N E W S L E T T E R
February 2020

From the SCNZ board
Sister Cities New Zealand Statement on Coronavirus OutbreakIntroducing Kate Spence
The Board of SCNZ is pleased toannounce that Kate Spence has been
appointed as SCNZ Social Media
Advisor.

Sister Cities New Zealand would like to express our
sincerest condolences to the city and people of Wuhan,
and to all of New Zealand’s other Sister Cities in China,
during the difficulties presented by the coronavirus
outbreak.
Our thoughts are with everyone affected by the outbreakand commend authorities working together to address theserious health challenges which have merged. We respect
China’s timely response in containing the contagion andthe transparency of the process. Being part of the sistercity community, it is our responsibility to reach out tolove them and support them in any way we can.
International ties between New Zealand and China, havebrought many cultural and economic benefits to allparties. We look forward to seeing these Sister City ties
continue to develop in the future.

Kate is a marketing manager for Vital
Health Company NZ, a health company
specialising in health products andsupplements.
She graduated from University of Canterbury witha Bachelor of Science and Postgraduate diploma in
Journalism. Having worked in business and in the
public sector, she is passionate about community-based
committees that work together with both the public andprivate sector to achieve great results.
Her experiences being on the Christchurch Kurashiki SubCommittee, as well as various other local communitybased committees, have given her many opportunities tolearn about NZ’s international community.

Chief Executive’s Message - SCNZ Conference 2020
By Hamish Riach, Ashburton District Council
The countdown to the 2020 Sister
Cities Conference is ticking down
fast, and our excitement to hostyou all in the Ashburton District isgrowing more and more each day.
The high quality speakers, insights
and networking opportunities onoffer are sure to be a rewarding
experience, made even better set
against the beautiful backdrop of
our part of Canterbury.
For those who have never had a chance to visit MidCanterbury, we are an innovative agricultural community,
home to amazing landscapes and adventure activities suchas the world-class Mt Hutt ski fields, stunning lakes andbraided rivers. We are conveniently placed only an hour’sdrive from Christchurch, with the Pacific Ocean on thefront step and the Southern Alps at our back door.
We also take great pride in celebrating our cultural
diversity, and are an accredited Welcoming Community.
One issue of growing interest to cities and regions acrossthe country is how to enable communities to flourish in
the global marketplace. We will explore this at the Sister
Cities Conference through our theme, ‘Growing Cultural
Diversity in the Regions’. It will look at the ways cities, towns
and regional centres can play their part in supportinginternational connectivity, trade business and innovation.
I’m sure you will gain invaluable experiences and insights
at this year’s conference, and I’m really looking forward
to meeting you all. I hope you’ll enjoy the amazing
opportunities and sights our district has on offer.
See you all in Ashburton in April for the 2020 Sister Cities
Conference.

SISTER CITIES CONFERENCE

Programme

Growing Cultural Diversity in Regions

Rates & Information

Ashburton, 30 April – 2 May 2020

Register now

N E W S L E T T E R
February 2020

Introducing New Council Member: Tararua District Council
A District Steeped in Culture
By Angela Rule, Tararua District Council
Situated on the south-east coast of the North Island,
Tararua District is steeped in culture with two local iwi
and four significant cultural connections to European
countries.
There are five main townships Pahiatua, Eketahuna, Norsewood,
Woodville and Dannevirke – andeach town has a proud heritage
with many stories to tell andexperiences to share.
Pahiatua is proud to have provided
refuge for the 733 Polish children
and their 105 guardians who wererelocated to a camp in Pahiatua
in 1944 during World War II. Mostof these children stayed in New
Zealand through to adulthood
and an enduring and endearing
relationship between Pahiatua
and Poland exists to the presentday. The NZ Polish Association
will be contributing a memorial
for installation as a part of thecurrent project to upgrade thePahiatua town centre.
NorsewoodhasastrongNorwegian history. The children
at Norsewood and Districts
Schoolregularly
participate
in traditional Norwegian dancing and the Norwegian
government gifted a replica fishing boat to the community
on the 100th anniversary of Norsewood’s founding.
Additionally, Johanna’s world features a replica Norwegianlog cottage and the first and only Stave Church in theSouthern Hemisphere.
Woodville is home to the Gottfried Lindauer Replica
Studio. Born in Plzen (Pilsen, Czechoslovakia), Lindauer
began his voyage to New Zealandin 1874, thinking he was on a ship
to America. In 1890 he purchased
a ten acre block near Woodville.
He died in 1926 and is buried in the
Woodville Old Gorge Cemetery.
Lindauer is known for his exquisitely
realistic paintings of New Zealand
Maori, 70 of these paintings arein the Auckland City Art Gallery
and approximately 20 are in the
Wanganui Art Museum.
Dannevirke was founded by
Scandinavian immigrants, whowere immigrated to New Zealandby the government in 1872 to fell
the forest that covered much ofsouthern Hawke’s Bay and to farm
the cleared land. Previously known
as Seventy Mile Bush, the town was
settled by thirteen Danish and six
Norwegian families in 1872 and 1873,
who renamed it Dannevirke whichmeans, literally, ‘Danes’ Work’.
Tararua
District
Councilisembarking on a journey tounderstand the mutual benefits between the local towns
and their international counterparts. The Council is
exploring how they can best grow these relationships –whether that be through tourism, education or commercial
trade.

