30TH
ANNIVERSARYContents
To celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Twinning relationship

P 01

The Cities of Itabashi and Burlington

P 02

Chronology of the Exchanges

P 04

Interactions of the Youths

P 06

Twin Symbols in Itabashi and Burlington

P 08

The 30th Anniversary of the Twin-city relationship

P 10

Key Figures and Organizations of the Twinning relation

P 12

1Burlington

To celebrate the 30th Anniversaryof the Twinning relationship
姉妹都市提携 30 周年によせて

Message from Ms. Marianne Meed ward,
the Mayor of Burlington

Message from Mr. SAKAMOTO Takeshi,
the Mayor of Itabashi

The 30th anniversary of the twinning relationship between Burlington and
Itabashi comes at a time when building and strengthening international
friendships is more important now than ever.
I am proud as Burlington’s Mayor to continue this deep bond thatbegan with the signing of the twinning agreement between our twocities on May 12, 1989. It is a beautiful thing to be able to continue toshare and celebrate each other’s unique cultures and traditions with our own citizens.
Over the past 30 years, we have visited each other’s cities through official and citizen
delegations, have had an active pen-pal exchange between high school students (that has
been ongoing since 2017), a student art exchange that marked its 13th year this year andexchanged several cultural gifts that were significant to both of our cities.
This year’s anniversary was extra special for Burlington and for me because we were lucky
enough to host Itabashi Mayor Takeshi Sakamoto and the Official Itabashi Delegation in July
2019 during our Canada Day celebrations — and for the official opening of our new Itabashi
Garden that was inspired by gardens of the Itabashi area and landscapes in Burlington,
including our Niagara Escarpment and some of our native plants.
Thinking back on that visit, we discovered when talking about the issues each of our cities
face that we have more in common than we originally thought. It was great to have beenable to share ideas with each other on how each of our cities deals with those issues and I
look forward to continuing those conversations.
I believe I can say both I and Mayor Sakamoto truly treasure this enduring bond between ourtwo cities and I hope you all can take pride and share in the spirit of friendship that has lasted
30 years and will hopefully continue for 30 more.

On May 12, 1989, the City of Itabashi signed the first-ever Twinning
Proclamation with the City of Burlington. Many citizens of Itabashi andBurlington have exchanged lots of interactions and deepened thefriendship in the past.
I strongly believe that the Itabashi people has fostered a love for mutual
understanding with friends across the border and a love for peace
through the interactions with the people of Burlington.
In this year of 2019, we have marked the commemorative 30th anniversary of the Twin-city
relationship. I would really like to appreciate the Burling people for the warm reception of theItabashi people and the continuous cultural exchanges with us.
Burlington created “Itabashi Garden” which combines features of Japan with those ofCanada. It was my honour and privilege to be invited to the Official Opening of the Garden
and to Canada Day Festival to celebrate the Canadian national foundation together with
Itabashi official delegation.
In October this year, we invited the official delegation and citizen group from Burlington andhosted them with hospitality program themed “Look, Experience and Enjoy Itabashi” andfostered further friendship.
We signed the agreement in the common belief that the mutual understanding of the both
citizens and deepening friendship among ourselves contribute to build a foundation for world
peace. The very supporting force for world peace is the exchanges between the cities andthe visible people-to-people contacts like ours. I wish the wonderful twinning relationshipcontinue and prosper for ten, fifty and a hundred years to come.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Mayor, Ms. Marianne Meed Ward, the city
office staff, the Mundialization Committee members and all of the citizens of Burlington on thiscommemorative occasion of the 30th anniversary.

Marianne Meed Ward

SAKAMOTO Takeshi

Burlington

01

2Burlington

The Cities ofItabashi & Burlington
板橋区とバーリントン市

Tokyo

Itabashi
02

CanadaBurlington

Itabashi
City of Itabashi, Tokyo, Japan

Average temperature for summer 25℃ , winter 6℃
It has similar length of each season of spring,summer, autumn and winter and rarely snows.
Approximately 570 thousands.

