Many residents of the Marquette area have been exposed to the Japanese culture through the city's sister city relationship with Higashiomi, Japan.
Residents of Marquette and the Japanese town in Shiga Prefecture that started out as Yokaichi, before combining with neighboring communities to form Higashiomi, have been trading visits for more than three decades.
Delegations from the two communities trade off years in which they travel to their sister city, where they stay with host families and share in the everyday activities of their hosts.
Those activities took a big turn in Japan last week when a massive earthquake and tsunami it generated devastated the northern region of the country.
As of Tuesday, Japanese officials were estimating that more than 10,000 people died in the disaster and millions have been displaced.
There are shortages of food, water and power, as well as major problems at a nuclear power generating complex.
The Japanese people have pulled together and are dealing with the results of the disaster as best they can and the international community is pitching in to help.
Even a small community thousands of miles away can offer assistance in the time of need, and that's what is occurring in the Marquette area.
A Japanese disaster relief fund has been set up through the Marquette County Community Foundation.
While Higashiomi is not in the immediate area of the disaster, all of Japan is being impacted by the disaster.
Donations will be collected up until the time the next sister city delegation leaves for Japan in October. At that time, the delegation will deliver the funds to sister city officials in Higashiomi.
Marquette officials said lessons from the Hurricane Katrina disaster in the southern United States showed that after the first wave of disaster assistance starts to wane, there is still a need for outside help. Thus, delivering the funds several months from now will still be at a time of need.
Anyone wishing to donate to the fund can send a check to: Marquette County Community Foundation, P.O. Box 37, Marquette, MI 49855.
Community foundation officials have gotten into the spirit of the effort and will not be charging an administrative fee, so 100 percent of donations can be presented to our sister city.