Fifty-five years ago Bloomington decided to be part of a movement to create connections between American cities and cities in other countries. The idea was started during the Eisenhower Administration in 1956 and was called the National League of Cities. Through this program it was thought that relations between the U.S. and other countries could be strengthened on a more personal level through cultural exchange and educational exchange. The program became so large and popular that a new organization was formed: Sister Cities International.
In 1961 Bloomington Mayor McGraw went to a meeting of the American Municipal Congress, where he was introduced to other cities that wanted to enter into a sister city relationship. It was then that our long and happy relationship with the city of Asahikawa, Japan was formed. As soon as the relationship was formed, the Pantagraph started receiving letters from boys and girls in Japan who wanted to meet pen pals in Bloomington-Normal! The City appoints citizens to the Sister City Committee and authorizes the committee to interview students for the exchange program and plan other activities such as the periodic visits to and from Asahikawa. The Rotary Clubs of each city also became involved in relations that bound the two cities.
Asahikawa is a large inland city of the Hokkaido prefecture in the largest island in the north part of Japan (pop. over 350,000). Like Bloomington-Normal, it is in a very important agriculture center, where rice and other food products are grown on large farms. (More than one host family was a farming family, and the wife in our host family was the daughter of a rice farmer.) A large dairy culture was brought to Hokkaido in the 1800's by an American dairy farmer from Wisconsin and that dairy culture is now a large part of the Hokkaido economy as well as a producer of some of the very best ice-cream, milk, butter and cream in the world! Hokkaido's climate is much like that of Illinois, in that they "enjoy" the same extremes of temperatures, but Hokkaido has much more snow than Illinois (up to 15 meters each winter!), which is a boon to the mountain skiing industry.
One of the most important parts of the Sister City relationship is the cultural and educational exchange that takes place each year. One of the first Bloomingtonians to visit Asahikawa was Judy Stern, in 1963, while she was teaching in Japan. She was hosted for a weekend by the City of Asahikawa. She taught a class in an Asahikawa grade school and attended banquets, forging strong ties with the city in the very earliest years of the relationship. In September, 1963, the first Asahikawan visited Bloomington -- he was Shigeru Taniguchi, an graduate student studying at Carbondale. He visited Eureka Williams, Beich Candy and other local attractions. A year later, he came to Bloomington with his wife, and they were taken on several tours of Central Illinois.
In March/April of each year, a group of Japanese students (between 7th and 10th grade) come to Bloomington/Normal for eight days to live with American families and meet American students. Our students do the same in Asahikawa in the month of June as part of the Junior Ambassador Program. The primary part of the educational exchange is the high school student exchange. Each year one high school student is sent from each city to visit the other for ten months! Students live with host families and attend school in their sister city, improving their language skills and representing their home town. This year the 50th students are beginning their exchange -- Mitchell Ratcliff from Bloomington, Illinois will be attending Asahikawa University High School and has already settled in with his host family. Minami Hiraoka will arrive in Bloomington later this week and will attend Bloomington High School. In 1966, the first student from Asahikawa to visit Bloomington for studies was Kumiko Uyama, a college graduate who contacted the city for information and a possible host family. Several families quickly volunteered to host the young woman. She attended Illinois Wesleyan to improve her English skills. In 1967 Toshimitsu Uede was the first high school exchange student from Japan at Bloomington High. In 1968, Dennis Elder was the first Bloomington High student to visit Asahikawa as an exchange student.
Bloomington-Normal's relationship with Asahikawa was pivotal in the competition to bring the Diamond Star plant to McLean County. Springfield was the top choice until Diamond Star met with the Bloomington-Normal committee and learned of our strong and long-standing relationship with Asahikawa! Once Diamond Star knew of this connection the competition was over, and we reaped the economic benefits of this friendly relationship. This year the Asahikawa Zoo is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The Miller Park Zoo sent native animals to help start the Asahikawa Zoo: a black bear, two foxes, four doves, and two raccoons.