Burlington
Locations

ClimatePopulation

City of Burlington, Ontario, Canada,
located on the same latitude as Sapporo, JapanTime difference: 13 hours（14 hours in winter）
ahead in Itabashi, Tokyo
Average temperature for summer 22℃ , winter -5℃
It is much cooler than Tokyo in summer and snowsa lot in winter.
Approximately 190 thousands.

Itabashi Fireworks Festival

Sound of Music Festival

One of the greatest fireworks festival
in Japan highlighted with “the Great
Niagara Falls” featuring lengthy fallsof firewor k flows and competitive
launchings of the best masters ofJapanese pyrotechnicians.

One of the most spectacular music festivals in Canada hosted by Burlington
every June. The main site is Spencer Smith
Park facing the Lake Ontario.

Major Event

Burlington in Itabashi
Burlington Plaza

Itabashi in Burlington“ITABASHI WAY”

(inside the JR Itabashi StationPark)

Rows of cherry trees donated by theItabashi people are planted along theway named after Itabashi.

The Plaza was created in commemoration of the 5th anniversar y of theTwinning relation. A s tone named“Burlington Rock” presented by Burlington is placed side-by-side with maple
trees and symbolizes the strong bond offriendship between the cities.

Spots of theassociation

Burlington03

3Burlington

Chronology ofthe Exchanges
交流年表Itabashi Matsuri Stall（2004）

Twinning Proclamation “The common belief that the mutual understanding of the bothcitizens and deepening friendship among themselves contribute to build a foundation forworld peace.”（May 12, 1989）

04

Burlington Teen Tour Band visited Itabashi（2009）

1985

Associated with Canada Fair at the Itabashi Festival, exchanging views started between Itabashi Cityand Canadian Embassy.

1987

・Itabashi began researching the possible relationship with information on Burlington City.
・The fact-finding teams of the cities made mutual visits for further research.

May 12, 1989

SignedItabashi & Burlington signed the Twinning Proclamation in Burlington.

・Itabashi presented Burlington with a replica of “Peace Memorial Statue”.

1990

1st Anniversary

・The Mayor of Burlington and the Burlington Teen Tour Band, consisting of 257 members, visited Itabashi.
・Fireworks event was held at the lakeside of the Lake Ontario sponsored by Itabashi
・Itabashi citizen group participated in the Sound of Music Festival.

1994

5th Anniversary

Fireworks event was held at the lakeside of the Lake Ontario donated by Itabashi

1996

・“Burlington Rock” was donated by Burlington to Itabashi.
・Itabashi & Burlington made reciprocal Citizen Tours.
・Burlington named “ITABASHI WAY” street.

1997

City of Itabashi presented “Itabashi Bridge” to Burlington.

1999

10th Anniversary “Burlington Friendship’s Clock” was gifted by Burlington to Itabashi

2004

15th Anniversary・Itabashi official delegation, cultural and citizengroup visited Burlington and joined the Sound of Music
Festival with “Itabashi Matsuri Stall”.
・Mr. Taroo ENOMOTO, honourary citizens of Burlington donated Azalea trees to Burlington.

20th Anniversary

・The Burlington Teen Tour Band, consisting of 230 members, visited Itabashi and held concerts including
exchanges with Itabashi youths.
・Burlington gifted Itabashi with Red Maple tree.
・Mr. Kan NAKAZAWA, honourary citizens of Burlington donated Sakura cherry trees to Burlington.

25th Anniversary・Samurai Armors and Ukiyo-e woodblock prints possessed by Itabashi City were exhibited in Burlington.
Introducing Tea ceremony, Ikebana Flower Arrangement and Koto music performance.
・Burlington donated Sugar Maple trees to Itabashi.
・Students of High schools and Universities in Itabashi visited Burlington and participated in the English
lessons as well as home stay program.
・Burlington Official Delegation with the citizen group visited Itabashi and joined Japanese traditional
festival named “Mori no Nigiwai”, in a sacred grove surrounding a forest shrine.