Canterbury Region Sister City ForumBy Bernard Duncan, SCNZ Director
A policy of the Sister Cities Board is to use a regional
forum format to bring those together who are active inSister Cities across a region to share experiences to help
one another with their activities.
This is particularly important following local authority
elections when there are often new councillors and others
who have had little exposure to the Sister City movement.
In late January it was the turn of the Canterbury region
to have such a forum. Thirty-five people from Hurunui to
Ashburton attended, including some Councillors and the
new Hurunui Mayor Marie Black.
The forum was opened by the Christchurch Deputy Mayor
Andrew Turner who spelled out how important strong
Sister City relationships were to Christchurch. Board

member Bernard Duncan then spoke about the history of
the Sister City movement with relationships in the modern
era being formed as early as 1905. He indicated that New
Zealand had 160 relationships with 40 countries andthat worldwide 12,600 cities and towns in 165 countries
have 16,490 Sister City relationships. In closing he gave
examples of common interests that bring cities and towns
together.
Next up was the International Manager for the
Christchurch City Council Matt Nichols. He described
how over the last year Christchurch has completed a
programme of consultation with organisations across thecity who connect internationally to redefine how the city
sets priorities for building high value connections acrossthe world. Of course Christchurch’s sister city relations
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N E W S L E T T E R
February 2020

have a part to play in this programme.
Sister Cities NZ President Hiromi Morris spoke next andgave an outline of hers and the Boards’ activities. Oneof these is to try and have a closer working relationshipwith Sister Cities Australia and to create opportunities toattend each other’s activities.
Sister City activity is well supported by a range oforganisations so those attending then heard from CLAIR(Council of Local Authorities for International Relations)Sydney, a Japanese organisation who support relationships
with Japanese cities and the Consul General from the
Chinese Consulate in Christchurch who over the years
have been very supportive of relationships with cities andtowns in China and in fact have helped identify Chinese
cities when a local town has been
wanting to set up a new relationship.

England. A general discussion followed around how to finda good connection and how to set it up and then what to
do about a relationship where one or both parties havelost interest in continuing.
The last speaker was Bevan Rickerby, the Economic
Development Manager from the Ashburton District
Council who spoke about what Ashburton has organised
for the 2020 Sister Cities NZ Annual Conference to be heldin that city from 30th April - 2nd May. A video was shownand those present were strongly encouraged to attend.
In closing Board member Sister Cities NZ Board member
Donna Favel wrapped up the Forum with a summaryof the more interesting elements of the afternoon andencouraged all to attend the coming conference.

It was then the turn of thoseattending to share their experiences.
Representatives from the Councils
acrosstheCanterbury
regionshowcased a range of their activities
while the chairs of the Christchurch
Sister City committees also gave
presentations. These demonstrated
how widely connected Canterbury isacross the world. While there are many
relationships in our region with China,
Australia, Japan and the USA, there arealso connections with Indonesia andCentral New Zealand Networking Evening
By Ray Wallace, SCNZ Vice President
The Sister Cities Central New Zealand Networking
forum was held on 13th February with members of the
Diplomatic Corp, LGNZ, CLAIR Sydney, Government
Agencies, Mayors, Councillors and Officers along withseveral community groups in attendance.
The theme of the evening was to share ideas, learn
more from President Hiromi Morris about Sister Cities
New Zealand and what it can do to assist groups andorganisations. Ambassadors from Japan, Philippines,
Vietnam and Peru spoke of opportunities they would
like to see in creating new relationships but also instrengthening existing ones. The Philippines Ambassador
to New Zealand Jesus (Gary) Domingo said it was
important to look at ‘Citizen to Citizen’ diplomacy andwould bring a discussion document to the next forum.
Ambassadors of Vietnam and Peru were particularlyinterested in hearing from towns and cities interested ina new relationship. School to School relationships werediscussed as a good beginning.
The community groups shared their views on how they
were keeping people passionate about the relationships
and there was open and frank discussion about how
somerelationships
arestruggling or now dormant.
Others shared how they had
reactivated relationships.
Organiser,
SCNZ
Vice
President Ray Wallace said
he was thrilled with theturnout and how the evening
had gone. “Clearly our sister
relationships are all about
people and that’s the key toall good relationships.”
This would be the start ofmany networking forums.

