THE EXCHANGE

Japanese SisterCity
Fall 2009 / Winter 2010
Newsletter

31st Anniversary Party
As tradition has gone,
the third Saturday ofJanuary the JSCC commission brings lots offood to the Truman
Memorial Building andmany JSCC friends attend a gathering to remember the past years.

brought as a gift to ourSister City. Also theJapanese Language
Teacher from William
Jewell attended withstudent, Susan Peoples.

Below: Old friends
and new gathered so
we could send a nicephoto to those celebrating in Japan on thesame date!

Truman High School
AFS students from Japan attended the party
and signed the Teeshirt that Lana White
Left: Dave Raganleads the food line
Right: Two Alumni
Mallory Flippin andCaitlin Leavy talkabout
Mallory’s
teaching job inJapan with SandyPeoples.

October Garden Clean Up!
Commission members
and JSCC friends gathered at the garden for
an afternoon of fun andgardening. The city
supplies the JSCC witha trailer to haul off
weeds while volunteers

provide the pulling andthe cutting as the garden gets royal treatment. Charlie Brown,
Paloma Segura, Connie
McQuain, Twyla Olsen-Hahn and Gerald
Hancock pictured.

Inside this issue:Communications Galore 2

Warm Gathering Com- 2
ing up!
JSCC at the EJCAC

2Meet the 2010 Escort

3

Honorable Visitor

3

Volunteers Thanked

3

JSCC at the Parade

4

Special Person Spot
• Buck Buchanan, Japanese
Garden Horticulturist
who has assisted theCommission with theIndependence Friendship
Garden, was honored on
September 16th with anaward by the Kessler
Society and the KCMO
Parks and Recreation
Department for the design and installation of the“Tiger Stroll Gardens” at6616 Ward Parkway.
Congratulations Buck!

THE EXCHANGE

Page 2

Communication Galore!

Don’t miss the next
hottest event!
Read all about theten girls cooking up
something fun andyummy to thetummy too...

In the past
30 years
we havegone fromletters,
International calls
to emails
and faxes. Now theJSCC has a fantastic website that can be translated into Japanese, andour Sister City members
in Japan can take time toread it, look at ournewsletters and photos.

It might be fun for you
to do it in English! Thea d d r e s s
i s :www.ci.independence.
mo.us/sistercity and if
you get out on Facebook look us up on
Higashi Murayama’s
page or use our email
address: jsccfriends@yahoo.com.
We would love to get
new home addresses
for the alumni students
and for past JSCC
friends as well as newfriends too. So
send your info incare of City Hall ordrop a note in oneof the other locations mentioned.
Please let us know
if you have an
email address orFacebook page.
We are always
looking for morefriends at the JSCC
to partner with us
in the international
outreachofWarm Gathering Coming Up!
Hot! Don’t miss thechili/soup dinner Saturday, February 27th at
5-7 pm to support theten girls going on the2010 exchange. Comeand meet them, hear
live music and have afantastic meal that will
only cost two for $10.
It is located acrossfrom the Truman Memorial Building at theWestminster Hall on
Pleasant and Truman.
The 4 girls in thephoto (left) sold tickets
at the anniversary
party in hopes to raisemoney for their trip.
Contact: 816-399-4224
for more info.

JSCC Goes to EJCAC
Chairman, Jeannae
Segura-Brown (left)
accepts an award at
the Eastern Jackson
County Art Coalition
event in November of2009 for her workwith the Sister School.
Each year Jeannaeteaches elementarystudents about Japanese culture and music.
The children performseveral times during
the year a Japanese
performance. The Sister School idea beganover 20 years ago
when Sue Hammett
started it.

Above Sue Hammett with Mayor Reimal at oneof the JSCC meetings held every third Tuesdayat the city hall at 7 pm. You are welcome.

