Mayor Domenic J. Sarno and city officials will welcome Koukichi Maeda, Mayor of Takikawa City, Hokkaido, Japan at Springfield City Hall on Tuesday, October 2, 2012, at 10:30 a.m. Mayor Maeda is the leader of a delegation that arrived in Springfield on October 1st.
Takikawa City and Springfield have been sister cities since 1993. Every year, since the relationship began in 1989, Takikawa has sent delegations of adults and students to Springfield. Former Springfield Mayor Mary Hurley led the first delegation to Takikawa in 1991. Mary Markel, representing her husband Mayor Robert Markel traveled to Takikawa in 1993 along with Sister Cities Commission Chairman Dr. Kathleen Riordan. In 1993, the sister cities agreement was signed.
Accompanying Mayor Maeda on this visit are Norikazu Mizuguchi, Chairman of the Takikawa City Assembly, and Yasuhiro Yamauchi, Director of the International Affairs Division of Takikawa. Takikawa City is located in Hokkaido, the large northern island prefecture of Japan.
On the 20th Anniversary of the signing ceremony establishing the sister city relationship between Springfield and Takikawa, Mayor Sarno and Mayor Maeda will sign a document to renew the relationship.