30th Anniversary

・Delegation from Burlington joined Itabashi Residents Festival.
・Itabashi Garden has been opened in Burlington
・Official delegation from Itabashi visited Burlington and participated in the Canada Day Festival.
・Itabashi Youth delegation made a homestay tour to Burlington.

2009

2014

2019

※ On every five year commemoration, both cities exchange visits of official delegation, citizen and culture group.

Burlington

05

4
Burlington

Interactionsof the Youths
Itabashi and Burlington have various interactions between the青少年の交流

citizens of youths including junior and senior high school students.

Exchanges of art works
Exhibition at Art Gallery of Burlington

06

The students of Fujimidai Elementary School of Itabashi and Clarksdale Public School of Burlington
started the interaction program just after associated with the kite works exchange between theschools in 2007. Since then the art works such as paintings, craft works and calligraphies have been
exchanged between the schools of the two cities.The works of Itabashi children are exhibited atArt Gallery of Burlington around May every year and those of Burlington kids are displayed at anItabashi school or the lobby of Itabashi Culture Hall.

Burlington InternationalGames（B.I.G）
B.I.G. is an international sports game alternately held in Burlington of
Canada and that of Vermont State of the US for the youths between
12 to 17 years of age.Itabashi has dispatched such sports teams as
selected soccer team and volleyball club members of high schools
to the Game four times since 1988 and had good interactions
through sports.

Pen pal Program
The both cities introduce pen pals of the same aged children of
the two cities and promote correspondence of emails and letters inEnglish. The students of M.M. Robinson High School and Daito Bunka
University Dai-ichi High School participated the exchange as a classactivity.

English training courseand homestay
As a special program of the 25th commemoration of the Twinning
relationship, nine students of senior high schools and universities in Itabashi
participated in the program. They joined English course, exchanged withhost families and joined sightseeing to the Niagara Falls, etc.

Photo exchanges
An amateur photographer’s group LATOW of Burlington and the clubsof Itabashi high schools and universities exchanged the works ofphotographs.
The participants of the two cities took pictures of a common theme
such as nature, people and other favorite places in each city on thesame day and interacted with each other.
Burlington

07

5Burlington

Twin Symbols
in Itabashi and Burlington
板橋区とバーリントン市のおそろい

Burlington
Friendship Clock
The Burlington Friendship Clock placed in front of
the Itabashi City Hall is a gift of Burlington City incommemoration of the 10th Anniversary of the Twin-cityand the replica of the one set in front of Burlington City
office. There is thirteen hours difference in time between
the cities and two clocks ring the bell at the same timeof every hour.
In front of Itabashi City Hall

08

In front of Burlington City Hall

“Itabashi Bridge” in Burlington

Courtyard of Burlington City Hall

In front of Itabashi City Hall

Peace Memorial Statue
Itabashi donated Burlington the Statue in commemoration of the Twinning
Proclamation. The replica of the Statue set in front of the Itabashi City Hall is placedat the courtyard of the Burlington City Hall. They are symbolic twins of the Twin cities
seeking for world peace together.

“Itabashi Bridge” in Itabashi

Itabashi Bridge
Itabashi named after its wooden bridge is also seen in Burlington as “ItabashiBridge”.

Burlington

096Burlington

30th Anniversaryof the Twin-city relationshipParticipation type event“We♡ Burlington!”
Itabashi City hosted an event “We ♡ Burlington!” introducing
Burlington and Canada extensively on the Entrance Hall of theCity Office and roof-top garden (Oct. 15~25). The event included
Gallery Mall display of history of exchanges between the twocities, art works exhibition of Burlington children as well as serving
Canadian special menu at the restaurant in the City Office as
Canada Fair. Prepared various events including experience
typed events as below and had many visitors:
Set a message stand for Burlington “Maple Tree Message”, aphoto setting with Canadian background making the visitors feellike visiting Canada, workshop “Crafting Dream catcher” a craft
workshop making the native Canadian folk craft.