Fall 2009 / Winter 2010

Page 3Meet the 2010 Student Escort
Emily (Hays) Collins is
no stranger to theJSCC having been a
student herself in the1994 delegation to Japan. She will be ourfirst Alumni to be anEscort and a perfectperson for this years
trip since ten girls will
make up the 2010
delegation.
Emily, who has her
Masters in Social Science, feels especiallygood about this years
trip even though she ispicking up the groupthat didn’t get to go in
the summer of 2009.
She has been getting toknow the girls that met
with Jana Waists lastyear and the new girls
that have been interview and accepted in
the 2010 Delegation.
Emily’s husband, Chris
Collins, who is working
in Dubai, thinks this isa perfect time for Emily
to be an escort andhopes she gets to see
her old friends in Japan

Honorable Visitor From Japan
Carolyn and Lysle
Weeks hosted Nakagawa-san who was theformer liaison to theHigashimurayama
mayor. For thirty years
Nakagawa-san worked
for our sister city anddedicated his career tothe relationship between other countries.

He was very thankful
to see many of his dearfriends from years pastat household parties.
Many JSCC friends
gathered to spend valuable time with him.
While in Independence, Nakagawa-san
enjoyed bike riding andshopping in the craft

Volunteers Thanked!
Thanks goes to theHammett’s, the Vest’s
and the Ragan’s for doing two shifts at theparking lot in Sept.
They have always been
#1 volunteers for theJSCC. Also thanks tothe many others that

helped that weekend. It
was a lot of fun!
Thanks to Alan for theluxuries he provided.
Also many thanks tothe ladies who solditems at the Fall Japan
Festival for the JSCC.

as well. Besides visiting
as a high school student, Emily hosted during the 30th Anniversary Adult trip.
In Emily’s past she has
worked extensively
with the youth of thedeployed service members, including all
branches of the military, as well as the foreign branch. During theH1N1 outbreak in thefirst semester ofschool, Emily was busy
as a sub in Lee’s Summit schools as well astents since he visited
during the Santa-Caligon festival. He went
to other locations in
the United States on
his vacation but loved
his home away fromhome in Independence.
We were all remindedof his many other trips
here.

Emily Collins pictured below as
she takes the elevator up theSt Louis Arch. Emily has lived inFlorida and Nevada and nowowns a home here.

retail work in the Independence Center.
In May of 2009 she
was in Dubai visiting
her husband and isvery familiar with theairport rules in today’s world. She andthe girls will do great!

Rosie Smith and Ann Ragan
expressing the kind of friendship shared at the JSCC.

Thanks to Bill & Joanne Shaw for the
many new Japanese items donatedfor the bazaar.

Five Storied Pagoda atTochigi taken by ourSister Cities very own
freelance photographer,
Shiwori Katayama.
Look for more photosof Higashimurayama,and other Japanesesights in the future.

Japanese Sister CityC

JSCC in care of the Independence City Hall
Jeannae Segura-Brown, Chairman
Alan Davison, Vice President
Joe Gall, Treasurer
Debbie Lovewell, Secretary
John Seeley-Student Exchange
Emily Collins 2010 Escort
Gerald Hancock Newsletter
Sandy Peoples Web/Facebook
Major Hammett, Friends of the JSCC Fund
Lana White, Founder with the love anddedication of the great people ofHigashimurayama

ITY
P
Above: Debbie Lovewell and Jr. High Sister
School teacher, Alreda Adams enjoy the day withthe JSCC in the city parade.

JSCC &F ri e ndsARADFor people who love to share their liveswith others.

EWe’re on the web:www.ci.independen
ce.mo.us/sistercity

2009

Proud to be an Independence, MO
City Commission– The Japanese Sister City

Events and Up-Coming News-Feb 27th 2010 fundraiser Chili/Soup
dinner to raisemoney for the 2010
Exchange Students
5-7 pm Saturday atWestminster Hall
-Now accepting applications for the2011 Student delegation. Applications
are located on theweb site. Interviews
will be this spring.

-April 11th Save theDate for the
Cherry Blossom
Festival at the Sermon Center!
-July 12th the student and Emilyleave for Japan.
July 27th the students return bringing the Japanesedelegation withthem! Be a hostfamily. Applicationis on the web site.
See your city
through new eyesfor your vacation
this year and host.
-Fall Japan Festival
will be in October
this year.
-2nd Motaku Convention will takeplace in October-Garden clean up
third Saturday inOctober.

Above: Charlie
Brown and theJSCC walked theIndependence Halloween Parade.
Below: The banner
was an honor tocarry in the paradeand it was a great
day to be out.