Rancho Palos Verdes and Sakura City, Sister Cities By Councilmember Barbara Ferraro

Rancho Palos Verdes and Sakura City, Sister Cities

By City Councilmember Barbara Ferraro

                From tiny acorns, big oak trees grow. Or is it cherry trees… From a little idea, a cultural exchange for students and a sister city program grew. Miraleste social studies teacher, Maylynn Chetanna decided, after her college graduation to teach in Japan for a year. The government of Japan had realized that students could read and write English, but needed conversational skills. So they hired college grads from the English-speaking world, including the US, UK, and Australia, to collaborate with their own English teachers to provide an enriched learning environment. These English-speaking teachers were paid by the Japanese government,  instead of individual schools.  Ms. Chetanna, a graduate of Northwestern in Chicago, landed in Sakura City, Japan. There, her colleague, Takahide Kobori, broached the idea of an exchange program and the seed was planted. For the last 19 years students from Sakura City schools, Ujiee Junior High School and Kitsuregawa Junior High School, have been visiting Miraleste Intermediate School families. Miraleste Marauders opened their doors to host the students, giving them a cultural exchange experience. Since 2001, more than 300 students from the two middle schools have participated in the exchange and  visited Rancho Palos Verdes. The program has fostered many enduring friendships. Plus Sakura City gifted Miraleste with a Cherry Blossom tree, a pink flowering symbol of a strong bond between cultures.

                Sakura City, located 25 miles northeast of Tokyo, is a bustling community of 44,000 residents, and best known for the famous cherry blossoms which adorn the city’s flag. It’s primary industries are Agriculture and Forestry, and it is known for its soothing hot springs. Sakura City has a mayor-council form of government with the mayor being elected at large plus a council of 18 members. City leaders wanted to expand the exchange programs from schools to city government. In January, 2020, local government officials, including Mayor Takashi Hanatsuka visited Rancho Palos Verdes. Then Mayor John Cruikshank and other city officials and staff entertained the visiting dignitaries at the Point Vicente Interpretive Center, and a discussion of becoming a sister city ensued. Councilwoman Barbara Ferraro strongly encouraged this formation because she, and her husband Charles had hosted many exchange students from Serbia, France, Spain and Japan through several programs including AFS and Marymount College. Mayor Cruikshank recently commented that Rancho Palos Verdes’(RPV) becoming a sister city with Sakura City was the highlight of his year as mayor.

 The “sister city” idea was launched in 1956 during the presidency of Dwight Eisenhower. He called for massive exchanges between Americans and people of other nations and cultures. Today, there are more than 1800 US cities, counties, and states partnered with communities in 138 countries worldwide. For Rancho Palos Verdes and Sakura City, it became official on August 4, 2020, with the mayors of both cities signing documents in real time. Because of the world-wide Corona Virus pandemic, the meeting took place via ZOOM’s virtual platform with the RPV City Council appearing at the beginning of their regular Tuesday, August 4, 2020, meeting Pacific Standard Time and the Sakura City mayor and other officials signing in the morning of August 5th Japan Standard Time. Maylynn Chetanna and a Miraleste student spoke at the ceremony. Chetanna related that she loved to see the students explore their differences, but also realize they have many similarities.  Students in Japan who had visited RPV gave impressive speeches in English during the broadcast saying how wonderful the experience had been for them. Host families had taken them to see local sites as well as famous Los Angeles landmarks. On RPV’s website, officials responded. “Even though we are separated by an ocean, we will build a strong partnership with Sakura City,” said Rancho Palos Verdes Mayor John Cruikshank. “By formalizing this sister city bond, we take the next step to fostering the exchange of ideas and goodwill among our people.” Sakura City Mayor Takashi Hanatsuka called the sister city formation “the beginning of a great era of deepening and strengthening our cultural and educational ties. I hope it shall be enriching for both of our cities.” To watch a video of the virtual signing ceremony, visit  youtu.be/LgCtsarLrNU.

