Twelve extra-special tourists in Jasper have rendered their verdict on the town after visiting for Canada Day: beautiful and harmonious.

The twelve tourists, or rather, delegates, are from Hakone, Japan and are a part of the Jasper-Hakone sister city program, which has been running for 38 years - one of the oldest sister-city relationships in Canada.

The delegation, overall, seems to have been most impressed with the beauty of Jasper.

“There is no garbage and the roads are very nice and beautiful,” said Fumic Iwasawa through a translator.

Jack Pugh was president of the Chamber of Commerce in Jasper when the program started. He helped establish and develop the sister-city relationship and said he didn’t think that meeting several Japanese people at Jasper Park Lodge back in 1971 for a couple of drinks would turn into such a fruitful and long-standing program. He’s happy that it did.

Almost 40 years ago, the program came together fairly quickly, he said. He got a call during the day to meet some Japanese people who wanted to set up a sister-city relationship with a western, mountainous Canadian city and before he knew it, he was drinking until one in the morning with three Japanese gentlemen.

Typically, sister city relationships do not last as long as the one between Hakone and Jasper. Pugh said they often fade away after ten years or so, after the originators have left council or gone on to other things. He thinks that part of the reason the Jasper-Hakone relationship has had such longevity is due to the student exchange program. The program was developed in conjunction with the sister-city relationship and has allowed a lot of relationships to continue on over the years, said Pugh.

Hakone, which has a permanent population almost three times larger than Jasper, is similar because it is situated in a mountain environment and caters to many tourists. The delegates, however, seemed to feel that Jasper was cleaner and more beautiful than their home.

“All of the houses seem harmonized with nature,” added Seiko Ishibashi through a translator when asked how Jasper differs from Hakone.

Yoko Katsumata said she liked how a lot of the older trees in Jasper have been incorporated with the design of the town. Too often in Hakone, she said, old tress are cut down or pruned. In Jasper, there have been greater efforts to build around the older trees and bring them into harmony with man-made structures, she said. 

The sense of harmony was also noticed by the leader of the delegation, Deputy Mayor for Hakone Masura Kazuma.

“First of all, Happy Canada Day!” said Deputy Mayor Kazuma through a translator. “We extremely appreciate the opportunity to come here, especially from the esteemed Mayor (Richard) Ireland.”

He said that Jasper’s sense of harmony with nature was the main thing that he had noticed about the town.

“Everyone is trying to protect nature and everyone has the same way of thinking,” said the deputy mayor. “It is wonderful.”

He said Hakone should learn from Jasper how to exist alongside in peace and beauty.

“We would like to learn from this national park,” he said.

He added that everyone in town had been very friendly to him and that he had received a very warm reception at a June 30 reception at the Lobstick Hotel.

Kazuma said next time he comes back to Jasper, he would like to ride a horse. Jasper Mayor Richard Ireland and Jasper National Park Superintendent Greg Fenton had arrived at a tree planting ceremony on Connaught Drive during the morning of July 1 on horseback. The deputy mayor, suitably impressed, said he would like to ride at some point too. As well, he said that the ‘Ma’ in his name means ‘horse.’

“It would be fun!” said Deputy Mayor Kazuma.

In honour of the Hakone delegation, two trees were planted on Canada Day in the middle of the dividing barrier on Connaught Drive in front of the visitor centre.