N E W S L E T T E R
February 2020

Tendo delegation celebrates with Marlborough
By Cathie Bell, Marlborough Sister City Committee
A delegation of 21 people from Tendo in Japan celebrated
the 30 year anniversary of the sister city agreement
between Tendo and Blenheim at a formal dinner inBlenheim in late January.
The delegation, led by education board chairman Mr
Kazuhiko Aizawa, also spent a busy three days in
Marlborough, being welcomed on to the local Omaka
Marae, opening the new Torii style Gateway and fencing
at the Japanese Gardens at Blenheim’s Harling Park,
visiting Japanese-owned Kimura Cellars to taste theirwines, shopping in Picton, and being hosted at the
Marlborough District Council Chambers.
The well-attended dinner was hosted by Marlboroughdeputy mayor Mrs Nadine Taylor, and guests included theTendo delegation, SCNZ President Mrs Hiromi Morris,
Embassy of Japan official Mr Taro Sawada, and former
Blenheim mayor Mr Leo McKendry, who signed the sistercity agreement with Tendo in 1989.
The agreement was initially driven by Marlboroughcherry growers interested in exporting to Japan, but has
evolved to focus on cultural and education links.
Mr McKendry said he was “thrilled” at how the agreement

was still active, and how it had led to ongoing annual
exchanges of secondary school students.
Mrs Taylor told the delegation that the sister-city
relationship between Tendo and Blenheim was importantto the district.
The student exchanges were highly valued, she said.
Citizens of Tendo had financially contributed to thelandscaping and building of structures within the Japanese
Gardens in Harling Park, one of the more popular parks in
Blenheim. The original landscape architect Mr Takahisa
Yamaguchi, who is still offering advice on the project, waspart of the Tendo delegation and with Mrs Taylor officiallyopened the Torii style Gateway and fencing during thedelegation’s visit.
Council sister city subcommittee chairman andMarlborough District Councillor Mr Gerald Hopesaid Marlborough had three high-quality sister city
agreements. The quality of the agreements was shown by
the longevity of the agreement with Tendo, reaching 30
years.
“May it last another 30, and more.”

The Tendo delegation at Omaka Marae in Blenheim, during a visit to celebrate
30 years of the sister city relationship between Tendo and Blenheim.

Takahisa Yamaguchi and Nadine Taylor at
the Torii Gateway

Ties and Togetherness: My Connection with Tendo
By Aaron Liew, Former SCNZ Youth Subcommittee Member
Coming back to New Zealand after
four years living in Tendo, Yamagata
as an ALT (Assistant Language
Teacher) through JET (Japan Exchange
Teaching) Programme, I had learned
that the ties and connections with
Blenheim and the Marlborough area
were strong and very much active.
Prior to the 30th anniversary celebrations in Blenheim,
the only connections I had with the Marlborough area
were meeting the councillors, teachers and students thatwere involved with the school exchange programme, anddriving through after getting off the ferry. Every time
the students and teachers came back from New Zealandafter visiting Marlborough, they always spoke highly of
the area. It had made me want to visit the area for a longtime and I finally got my chance.
Thanks to Sister Cities New Zealand and MarlboroughDistrict Council for the opportunity to be part ofcelebrating 30 strong years of ties and togetherness
that Tendo and Marlborough has achieved. I was able tomeet the large delegation from Tendo the day I arrived.
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N E W S L E T T E R
February 2020

Unbeknownst to me, I did not know who was coming andhoped I at least knew one person. Luckily, I knew a good
handful of people, and people from the delegation had
heard of me during my time in Tendo. I was very happy
to see the leader of the delegation, Kazuhiko Aizawa, who
was a school principal during my time in Tendo and is
now the Superintendent of the Board of Education. We
were able to catch up and see how much change in Tendo
had over the course of 5+ years.
To my surprise, two former teachers who I had thepleasure of working with also came. It was really great tosee Kumiko Aizawa (wife of Kazuhiko) and Takako Ono. It
was like I never left. Other than filling in the blanks withwork and personal life, we talked as if we saw each otherthe other day. It just did not stop!