The cities plan to continue contact and hope to see Miraleste students make the trip to Japan. Local students have commented how much fun it was to acquire a “brother” or “sister” from a foreign land. Students visiting Miraleste shared calligraphy, pop songs, origami, and dances at assemblies at the middle school. RPV staff is creating innovative ways to share some of our American culture, traditions and special events. The first cultural exchange webinar is of an iconic American children’s story, The Little Engine that Could, published in 1930 by Platt & Munk. This webinar showcases current Mayor Eric Algeria- - reading the book together with his four children. It includes a Japanese translation. Other webinar exchanges include cooking lessons, a guided tour of RPV, and the creation of a web page solely dedicated to the Sister City Community.

Mayor Pro Tem Dave Bradley created a “cooking lesson” about Bar-B-Cue,  grilling tritip with a seasoned, spicy rub.  Bradley is the only RPV council member who has personally visited Sakura City. His job with Northrop Grumman takes him frequently to Japan. On his February 2020 visit, he made it a point to take the bullet train up to Sakura City. He relates that he met with Mayor Hanatsuka, the President of the City Council, and many members of the staff. Both of Bradley’s sons, students now at Palos Verdes Peninsula High School, knew students who had visited from Japan. Officials from Sakura City arranged to pick up Bradley from the train and, in his words, were “amazingly gracious.” Sakura City is  built on the site  of an old fort and the officials gave Bradley a tour of the fort and lunch at a Japanese Tea House. Had it not been for the pandemic,  Bradley would have returned to  Japan several times since then.

Mayor Hanatsuka Takashi, center and members of his city staff visited RPV in January 2020. Mayor John Cruikshank to Takashi's left, Councilwoman Ferraro to his right and then Councilman Dave Bradley, far right.

Plans are now being made  for Miraleste students to attend classes in  schools in Sakura City. Steven Ihde, another Miraleste teacher is coordinating this aspect of the exchange program along with Chetanna who secures  the host families in Palos  Verdes. For more information about the student  exchange program,  contact Ms.  Chetanna at Chetannam@pvpusd.net or  Ihdes@pvpusd.net 

Councilwoman Barbara Ferraro

Mayor Pro Tem Dave Bradley explained the photo of the fort at Sakura City surrounded by cherry blossoms to Councilwoman Barbara Ferraro.. On the table is the cherry blossom vase that Sakura City sent to the city of RPV. Also on the table is the individual cherry blossom cup that was presented to each council member of RPV.

Other Palos Verdes programs promoting Japanese-American relations include a Rotary International Global Grant to the Palos Verdes Sunset Rotary Club for promoting Peace and Understanding between the  two countries. This grant has provided text and reading books, teacher training,  and field trips to the Japanese-American National Museum in downtown Los Angeles, for Palos Verdes Peninsula High School students. The emphasis of this Rotary grant, which includes the Tokyo Rotary Chapter, is to promote understanding of the two cultures and the ancestry and history of Japanese-Americans throughout the years.

TV screen showing City Council's broadcast in real time with both mayors on screen holding the proclamations. Cookie in front has the symbol of Sister Cities in icing.

These are the proclamations signed by both city council's and the cherry blossom vase gifted to the city of RPV.

The prime minister of Japan recently visited the White House. According to a Wall Street Journal Article (4-20-21, p. A15), he commented “The facts drive the US and Japan together, but alliances between democracies cannot live by realpolitik alone.” Despite the fact that we both share the universal values of freedom, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga emphasized the need for promoting the soft alliance of human contact. He wants to see more students from Japan coming to the US and more cultural exchanges with American students to promote mutual understanding between societies. “Building the social and cultural ties that support that relationship is an urgent task for both counties.”

Rancho Palos Verdes and Sakura City, Sister Cities, are certainly doing their part to strengthen these ties and promote cultural awareness and understanding. Check out RPV’s MyAPP for events and posts relating to the Sister Cities.

Councilmember Barbara Ferraro

In 2019, Barbara Ferraro was elected to serve as a Councilmember for the City of Rancho Palos Verdes, where she also served from 1995 through 2003. Councilwomen Ferraro was the City's Mayor in 1998 and Mayor Pro-Term in 1997 and 2003.

Councilwoman Ferraro has lived in Rancho Palos Verdes since 1976 (minus the few years she lived in Spain). Councilwoman Ferraro began her teaching career as a Spanish teacher with the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District in 2000. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Spanish from Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia, and a Masters of Education from the University of Texas at Arlington.