Marquette Area Sister City Partnership Delegation Leader Paulette Lindberg sits with Higashiomi Mayor Masakiyo Ogura. At back, members of Marquette’s delegation to Higashiomi are pictured with local officials. The group of 10 delegates from Marquette traveled to Higashiomi recently on the biannual delegation trip and celebrated the 40th anniversary of the sister city partnership, which was officially signed in August of 1979. (Photo courtesy of Paulette Lindberg)

MARQUETTE — Over the past four decades, the sister cities of Marquette and Higashiomi, Japan, have shared an enduring relationship, exchanging people, ideas and culture.

A delegation of 10 Marquette residents recently returned from their trip to Higashiomi, where they engaged with the sister city’s culture, residents and local officials. They also attended a variety of events, including a party celebrating 40 years of the sister city partnership that began in August 1979.

“It was a very significant 40-year anniversary visit,” said Paulette Lindberg of the Marquette Area Sister Cities Partnership, who was the delegation leader for the trip.

The first group of delegates went to Higashiomi 40 years ago, the year the partnership began, she said. Since then, Marquette delegations have continued to visit Higashiomi on odd numbered years, while delegations come to Marquette on even numbered years, Lindberg said, noting this year’s trip was her 14th visit to the sister city since she became invovled in 1981.

This year’s delegates were: Lindberg, her great-granddaughter, Bothwell Middle School student Payton Bullock; Emma Hyska, also a Bothwell Middle School student; Frederick and Kathy Maynard; Robert and Valentyna Anderson; Randall Jensen and Maureen McDevitt Jensen; and Tomoko Inoue, language and culture consultant and trip advisor.

“There were times where it was very emotional for me to introduce the delegates at particular meetings or ceremonies,” Lindberg said. “It was special to introduce the new students.”

The group left on Oct. 24, and after a 30-hour journey, the delegation arrived in Japan on the 25th and stayed with host families in Higashiomi through Nov. 4, she said.

“By being close to them in private homes, each delegate really gets a better chance to experience the difference in their lifestyles, the difference in their home styles — and yet we’re very much alike,” Lindberg said.

During the trip, Lindberg was honored with a citizen service award for her work with the sister city program since 1981 and participated in a ceremony with city officials and other award recipients in Higashiomi.

“I felt very, very honored,” Lindberg said, noting she was glad Bullock could attend to see her great-grandmother receive an award for “years of working to make our cities stronger and culturally more enhanced with each other.”

The group also attended a citizens party on Oct. 28 for the community to engage in “the celebration of 40 years,” Lindberg said.

During the celebration, Lindberg had a chance to reconnect with Hiroo Kotera, a former exchange student from Higashiomi who attended Northern Michigan University in the early years of the program and stayed with the Angeli family in Marquette.

Kotera is now a representative for the Shiga Prefecture — the prefecture in which Higashiomi is located — in Japan’s legislature.

“He gave a very, very good speech at the 40th-anniversary celebration party,” Lindberg said. “He remembered NMU and Marquette and (Marquette Area Sister City Partnership Founder) Pryse Duerfeldt very warmly. He honored all three memories of having been here. He’s now 58, but he still calls me his ‘Marquette mom,’ which is pretty sweet.”

The celebration also featured speeches by Lindberg and Higashiomi’s mayor; a video showing of the many sister city delegations over the past 40 years; a formal presentation recognizing the 40-year sister city partnership; music by a youth drumming group from Higashiomi, as well as a song by the Marquette delegation, which sang “Getting to Know You,” she said.

In addition, the delegation met with the local chambers of commerce, members of the Rotary and Lions clubs and saw many significant sites while they were in Higashiomi, Lindberg said.

On the last day of the visit, the group was sent off with an official farewell at the Higashiomi City Hall.

“I’ve been going over there since 1981 and welcoming guests here, making trips there and always observing the formality of how they treat our sister city program,” she said. “They’re very proud to be part of this.”

Beyond this year’s delegation, the sister city partnership has touched thousands of lives over the decades, Lindberg said, as around 4,000 people in the cities have been exchange students, delegates or hosts participating in the program over the past 40 years.

Northern Michigan University has offered a one-year scholarship for exchange students from Higashiomi, such as Kotera, for the past 40 years, with the 40th student in the program now in attendance at NMU.

“Many, many of those scholars have gone on to do very good things and to attain good business practices, high levels of achievement in their careers,” Lindberg said.

Overall, Lindberg and her fellow delegates are glad for the opportunity to celebrate 40 years of partnership with Higashiomi and look forward to many more years of the relationship between the sister cities.

“We constantly talk about growing the friendship, continuing the exchanges of delegations and trying to make our lives better by sharing our communities and learning more about our communities and our countries,” Lindberg said.

Cecilia Brown can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 248. Her email address is cbrown@miningjournal .net.