Port Alberni Mayor Sharie Minions and city councillor Charles Mealey welcomed part of the Abashiri, Hokkaido, Japan delegation to city hall on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025.
Shinko Tsunoda is the chaperone for four students as well as the person in charge of Abashiri's sister city program in Japan. The students were at ADSS and an elementary school while Tsunoda attended city hall.
"It's been an amazing 40 years," said Mealey, who shared memories of his family hosting students from Abashiri when he was younger.
Tsunoda presented a gift of a banner to Mayor Sharie Minions. City councillor Charles Mealey presented a cedar plank for cooking salmon, a mug and a bottle of Kleekhoot Gold big leaf maple syrup to Tsunoda, courtesy of Hupacasath First Nation.
"It's incredibly exciting to see the return of the program," Minions said.
"I think it's so important with our shared sister city partnership to have students travelling back and forth," she said. "At the city we just love the energy that it brings, and Shinko has been a fantastic ambassador to the program on the Abashiri side."
Tsunoda first visited the Alberni Valley in 1986 when she was a college student. After a short visit she returned home to Japan and accepted teaching jobs, saving enough money to come back to Port Alberni; this time she stayed for two years.
During those two years, around 1992, the Port Alberni Twinning Society celebrated its fifth anniversary while Tsunoda was in the Alberni Valley. She was hooked. She asked for a job working with the city of Abashiri and has been organizing the exchanges ever since.
Next year the society will recognize its 40-year anniversary. Laurie Money said the society would like to start hosting student exchanges again, and hopes to re-energize the group following the success of this week's delegation from Abashiri.
"We really need to get some new members in the society," he admitted. "We need to get some new energy younger people...to help us move along with this exchange and those around the globe in 2025."
Money can be reached for more information via email at lmoney@shaw.ca or by phone at 250-724-4174.
