25th Anniversary Celebration In Review

(STILLWATER, OKLA • Oct. 24, 2010) — A week ago today the Stillwater Sister Cities Council hosted a 25th Anniversary Celebration to celebrate the twenty-five year sister cities relationship between Kameoka, Kyoto, Japan and Stillwater, Oklahoma, U.S.A. We celebrated with a near-capacity crowd in the auditorium at the Stillwater Public Library. Included on the program were several dignitaries including the Honorary Consul General from Japan to Oklahoma, Lloyd Hardin of Oklahoma City, Mayor Nathan Bates and former mayor Calvin Anthony. Along with the speakers were the Stillwater Middle School Touring Strings, the OSU Japanese Choral Group and the Stillwater Community Singers. Additionally, John Mills and Cindy Petree spoke about the 20 years sister school relation between Taisei Junior High School in Kameoka and the Stillwater Middle School.  I showed a power point presentation highlighting activities during the twenty-five years of our affiliation and Sylvia Duncan, who has served on the council for the entire twenty-five years, provided our closing remarks. It’s been a great twenty-five years, it was a nice ceremony, and we look forward to many more exciting years. In closing, we thank those who attended to celebrate with us.

25th Anniversary Celebration Is Here!

(STILLWATER, OKLA • Oct. 17, 2010) — Today the Stillwater Sister Cities program is celebrating its 25th anniversary and it’s been an exciting journey. However, as with most any endeavor that does well, it needed good support and leadership in its infancy and it certainly enjoyed both. Stillwater’s mayor in 1985 was Calvin Anthony and he has been a strong supporter of the sister cities program throughout the twenty-five years. The program has also enjoyed the support of City Hall
from the beginning. But, with any successful program it takes both support and “workers in the trenches” supplied primarily by the members of our sister cities council. The nine charter members of our council were, in alphabetical order, Carl Fox, Sylvia Duncan, Dee Dutt, Michael Griffith, Roger Hawkins, Mike Henson, Larry Jones, Harold Sare and Val Webb. Harold served as our first chair and provided great leadership to get us off on the right foot. As we meet this afternoon at the Stillwater Public Library to celebrate we hope you’ll join us. We’ll get underway at 2 pm in the auditorium. Please join us!

Upcoming Anniversary Celebration

(STILLWATER, OKLA • Oct. 10, 2010) — There have been some nice articles in the News-Press and on Stillwater’s channel 23 about our upcoming 25th anniversary with Kameoka and the publicity has been much appreciated. In view of the publicity about our twenty-five year sister cities affiliation with Kameoka and our celebration at the Stillwater Public Library on October 17, this week’s Kameoka Corner will focus on the city which we’ve been affiliated with for the past quarter century, Kameoka. The old castle town, almost completely surrounded by mountains straddles the Hozu River. Like Stillwater, Kameoka which is almost due west
of us, enjoys four beautiful seasons. The temperature during the winter rarely falls below about 28 or 29 degrees,  but it’s very humid and usually feels much colder than the actual temperature Most winters there are several five and six-inch snowfalls which are very pretty with the snow stuck to everything. But the snow doesn’t stay on the ground very long and by about mid-March signs of spring are in the air. In spring there’s an abundance of cherry blossoms and azaleas, some even growing wild along the Hozu River. During the spring hundreds of acres of rice seedlings are planted and as they grow toward maturity they provide an incredibly beautiful green landscape visible throughout Kameoka during the summer. Almost every morning during the late spring and early summer, the city is enveloped in a very heavy fog and during the same general period people are awakened almost every morning by the cawing of dozens of ravens. The summers are usually hot and humid. As summer gives way to fall the rice fields turn golden yellow just before harvest and the fall foliage displays its dazzling colors. Huge saucer size chrysanthemums can be seen on people’s doorsteps or in their gardens, the leaves of the gingko trees and other trees turn bright yellow, but the star of the fall show are the Japanese maples that turn almost fire engine red. It’s a spectacular sight! Rice harvest will soon be completed, people in Kameoka are preparing for the Kameoka Fall Festival and along with us will celebrate our 25th anniversary as sister cities.

International Student Reception

(STILLWATER, OKLA • Oct. 3, 2010) — On Thursday afternoon, September 23, the Sister Cities Council hosted international students who are attending Stillwater High School this year at a reception at the high school. For recognition purposes we divided the students into two groups with one group as exchange students who are here through an exchange program such as Wings of Rotary and one group as international students who are living here with their parents who are here for a period of time while attending OSU or for some other reason. The eleven students in attendance from nine different countries were welcomed to Stillwater by Vice-Mayor Chuck Hopkins who presented the exchange students with a proclamation and a sister cities pin while the international students were presented a pin.  Also in attendance were students from the International Club at the high school plus teachers at the high school and host families for the exchange students as well as family members of the international students. The students in attendance are here from around the world including Denmark, France, Germany, Spain, Lebanon, Mexico, China, Indonesia and Thailand. Vice-Mayor Hopkins said in his remarks that he had visited several of the home countries of several of the students which was exciting to them. We hope the students have a great time in Stillwater and return to their homes with wonderful memories and many new friends.

Visit to Japan

(STILLWATER, OKLA • Sept. 26, 2010) — My wife, Kayo, and I are going to Japan in early November and in anticipation and preparation of the trip she’s called a number of friends and family members from time to time throughout the summer. Each time she’s called the person on the other end of the line has talked about the heat in Japan this summer and apparently it is still quite warm. One friend told Kayo that she had seen on TV that the summer of 2010 was the hottest on record since the Japan Meteorological Agency started keeping records in 1898. Some blame El Nino which occurred during the late months of 2009 and early months of 2010 while others blame the El Nina of the summer of 2010. More than 130 people in Japan have died and thousands have been hospitalized with heat related problems. I don’t know if there’s any relationship between the hot summer and the typhoon season that covers about the same time period as our hurricane season, but to date the typhoon season has been very mild. One fairly strong typhoon hit Okinawa which is several hundred miles south of the main islands of Japan in the latter part of August, otherwise there have been no storms of any consequence to date. On another subject, the day of our celebration for the 25th anniversary of our sister cities affiliation with Kameoka is drawing near. Please set aside a couple hours on Sunday afternoon, October 17 at 2 pm to celebrate with us in the auditorium at the Stillwater Public Library. We really hope you’ll join us.