Our friends, the Koyamada Foundation, has been responding to disaster relief crises around the world since 2011 and the Great Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami. We have collaborated with the Koyamada Foundation in the San Jose-Okayama Sister Cities relationship and the Young Professionals Forums across 6 sister city (USA/Japan) which were presented in a report through CULCON Japan and CULCON USA to the President’s Office of the USA and the Prime Minister’s Office in Japan.
In the last few days, the situation in the Ukraine merited attention. With friends and citizens to unite and donate to the effort, KIF is working with those on the ground to get immediate aid to refugees.
https://kifglobal.org/what/issue/disaster/
February 17, 2022 Japanese Friendship Garden
Student Virtual Exchange Summer 2021
Held on August 6, 2021 PDT our team of seven students and two volunteer SJOSC staff members were pleased to participate with Okayama City hosting our second virtual exchange of the year!
We shared the food we like and thanks to Alice on our student team – It was all student video and student edited!
We also shared a great ‘Intro to San Jose’ video which we will try to post next!
HANAMI season
Two ways to share ‘hanami’ (blossom viewing)
Tonight 4/3/21 at 6pm PDT with Tokuzenji in Shimane Prefecture, Japan, with Okinawan music and Shamisen performance by Kyle Abbott on sjbetsuin.videos on the Betsuin YouTube Channel (You can find a link here too: http://sjbetsuin.com)
And – Go in person to a local park! The Consulate of Japan in San Francisco created and published this video just this week! https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=4041979872536631Grab some snacks and your favorite drink and join in!
The Japanese Friendship Garden
at Kelley Park in San Jose, CA – The garden is a symbol of the friendship between Okayama and San Jose. Groundbreaking was in May 1960.
“Two years later- detailed plans for the garden, patterned after Okayama’s world famous Kōraku-en Park (後楽園) were approved by the city council of San Jose. Authenticity of design was a foremost consideration; and in the planning and construction special attention was paid to the traditional and symbolic meaning attached to the placement of rock, bridges and other features. Construction funds were budgeted by the city council, and these were generously supplemented by donations from various sources of money, materials and services.
The park was dedicated October-31, 1965, at a memorable program which marked also the eighth anniversary of the “sister city” affiliation. Among those present at the dedicatory ceremonies were Mayor and Mrs. Hirao Akazaki of Okayama.” (- these paragraphs are quoted here from city history of the sister city relationship)
Photos updated March 14, 2022
Walking Map Brochure – created by “Friends of the Japanese Friendship Garden” led by Aderyn Clark for her Girl Scout Gold Award Project 2020-2021
Friends of the JFG Volunteer Day Jan 2021
Volunteers gathered at the Japanese Friendship Garden on January 16, 2021 for the first Volunteer Day in the garden in 2021!
Twenty-seven volunteers who had signed up beforehand through the Eventbrite link), wearing facemarks and able to distance while working, cleared about 15-20 years of green waste and 1500 feet of fence line before tacking weeks and grass along the smoke tree hill, removing redwood chip to spread it outside the fence and worked on the stay weeds and thistles popping up in the garden.
We all thank you for doing so much work and the Friends of the JFG to make the Garden a good place to go!
Subnational Global Young Professionals Forum
San Jose, CA & JCI Okayama, Japan
November 12, 2020
Hosted by KIF Japan and JCI Japan with Subnational Collaboration from San Jose-Okayama Sister Cities. A set of six forums between USA cities and six cities in Japan will round out the first Young Professionals Forums. A report generated from discussion in these forums will be submitted to the Office of the Prime Minister of Japan through CULCON Japan and to the Office of the President of the United States of America through CULCON USA.
Student virtual exchange! Apply now!
A virtual exchange between San Jose/Okayama/Guam.
Deadline for online submissions is Nov 15, 2020.
High School students, please apply!
Email questions to: sjokayama1957@gmail.com
Bells for Peace: 8/5/20 Hiroshima event photos and article-Next is 8/8/20 Nagasaki
Thank you to KTVU Jana Katsuyama, Jon Kawamoto (SJ Mercury New) and Photojournalist Dai Sugano from the SJ Mercury News)
Here is a link to the San Jose Mercury News article published today: https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/08/06/throughout-bay-area-bells-ring-on-75th-anniversary-of-hiroshima-bombing/
And the video of Bells for Peace August 5. 2020 in San Jose 4:15 PDT is on the SJBetsuin Videos YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYMMKnmEK2k
Thank you to all those who viewed and participated!
This may and should become an annual event. What do you think?
Bells for Peace
on August 5th, San Jose-Okayama Sister Cities joins 50 (fifty) cities throughout the USA and thirteen prefectures in Japan in commemoration of 75 years of peace following the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan. The nuclear weapon was dropped on Hiroshima at 8:15am on August 6th. Japan, being 16 hours ahead of us here on the West Coast, USA, we will be ringing simultaneously here (Aug 5th, 4:15pm PDT) and in Japan (Aug 6th, 8:15am).
Tokuzenji in Oda City, Shimane Prefecture, Japan will be ringing their temple bell simultaneously with San Jose (on Zoom) and others in San Jose will be joining us.
The event will be on the SJBetsuin Video YouTube channel (access here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNzzDwOSv9YWh7nNfh1IjGw
In this time of the COVID19 world pandemic, it is good to remember that we are still working with our friends everywhere around the world through sister cities to become a peaceful collaboration of culture and community.
