| Obihiro, Japan Latest addition to Madison's sister cities by Paul Kusuda |
| The city of Madison has a surprising number of sister cities, and Mayor Dave Cieslewicz's office has a quilt on a wall showing the location of each. Each sister city program has two planning committees, one in Madison and another in the city located outside the United States. The most recently developed sister city relationship is that with Obihiro City, located in Hokkaido, Japan. The official sister-city signing ceremony occurred in Madison on October 25 at the Olbrich Botanical Center and Gardens. That was the culmination of a process that began more than four years ago. In 2002, the staff in the Office of the Consulate General of Japan in Chicago worked with the staff of the then-Madison Mayor Susan J.M. Bauman to arrange a visit of Obihiro Mayor Shoichi Nakagawa and others to Madison. That meeting was held on August 22, 2002. Then came an election, and Dave Cieslewicz became mayor of Madison. The change in office resulted in some staff changes and attention to other priorities. Obihiro City officials have been especially interested in developing a sister-city relationship with Madison because both cities are in the same latitude and have similar climates. More importantly, both cities have large universities and have similar interests in dairy farming, industrial development, and mental health. Also, Obihiro City has a thriving School of Veterinary Medicine at its university. Peter Muņoz, former member of Mayor Bauman's staff and later a state employee, continued the interest in sister-city relationships. He contacted me in September 2002, asking for suggestions for people who might be helpful in creating a sister-city program for Madison and Obihiro, Japan. I responded by sending him a list of names. There was no action until June the following year when I got a call from the Senior Economic Advisor to the Consul General of Japan. My name had been given to him by a staff person in the Mayor's office. The same day, I tried to arrange a meeting with Mayor Dave, but was told that his calendar was full for the next two months or so. The next day, I received another call that the Japanese Consul General expressed interest in having a meeting to discuss Obihiro city's eagerness to establish a sister-city relationship. Finally, Mr. Muņoz and I were able to meet with Mayor Dave around the middle of July. During that meeting, Mayor Dave, Mr. Muņoz, and I agreed that a meeting with the consul General should be held after progress had been made. At that time, no planning committee had yet been appointed. Mr. Muņoz and I reviewed and added to the suggested list of names, making sure that it included representatives from UW-Madison, MATC, the Chamber of Commerce, the media, the Common Council, the agriculture sector, Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center, Morgridge Center for Public Service, Wisconsin Technical College System, social agencies, State Department of Commerce, and the Downtown Rotary Club. Numerous telephone calls resulted in a list of people agreeing to serve on a mayoral committee. I earlier suggested to Mayor Dave that committee membership would not be limited to residents of the city of Madison. As it turned out, three of the most active members of the original committee lived outside Madison, two even outside of Dane County. The Office of the Consul General of Japan was kept fully advised of both progress and delays. Senior Economic Advisor William Christiansen was extremely helpful throughout, and without his assistance and counsel, our progress would have been much slower. Very heartening was current Consul General Yutaka Yoshizawa's advice and suggestions when Mr. Tom Lucas (first president of Madison-Obihiro Sister Cities Planning Committee) and I had a meeting with him and part of his staff in Chicago. With the help and direct involvement of Patricia Takemoto, Anita Martin, and Tom Lucas, the first meeting of the committee was held on August 23, 2003. A committee member, David LeCount, a Social Work Administrator at the Dane County Mental Health Center, created a subcommittee that arranged mental health practitioners from Obihiro City to visit Madison to learn about innovations in mental health treatment of patients who are not institutionalized. A large group of Japanese spent over a week in the Madison area, touring facilities and talking with staff. Dave LeCount made arrangements for two visits. He also went to Obihiro City and elsewhere in Japan to talk about mental health programs currently in Dane County. The Planning Committee also helped a few people from Obihiro City participate in Madison's Food for Thought Festival, highlighting an Obihiro dish with the main ingredient being barbequed pork. Other sister-city activities will be planned by the Program Committee now chaired by Jean MacCubbin. Persons interested in current activities of the Obihiro City, Japan and City of Madison, Wis. may want to get in touch with Ms. MacCubbin or Ms. Martin. Incidentally, I resigned as member of the planning committee in December 2005 so I am not up on current activities. |
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| Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz (l, seated) and Obihiro Mayor Toshifumi Sunagawa sign the historic document of sister-city relationship |