10

姉妹都市提携 30 周年記念事業

Mutual visits of the official delegations● Itabashi Official Delegation to Burlington (June 30~July 4)● Burlington Official Delegation to Itabashi (October 16~20)

Courtesy call, attending the Opening ceremony of the Itabashi Garden, Canada DayCeremony and city tours, etc.

Courtesy call, attending Welcome and Tree Planting Ceremonies, participating in theItabashi Residents Festival, traditional culture experience and city tours, etc.

Attended Canada Day commemorative ceremony

Itabashi Garden Opening Ceremony

Maple tree Planting Ceremony at the roof top garden

Participated in Itabashi Residents Festival

Mutual Visits of the Citizen Groups● Itabashi Youths Group to Burlington (August 14~21)● Burlington Citizen Group to Itabashi (October 17 and 20)

Ten Itabashi youths between 15 to 23 years old visited Burlington. They exchanged with local people experiencing
homestay, attending English lessons, sightseeing to the Niagara Falls and Toronto, visiting Students Theater, etc.

Burlington citizen of sixteen people visited Itabashi. They exchanged with local people through home-stay, homevisit, and city tour including tea ceremony, visiting high school, participating in the Itabashi Residents Festival, etc.

Welcome Ceremony at Burlington City Office

Together with host families

Tea Ceremony at Tokusui-Tei

Joined Awa-Odori dance at the Itabashi Residents FestivalBurlington

117Burlington

Key Figures and Organizations ofthe Twinning relation

Sakura Cherry trees along the Itabashi
Wa y a n d S p e n c e r S m i t h Pa r k we r ep r e s e n t e d b y M r. K a n N A K A Z AWA ,Honourary citizen of Burlington

姉妹都市に関係する人物・機関
Honourary Citizens of
the City of Burlington

Mayors of Itabashi
1979-1991
Mr. Keizo KURIHARA
1991-2007
Mr. Teruo ISHIZUKA● Mr. Takeshi SAKAMOTO 2007●●Itabashi Culture and International
Exchange Foundation
The azalea trees in the Paletta Lakefront
Park and Itabashi Garden were donatedby Mr. Taroo ENOMOTO, Honourary Citizenof Burlington

The persons of merit for the contribution
for the City of Itabashi
・Mr. Roly Bird

The Mayor when the Proclamation was signed

・Mr. Ako Matsubayashi

The Chair, Burlington Mundialization and Itabashi Sub-committee when
the Proclamation was signed

Mr. Keizo KURIHARA

the Mayor when the Proclamation was signed●●Mr. Kan NAKAZAWA

the Chairman of the City Assembly when the Proclamation was signed●

Mr. Taroo ENOMOTO

the person of merit for the long time contribution for Burlington

Mayors of Burlington
Mr. Roly Bird 		
1977-1991
Mr. Walter Mulkewich 1992-1997● Mr. Rob Maclsaac
1998-2006Mr. Cam Jackson
Mr. Rick Goldring● Ms. Marianne Meed Ward●●●●2006-20102010-20182018-Burlington Mundialization Committee
It is a committee consisting of volunteer citizens, Councillor in charge and assisting officer of the City Officecreated in 1985. The Itabashi subcommittee is in charge of the relations with Itabashi including the Twinning andcitizens exchanges. In the event of the 30th Anniversary of the Twinning, Mayor of Itabashi presented the Letter ofAppreciation to the three people who made great contributions in fostering the friendly relation.

Logo commemorating the 30th Anniversary of the Twinning relationship
Symbolizing friendship between the Cities of Itabashi and Burlington

12Logo designed
by Burlington

Logo designed
by Itabashi

Recipients of the Certificate ofAppreciation Commemorating
the 30th Anniversary
Mr.Ed Dorr

Mr. Rob Lyng

Mr. Chuck Morris

Chair of Mundialization
Committee

Chair of Itabashi
Subcommittee

Former Chair of Itabashi
Subcommittee