The Municipality of Jasper hosted a delegation from Hakone, Japan last week to celebrate and deepen its sister city relationship.
Established 43 years ago, Jasper and Hakone have the longest running community relationship between Alberta and Japan.
“The initial impetus was tourism and that continues to be important, but is less important now than it used to be because the markets are changing and the Japanese market is not what it once was, particularly in the early 70s when the relationship began,” said Mayor Richard Ireland.
“As much as our relationship was initiated on tourism grounds it has evolved and become and remains a cultural exchange,” he said.
In addition to celebrating its long running relationship, Jasper also hosted the Alberta/Japan Twinned Municipalities Association annual general meeting. The province of Alberta is twinned with Hokkaido, Japan’s largest and northernmost prefecture.
Hosted at Chateau Jasper, dignitaries such as Yellowhead MP Jim Eglinski and Coun. Brian Nesbitt welcomed the delegation to Jasper on June 26.
The following day Ireland and the deputy mayor of Hakone, Hiroyuki Katsumata, spoke about the importance of the relationship. Also on hand was the consular general of Japan, Ryosaku Tamura, and Linda Hawk, director of international and intergovernmental relationships for Alberta.
“A very important part of building Alberta’s reputation and preparing Albertans for success is for us to really understand and appreciate other cultures so that it’s easier for us to work with other cultures,” said Hawk.
Japan is Alberta’s third largest export market. The province mainly exports agricultural products, such as wheat, canola seed, coal and pork, while Alberta mainly imports machinery, vehicles and electronics.
Currently, Alberta has 12 international offices around the world, including one in Tokyo, said Hawk.
There are also 20 formal relationships between towns in Alberta and Japan, she explained.
“Those relationships are most often based on the similarities that we have either between cities or between provinces, so for example our sister-province relationship with Hokkaido was based on the similarities we had in agriculture, what the land looks like, our interest in sport and the fact that is it very much a rural prefecture,” said Hawk.
Hakone, Jasper’s sister-community, is not located in Hokkaido.
Instead it is located about 80 km southwest of Tokyo and hosts nearly 20 million visitors a year. The town is located in the centre of Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park. The park is a collection of four regions that covers an area of 1,227 square kilometres and includes Mt. Fuji, Japan’s highest volcano. The town is home to more than 100 hotels and also hosts cruise ships.
During the meeting, Ireland highlighted the Jasper/Hakone student exchange program, which sees Grade 11 students travel to their sister cities during the summer.
“It has been a wonderful program and over the years I think we’ve sent 94 students and hosted roughly the same number,” said Ireland.
Following the Alberta/Japan Twinned Municipalities Association conference, the Hakone delegation travelled to Banff and Yoho national parks for a sightseeing tour and returned to Jasper to take part in the town’s Canada Day celebrations before returning to Japan.
On Canada Day, the delegation also visited Robson Park to see the commemorative post that was recently erected to celebrate Jasper’s relationship with Hakone.
The eight-foot post is a replica of one planted in Hakone. While visiting Hakone in 2012, members of council were taken to a garden to see the post, which commemorates the 40th anniversary of their sister city relationship.
Following that visit, council planted a tree in the Connaught Drive boulevard as a gesture of commemoration, ensuring it was in the ground in time for the Hakone delegation’s visit.
Paul Clarke
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