There is more information at: http://www.plaza-sapporo.or.jp/english/communication_e/citizen_5_e.html

Often Confused!!

Saing said:

Portland is the sister city of Sapporo. I have not met anyone from Portland but I know that Sapporo residents can get money from the sister city association to visit Portland. Sometimes I have seen small exhibitions of Portland on the subway but this is in a quiet room and is not easy to find. Also in Pole Town which is a subway shopping mall in Sapporo, there are clocks which show the time in our sister cities. Portland has been a sister city of Sapporo since 1959. I did not know this!!!!!

There is more information at: http://www.plaza-sapporo.or.jp/english/communication_e/citizen_5_e.html

Click to expand...

Portland, MAINE and Portland, OREGON get confused often!!

Frank

yep....Frank the crazy old guy lives in the east coast Portland, and I live in the Mushroom Forest Portland on the crazy west coast.... it all evens out....
now if I can figure out why the Japanese keep thinking Oregon is out somewhere in the midwest near Ohio, aside from the fact that both states start out with O's, I think I could cope better without my digital watch.... :?