Christchurch, Kurashiki to celebrate 30 year relationship

The thirtieth anniversary of Christchurch’s sister city relationship with Kurashiki, Japan will be celebrated this Sunday.

A 47 member Japanese delegation including the Mayor of Kurashiki, Takeshi Nakada will be in Christchurch to mark the anniversary of New Zealand’s first sister city relationship with a Japanese city.

The media is invited to cover the following events.

Festivities will start with an official welcome for the Japanese delegation at Our City O-Tautahi, cnr Oxford Tce and Worcester Boulevard at 12 noon.

Later in the afternoon, two flowering cherry trees will be planted in the Sister Cities Gardens at Halswell Quarry Park by representatives from Christchurch and Kurashiki , including the mayors and mayoresses of both cities. These will be the last of 30 cherry trees to be planted in the Japanese garden to commemorate the Christchurch/Kurashiki anniversary.

Members of the public are welcome to attend this event, which starts at 2.30pm.

At 7pm, there will be an official ceremony and dinner in the Christchurch Art Gallery attended by Christchurch Mayor Garry Moore; Kurashiki Mayor, Mr Nakada; the Japanese delegation; and about 50 other invited guests.

During the ceremony, Mr Nakada will present a gift from Kurashiki to the people of Christchurch. This will be a model of a sculpture to be installed in the Japanese garden at the Sister Cities Gardens in March, 2004.

Mr Moore presented Kurashiki city with a model of a sculpture to be installed in Kurashiki, by Christchurch artist Graham Bennett, when he visited Kurashiki in August,this year. Mr Bennett’s sculpture will be installed in March, next year.

Kurashiki artist, Wataru Hamasaka will come to Christchurch next year to work on his sculpture, while living as an Artist in Residence at the Christchurch Arts Centre.

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