I was also able to talk to others from the delegation suchas the wife of the Mayor of Tendo and the architect who
oversaw and designed Harling Park, which felt like I neverleft the city. This is just a reflection of how well each city
are open to communication and bringing people together.
Apart from the great food and wine from the cities, thewonderful people of Tendo and Marlborough have madethe longstanding relationship what it is today. It is easy to
see the similarities between the two and how the sistercity relationship is still what it is today 30 years on. Witha tremendous foundation that Grahame Barsanti, theMarlborough District Council and Tendo City has laid
down, I hope the strong ties and relationship between
Marlborough and Tendo carry on for another 30 years.

Mishima Sister City Garden Visit to New Plymouth:
Community-to-Community Connection
By Lynn Murray, Convenor
This 2019 visit of a group from Mishima, Japan to New
Plymouth was the result of a private trip I made toMishima in 2018.
I had taken with me a brochure from the Taranaki Fringe
Garden Festival as the organising committee had a realdesire to host this group of people from Japan.
It was not a sister city to sister city exchange through theCouncils but rather a sister city exchange between friends
and surely that is what the whole focus should be about - a
private visit using the platform that is available.
I hired a van so we could all be together and to answer
any questions that may arise.Our time was very short only
having one full day plus the half day when they arrived so I
planned to see as much as possible in a short time. Some ofthe seven people had been to New Plymouth before whichmeant that I needed to be aware of what they may haveseen.
I included seven gardens which were recommended by the
Fringe Garden personnel and they gave us a perfect mix ofsmall and big, and country and town. We managed to visit
two places that were not gardens. One was a painter andthe other was a ceramic artist, both displaying Taranaki
wares.

Mishima delegation with Lynn Murray (second fromright) standing with Ann Clough, Secretary of the Fringe
Garden Committee

We got to see the coastline, the mountain and some cows
and sheep much to the delight of one of the members who
was a farmer.
With only two nights available for meals, we spent the firstnight having dinner with the Fringe Garden Chairman andhis wife and the secretary at the hotel where the groupstayed, while the second night was dinner at my place. A
proper Kiwi meal. No, not fish and chips but I did make apavlova!
I enjoyed arranging this small visit and I’m sure everyone
had a vacation to remember.
The Mishima delegation extended their journey to
Wellington for a meeting with Japanese Ambassador
Kobayashi.

Mishima delegation at Japanese Ambassador’s ResidenceN E W S L E T T E R
February 2020

Cr Sandra Faulkner, Donna Jean & Keith Darby, Simon Cave (GDSC) and Deputy Mayor Josh Wharehinga (Photo: Liam Clayton)

Sister Cities on the Seven Seas
By Jan Calder, Secretary Gisborne District Sister Cities
The Palm Desert Sister City Foundation (PDCSF)
former President, Donna Jean and her husband Keith
Darby were welcomed by Gisborne District Sister
Cities (GDSC) Committee, some other long establishedfriends and also friends to be in Gisborne on January
23rd by way of “the Voyager” of the Regent Seven Seas
Cruise Line.
Donna Jean, supported by her husband, has been a very
active member including past Chair of the PDSCF andhas visited Gisborne twice since the 90’s, the last visit
as part of a Delegation in late 2011 to celebrate the 30th
Anniversary of this Sister City relationship.
The Darbys have also actively supported various
delegations as well as sport, cultural, educational,
commercial and professional individuals duringexchanges and visits..
Amongst her many talents, Donna Jean is an avid
supporter of sister city projects and one of majorinterest to Gisborne students was the joint student study
exchange over two weeks in 2011 based on the book The
Boy Who Conquered Everest – the Jordan Romero Story.
Wainui Beach School Gisborne Year 4 (supporting
teacher Storm Dunn), Gisborne Intermediate Year 5(supporting teacher Anna Wright) and Abraham Lincoln
School in Palm Desert, California Grades 1-5 took partin a joint course of study based on the above mentioned
book. The opportunity for both teachers to work with aPalm Desert School was not new territory for Storm andAnna as they had both attended Palm Desert McCallum
Theatre Aesthetic Education Programme previously
through the GDSC link with PDSCF and McCallum
Theatre.
Donna Jean Darby was the instigator of this book study
course and liaised with GDSC Committee member Ann
Osler, staff and classes of both schools. Based on goal
setting and strategies, the course utilised Skype andemail to facilitate interaction between Palm Desert andGisborne students and this culminated in an appearance

