The City of Homer and Alaska Japanese Club in Homer have been celebrating the 40th anniversary celebration of their relationship with our sister city, Teshio, in Hokkaido, Japan, for two years starting in 2024 through 2025.
Some of you might know that Steve Yoshida and his wife, Noko Yoshida, with their group who established exchange students’ programs in the past years sent Homer’s high school students to Teshio and accepted Teshio high school students here in Homer in the past 15 years. Those exchange students, from both cities, had many joyful and amazing experiences with memories to share with their host families and their schoolmates back home.
The first exchange student from Homer to Teshio in 1986 was Julie Jones. She is now a director for Department of the Air Force Inspector General in Washington, D.C., and recently visited Teshio with her twin children, Sophia and Parker, who are in the fifth grade. While visiting, Julie Jones shared her experiences with current Teshio High School students. They also joined the tea ceremony at one of the clubs after-school programs, tasting matcha green tea with a Japanese sweet using one toothpick, and learning how to drink the green tea when they were served it by the students, who made fresh the matcha green tea in the Japanese Tatami room.
Her children had a wonderful chance to meet Japanese fifth graders. Together, they made some green tea during the lunch break at Teshio Elementary School. They used chopsticks to eat hot lunch with them. Those Japanese fifth graders have been learning English language, so they could greet in English to the visitors from the United States.
Another good news is that Charlie Anderson, who is another former exchange student to Teshio, and his friends will visit Teshio in September. I have been coordinating with Teshio for their trip to Teshio as well, as I had coordinated with Cathy Stingley, her granddaughter and her friend to visit Teshio this past spring. Teshio requested that Charlie Anderson’s group could share some photos from Homer and Teshio will show them some photos from Teshio during their visit. We appreciate that the group will be able to show videos or photos to our student delegation who are planning to visit Teshio next May.
Our Alaska Japanese Club has had great relationships with Teshio through online class sessions, exchange cards and the sister city program. Students in Alaska Japanese Club made 70 chopstick holders to gift to Teshio Mayor Yoshida, to town council members, to staff from The Town of Teshio and to Teshio Junior High School students to show our appreciation of our great relationships with them. We appreciate that Teshio has been hosting visitors from Homer and Washington, D.C., especially this year.
We also appreciate that Cathy Stingley, her granddaughter and her friend, made 50 chopstick holders with an instructor from Teshio to use for our fundraising for Homer students’ delegation to Teshio next spring. We are very thankful for Teshio’s generosity.
One of the events for the 40th anniversary celebration is that Tomodachi Daiko Inc. performed with Alaska Japanese Club in May. Mr. and Mrs. Kono, who are the presidents of Tomodachi Daiko Inc., and Mr. Furuta, who is a master of Japanese Taiko drums from Tokyo, Japan, taught us some Japanese Taiko drumming songs to celebrate the 40th anniversary of relationship.
Frank Jeffries, who is a retired UAA professor, and Jacki Holzman, who is a retired FAA supervisor, and members of Tomodachi Daiko Inc. donated materials such as 2-foot sections of PVC pipe, steerhide skins and some other materials for building six Japanese Taiko drums. They both came down to Homer twice in May to lead amazing workshops for building the last three Taiko drums. We are grateful that the Kachemak Bay Campus and the Homer United Methodist Church allowed use for our workshops.
Alaska Japanese Club participated in the Fourth of July parade by drumming to show our appreciation for our community, Tomodachi Daiko Inc. and Teshio. We have been celebrating the 40th anniversary celebration. We won the prize for Best Children’s Performing Group this year. We have been drumming two days a week at the Homer Harbor Pavilion this summer. We are invited to perform our Taiko drumming at Alice’s Champagne Palace on Wednesday, Sept. 25 for Alaska World Arts Festival.
We are also invited to perform with a Taiko drummer group from Portland next March at Homer Mariner Theatre hosted by Homer Council on the Arts with those six Nagado Daiko and another additional beautiful Japanese Nagado Daiko from our donations. Those donations from the audience will help us take the student delegation to Teshio next May.
We appreciate that Bear Creek Winery, Bubbles Soda Parlor, Captain’s Toy Chest, Finn’s Pizza, Latitude 59, Nomar, Pika Pika Bento, the Classic Cook, The Homer Bookstore, the Homer United Methodist Church and the Pho and Tai Restaurant for setting up our donation boxes which Alaska Japanese Club students made for Taiko projects and now also for students’ delegations to Teshio next spring.
We are thankful that so many of you support us through your presence, and continued help during our activities and fundraising. We are very thankful that Homer Bookstore is choosing Alaska Japanese Taiko group as an August recipient for donations from their “Blind Date” program.
Another big thank you to South Peninsula Hospital and our community for their donations.
We also appreciate your donation, generosity and kindness for our students’ delegation to Teshio this coming Spring. If persons in Homer community would like to extend the fun and learning of our sister city with Teshio, Homerites are welcome to donate a hand craft or gift personally to Teshio and the student delegation will take a box of your gifts from Homer to Teshio.
Megumi Beams is the Sister City liaison between Homer and Teshio. She also works as the director of the Alaska Japanese Club and the coordinator/instructor for the Japanese International Exchange.
