Anaheim : Delegation Returns With Praise for Sister City

Anaheim Mayor Don Roth and a delegation of residents and city officials were expected to be back in town this weekend following a two-week visit to Anaheim’s sister city in Japan.

The 32 delegates paid their own expenses for the $1,700 package trip, meant to promote greater understanding between the two countries, Anaheim public information officer Sheri Erlewine said.

Because it is happy with Anaheim’s relationship with Mito, the Japanese sister city near Tokyo-Disneyland, the local sister-city committee already has invited a West German city to join the program, said Charlotte Brady, vice chairwoman of the committee. If German officials in Bruhl accept the invitation, they will become Anaheim’s second sister city, Brady said.

The cultural exchanges have been a hit with both the Anaheim and Mito residents, who have been visiting each other since the sister-city agreement was struck in 1977.

“The hospitality of the Japanese people is fantastic,� Brady said. The visits help the participants to discover “the universality of our concerns� about issues such as education, redevelopment and culture, she said.

“Even for those who have been there a few days, they walk away with the feeling that they’ve made new friends,� Brady said. “I’ve had Japanese people tell me that if we’d had this kind of program, there wouldn’t have been a World War II.