by Jordan Romero at the McCallum Theatre for a Q&A
session in October 2011.
During the PDSCF Delegation visit of 2011, Donna Jean
was able to visit the two schools and reinforce thesuccess of the study by announcing that PDSCF was
selected by USASC as the recipient for ‘the Program
Innovation, Youth and Education, Cities of less than
100,000 pop’ as a result of the study.
During their day visit to Gisborne the Darbys chose
to visit Eastwoodhill Arboretum for the third time andreturned to enjoy the hospitality of GDSC Committee,
some old friends and were introduced to new friends
including the Gisborne District Council representatives
on the GDSC Committee. Gifts were exchanged,
speeches were made, good Gisborne wine and food wastasted and very soon it was time for the Darbys to catchthe last lighter back to the Voyager and sail overnightfor Napier.
As Gisborne and Palm Desert will be celebrating their
40th anniversary over the next two years plans are being
prepared for delegation visits and some form of practicalexperience to benefit the residents of the two cities andmark the event.

R.S.S. Cruise Line Voyager - the Darbys’ home on the high seas
viewed from Midway Beach

N E W S L E T T E R
February 2020

Japanese Kyudo (Archery) in New Zealand
By Fumiko Sato, Sakai Kyudo Association Principal & NZ Kyudo Federation Advisor
The origin of New Zealand Kyudo is the friendship andexchange between Wellington and its Japanese Sister
City, Sakai in Osaka which marked the 25th anniversary
last year.

and this was constructed there in 2008.

It expanded to an establishment of NZ Kyudo Federationand the Federation was celebrated their 10th anniversary in
Auckland last month.

There are now four clubs in New Zealand – Auckland,
Wellington, Christchurch and Palmerston North. The
NZ Kyudo Federation holds annual seminar in January
every year with special guest instructors from Japan who
support NZ Kyudo by sharing their knowledge and skill.

I started visiting New Zealand to participate in the Japan
Festival in Christchurch in 1990 and continued participatingin the Wellington Japan Festival and Wellington Sakai
Association’s Cherry Blossom Festival with my fellow
Kyudo sensei (teachers).
In 2005, Wellington Kyudo Club was established by using
my donated Kyudo equipment. Hutt
Minoh Friendship House provided thevenue.

In 2010 the first NZ Kyudo seminar was held in Aucklandwith support from the All Nippon Kyudo Federation and
the NZ Kyudo Federation was officially established as well.

We have had about 60 instructors over the last 10 years.
For enquiries, please visit our website, New Zealand Kyudo
Federation.

Through these visits, I have learnt thata 5th dan practitioner emigrated from
Europe many years ago, formed a Kyudo
Club in Christchurch and began training
diligently.
It is becoming obvious that a proper dojo
was necessary as Kyudo practitioners
have increased particularly in Auckland

Welcome Home, JET Participants!
By Xan Wetherall, Japan Information and Cultural Centre Wellington
On Wednesday 12th February 2020, His Excellency, theAmbassador of Japan, Mr Hiroyasu Kobayashi hosted
a Welcome Back Reception, or “Okaerinasai-kai” at his
residence in Khandallah to fête the return of Wellingtonbased Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programmeparticipants who completed their tenure on the
Programme in 2019.

also share sister city relationships with New Zealand towns
and cities. Of the eight JETs that attended the Welcome
Back Reception, three of them had the opportunity to livein one of these places. Two taught in Shinagawa, Tokyo,
which shares a relationship with Auckland, and one lived
and worked in Minoh City, the sister city of Lower Hutt in
the Wellington region.

Eight newly-returned JET participants were able to attend,alongside more than thirty members of Wellington’s JET
and Japan-related community, including Green Party
MP and JET alumnus Jan Logie, SCNZ President Hiromi
Morris, Director of CLAIR Sydney
Hirotomo Akaiwa, Ray Wallace
and Linda Goss-Wallace of the
Hutt Minoh House Friendship
Trust, and local JET alumni.

Otsukaresama, and a job well done to all returned JET
Programme alumni! We hope to see some of you joining inon sister city projects in the near future.

Every year, around 100 New
Zealand citizens depart thecountry for Japan after being
acceptedforparticipation
in
the
JET
Programme
living everywhere from themetropolitan capitol of Tokyo,
to the rural countryside of
Hokkaido. Many of these
Japanese placement locations

If you or someone you know is interested in applying for
the New Zealand JET Programme,
please feel free to reach out to us
by e-mail (jicc@wl.mofa.go.jp) or
phone (04-495-8333) for more
information.
We’re eager to send as many Kiwis
as we can to Japan each year!
Applications for the 2021 New
Zealand JET Programme intake
cycles are open every year from
September to November.
For more information, please see
our New Zealand JET Programme
website or Facebook page.