The 40th anniversary of the sister-state relationship between Montana and Japan's Kumamoto prefecture arrived Friday with the exchange of a thousand folded cranes, a gift from student Ayano Izaki.
September 9, 2022
Kumamoto friends mark 40th anniversary of sister-state bond
By Missoulian Staff
Article originally published:
A delegation of 22 Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ from Tohoku University traveled to Montana for two weeks to study shared environmental issues, according to Deena Mansour, the executive director of the Mansfield Center at the Ñý¼§Ö±²¥. They spent time at UM, the Flathead Indian Reservation, the Flathead Lake Biological Station and in Glacier National Park.
The exchanges get “Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ sitting side by side, exploring shared issues, and recognizing how much we have in common,” Mansour said.
The “senbazuru” of one thousand folded cranes was made by Tohoku student Ayano Izaki, with 50 white cranes representing the 50 states. The senbazuru are symbols of peace, thought to bring good fortune and generally associated with a wish, Mansour said. In this case, Izaki developed it as a wish for peace between the U.S. and Japan.
“If you look at this in the context of the pandemic, these cells and cranes also fulfill our wish for resumed people-to-people engagements that we've been engaging virtually for two years,” Mansour said.
In return, UM President Seth Bodnar was to present gifts to Ayano Izaki; professor Richard Mears, a UM graduate who now teaches at Tohoku University, and First Secretary Shiori Yamada of the Consulate General to Japan.
Mansour said Japan is an important partner in trade, educational exchanges and critical ally in national security in the region.
How did Montana and Kumamoto enter into a sister-state relationship? Here’s a condensed version.
The center is named after Mike Mansfield, who served as U.S. ambassador to Japan from 1977 to 1988, the longest-ever in the post.
Mansfield, a “quintessential Montana youth who came from a challenging background,” lied about his age to enlist in the military when he was 14, Mansour said. He was stationed in the Philippines and traveled to Japan and China, planting an interest in the area that lasted long after his return.
His wife, Maureen, encouraged him to gain an education, so he came to UM and studied the region, eventually becoming a professor of Far Eastern Studies.
After his election to the U.S. House and Senate (where he was the longest serving Senate majority leader), he was appointed as ambassador to Japan by President Carter. Against the usual tradition where appointees don’t outlast an administration, Reagan asked him to stay on.
In 1982, Mansfield initiated the sister-state relationship. It became a key partner at a time of major economic activity, and the state’s first international trade office was founded in the prefecture and remains a valuable source of trade, Mansour said.
High school and college Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ from both countries have traveled back and forth, with clubs of various kinds of both sides of the Pacific. Tohoku, for instance, is in Sendai, not in Kumamoto.
They’re here looking at shared environmental issues: food security, natural resource development, ecotourism, drought, flooding, timber and mining.