Livingston Weekly

2010 Style Back to School in Local Fashions

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Sister City Adventures From Japan to Montana

    On the other side of the globe nearly 6,000 miles from Livingston lies the town of Naganohara, Japan situated in between mountains and forests near the Agatsuma river.  The town has just over 7,000 residents, and consists of ten incorporated villages.
    For nearly two decades, Livingston and Naganohara have been sister cities, participating in a cultural and economic exchange to benefit both communities.
    Each summer, a number of student ambassadors travel around the globe to become friends and neighbors with a foreign group of fellow students.
    Over 150 students have participated in the program since its creation, although in 2009 the trips were cancelled due to Swine Flu fears in Asian countries which caused the trip to be postponed.  Students on both sides of the exchange who were unable to make the trip were allowed another opportunity to participate in this year’s program if they still met the age and eligibility requirements.
    This year 10 students (James Sweeney, Joshua Bigner, Chandler Jensen-Cody, Emily Giao, Kelley Harvey, Crae O’Connor, Bonnie Walter, Katelyn Lavender, Audrey Laviolette, and Keegan Nashan) and Erik Johnson and Lily Kinross-Wright as chaperones traveled to Naganohara and in return 10 students, three adults and the Mayor of Naganohara,  Kinya Takayama, journeyed to Livingston for a 10-day home stay August 2.

Building a Friendship

    “Approximately 1988 or ‘89, a professor [from Naganohara], I believe a geologist, visited Yellowstone Park for a couple of days,” said John Orndorff, one of the original founders of the program, “On his way home he stopped at the Japanese Embassy in Seattle and suggested they get a sister city started with Livingston because of its proximity to Yellowstone.”
    From there, through correspondence between Mayor Mamora Tamura of Naganohara and Bill Dennis, the then-mayor of Livingston, the Sister City relationship came to fruition.
    Orndorff was the City Manager in 1989 when the city received a letter from Mayor Tamura asking if Livingston was willing to participate in the exchange.
    “I’m retired from the Air Force, so I believe in expanding the horizons of young people,” Orndorff said.  He sent a positive reply to the invitation.
    Mayor Tamura visited Livingston shortly afterwards and was extremely impressed with the people and the area, Orndorff said.
    “During his visit he went to a hat shop and had 200 yellow hats made with ‘Sister City Naganohara-Livingston’ on them,” Orndorff said.  After his visit, Mayor Tamura sent a letter asking to send a group of 10 students to Livingston.

Fund Raising Efforts

    Orndorff and Marla Gray-Parks, a teacher at the middle school, helped organize the first trip.  Grey-Parks ended up volunteering to lead the first group of students and assisting in the program.
    “We were frankly overwhelmed,” she said.  “We had nothing in place and they had government support.  We didn’t know if we could even send four students.”
    Now 10 students are selected through a application process by the Sister City Commission Board to participate in the annual program.  The Livingston end of the program still exists solely through the efforts of volunteers for the Sister City Commission and money raised by individual participants.  Past fund-raising efforts have included car washes, bake sales and concession stands at local events along with annual raffles and the Sister City Garage Sale.
    The Japanese students, in contrast, only have to raise about 30 percent of the money needed for their trip.  Naganohara provides the rest of the funding through National Cultural Grants in Japan.

Exchange Acitivities

    The Sister City exchange usually takes place during the summer months so visiting Japanese students can appreciate the wide variety of activities in the Livingston Area, including  a day-long visit to nearby Yellowstone Park.
    During the Livingston students’ recent journey to Japan in mid-July, the students visited Tokyo and the Tokyo Tower (similar to the space needle in Seattle), the Asakusa temple and shopping district and the Edo-Tokyo museum.
    In Naganohara, the students visited a Shinto Shrine, the Unrin-ji temple and attempted Zen meditation.  They also made paper and tried their hand at Japanese archery (kyudo), calligraphy, and playing the koto, and even learned a few judo moves.  The students also visited Tomioka, Japan where they went through the Gunma Natural History Museum. 
    In Livingston, the Japanese students commenced nearly two weeks of activities when they arrived August 2, including trips to Yellowstone Park, a driving tour of Livingston, floating the Yellowstone River, camping in the Hyalite, fly tying and casting lessons along with sampling American fare from Mark’s In and Out and home-cooked meals from their home stay families.
    Their visit will include a special picnic Tuesday, August 10 at 6 p.m. at Sacajawea Park.  The picnic will include a special performance by Montana Taiko drumming group and will be open to all citizens of Livingston and the surrounding area who would like to welcome and greet the Japanese students.

The Livingston Program

    Sister City Board member Donna Pace says the board will begin the process of picking next year’s participants in the next few months.  The students must be between 13 and 16 years old and in at least the seventh grade at the time of application.
    Parents are expected to commit themselves to the program for two years in some capacity, including hosting Japanese students or chaperones.  The host families always have at least two students, so the kids can have someone with them to communicate with in their native language.  The board will advertise for chaperones this fall, and once they are secured, will announce to students that the deadline is approaching.
    From there the Livingston students go through a selection process that includes reviewing teacher recommendations, essays, and interviewing the prospective participants.  Once the selection process is completed near the end of the year, the students begin fund raising for the trip, and take cultural and language lessons.

For more information about the activities over the next week, contact Donna Pace at 220-1111. 

Sister City Website