2023 Spring Online Workshop
May 19, 2023 - Online
On May 19, 2023, CJSCN held its annual online Spring Workshop via Zoom, in partnership with the Consulates General of Japan in San Francisco and in Los Angeles.
The workshop’s theme was “Navigating Renewed Opportunities for Sister Cities.” It was attended by approximately 150 people, including sister city organization leaders, community stakeholders, and JET alumni. Overall, 51 California cities and 25 Japanese cities were represented.
Once again, the Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco acted as the Zoom host and emcee for the event, and we are grateful for all the support they provided, as well as the support given by the Consulate General of Japan in Los Angeles.
The event began with words of welcome from San Francisco Consul General Yasushi Noguchi, Los Angeles Consul General Kenko Sone, and CJSCN Board President Meg Mizutani. Ms. Mizutani introduced Mr. George Chen, Mayor of the City of Torrance. He congratulated Torrance and Kashiwa for their 50 years of friendship and commended the strong leadership of the Torrance Sister City Association. Following Mayor Chen’s speech, CJSCN acknowledged our sponsors, including our founding sponsor Teraoka & Partners. After that, we were honored to share a video message from California State Senator Josh Newman. Touching on the history of the strong economic and cultural ties between California and Japan, he emphasized the profound impact of the sister city programs on participants and expressed his strong support for citizen diplomacy.
Senator Newman’s message was followed by a presentation from Ms. Melissa Golden, President of JET Alumni Association of Northern California (JETAANC). She made an announcement about JETAANC’s project “Summer in the Parks,” which connects the sister cities organizations in Northern California with local JET alumni. Ms. Golden’s presentation file can be viewed from the link under Resources below.
After the opening presentations, we went straight into our first breakout session for basic networking. Due to the large number of attendees, there were 15 breakout rooms in total, including three rooms dedicated to Japanese speakers.
The networking breakout session was followed by three presentations. First, CJSCN board member Frank McCauly made a presentation about the current conditions surrounding in-person hosting and international travel. Using data collected from the workshop participants at the time they registered for this event, he identified the common concerns of sister city organizations, both in Japan and California, that had not been able to resume their in-person activities. The presentation file can be viewed from the link under Resources below.
The next presentation was by Ms. Yuko Oku of NTA America. She updated us about the current travel policies between the US and Japan, and provided travel advice.
The final and main presentation of the day featured Ms. Donna Dunlap, President of Torrance Sister City Association and Mr. Roy Cencirulo, President of Redland Sister Cities Association. They both recently completed hosting and travel respectively and shared their insight about how they made their post pandemic exchanges successful. The presentation was facilitated by CJSCN board member Bryan Takeda. The presentation file can be viewed from the link under Resources below.
We then held a longer breakout session where participants could share their in-person activity status and unique challenges of post-pandemic sister city exchanges.
While the workshop finished at the end of the second breakout session, the participants were encouraged to stay for additional networking. This time, it was a self-select style session, with 10 rooms with pre-set themes, such as student travel protocol and youth engagement. One room was dedicated to the Japanese speaking participants. Engaging conversations in each room continued until the very end.
CJSCN would like to once again express our deep gratitude to Consul General Noguchi, Consul General Sone, and the fantastic consulate staff from San Francisco and Los Angeles who made this online workshop possible; to our fabulous sponsors who continue to support our mission; and to all of the sister city stakeholders from both California and Japan. We believe that together we will make our network strong, and we look forward to seeing everyone again at the next event!
Resources
Recording of event on Youtube (also embedded below)
CJSCN Presentation “Current In-person Inbound and Outbound Activity Status”
A sample of those who attended the online event.
Attendees listen to the “Navigating Renewed Opportunities for Sister Cities: Recent Hosting and Travel Experience of Torrance and Redlands” presentation.