For the third time in my life, I plan to go to Japan, but this time is the (hopeful) charm. I pulled out of the first trip due to budget constraints. The second trip was, well, May 2020 (enough said). Finally, this fall there is a plane ticket with my name on it, three adventurous and willing family members, and a new-to-me ancient culture to discover. Though I hesitate to use fossil-energy to travel anywhere, especially on a plane, the opportunity to build relationships and advance relocationalization efforts while experiencing new places helps me asuage some of the guilt I feel.
I am concerned about being able to communicate in Japan. I don’t want to simply rely on modern apps; though super easy, to me it takes the fun out of the “struggle” we go through when experiencing new cultures. My friend has told me, you can “sumimasen your way through Japan.” In Japanese, “sumimasen” (すみません) is a versatile term that can mean “I’m sorry,” “excuse me,” or “thank you.” The other thing I am concerned about is effectively building relationships while traveling to network relocalization efforts, and not just playing a consuming tourist. Thanksfully, there is a Sebastopol program that helped me recently accelerate this relationship build.
Have you heard of Sebastopol World Friends (SWF)? Sebastopol World Friends is a City of Sebastopol non-profit service group which is totally volunteer driven. Its mission is to link Sebastopol with its sister cities through a variety of educational and cultural programs and to coordinate exchanges which will promote lasting friendships.
SWF raises funds to send delegates of Sebastopol students and adults to our sister cities in Japan and the Ukraine. Then in the subsequent year they prepare to host similar delegations in Sebastopol. 2026 was our year to host our guests from Japan. Considering our upcoming trip to Japan, my family all jumped at the chance Sebastopol World Friends offered us; to host adults from our Sister City in Takeo.
Takeo is in Saga Prefecture, adjacent to Nagasaki Prefecture on the island Kyushu, in southern Japan. A prefecture is essentially what we call a county in California. Takeo has been a sister city of Sebastopol for 40 years, though it was previously called Yamauchi, which merged with other smaller cities to become Takeo. Takeo has about the same population as Sebastopol, is also agricultural and rural in parts, and surprisingly is able to grow redwood trees like we are.
The adult my wife and I hosted is a Japanese Tea Ambassador. During her stay, she led a tea ceremony, taught us about the importance of tea, the rituals surrounding it, and we twice experienced receiving tea ceremoniously in a group setting. Saga Prefecture is known for some of the best tea in the world. In classic Japanese cultural and mannered style, she gifted us some delicious teas from her homeland.
My brother and his partner also hosted a guest, an elementary school teacher. On our guests’ first night here we had dinner together, then walked downtown. Of course we took them to Screamin’ Mimis, and of course, being in a small town, we ran into people we know. What was neat was that our guests did as well, since there were 40 Japanese guests as part of the historic 40 year anniversary. We took our desserts to the Plaza, took pictures by the Takeo Ave. street sign, and meandered back home.
To see the Japanese culture up close and personal was a real treat. First off, they were extremely polite, but also extremely funny! They sang songs for us at our welcome party, and were constantly laughing and joking around. One morning, I was driving four adults to Armstrong Redwoods to see the majestic trees. They were all talking to each other in Japanese. Listening to their cadence, the way the language flowed, moved from person to person, and the way they made affirming sounds to show understanding and attention was fascinating. But we were approaching the Hacienda Bridge, and I wanted to show them the Russian River. So I threw out my best “sumimasen” and they all stopped their conversion and let me show them the view. So you can sumimasen your way through the USA as well!
I learned some sobering information during this experience. Apparently, there were over 40 Japan Towns in the USA before WWII, but now there are only three. One each in LA, San Jose, and SF. There used to be one in Sebastopol! My sons are so moved by this that they want to organize a pop-up Japan Town for Sebastopol. My whole family loves the Japanese culture, cuisine, and art, especially the blade-making and blacksmithing.
I also learned that during Japanese Internment during WWII, some Sebastopol adults tried to burn down the Enmanji Temple in Sebastopol on Elphick Rd, only to have Analy High School students stand up to the adults and protect this temple from being destroyed. Their impetus? They had Japanese friends who were interned, and were keeping peace due to friendships. This story, combined with the horrors of what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, really struck a deep chord within me to keep supporting these sorts of programs to demonstrate our commitment to community and world peace.
SWF does more to actively promote world peace in other countries than any other group I know. Within the World Friend’s organization, SWF is a model nonprofit, self funded, proactive, and creative. At a time where some states are prohibiting international sister city relations due to political reasons our local chapter is robust and strong. Supporting them supports our community and our sister cities’ communities. Many local businesses benefit from our guest delegations. Plus, we make new friends not just abroad, but locally as hosts meeting each other. SWF is doing great work to make this world a better place. We are fortunate to have so many Sebastopol leaders making it the success that it is.
APRIL CHALLENGE: One thing you can do to support SWF is to provide a donation to their general fund or join their scholarship program. Scholarship donors pledge to give on an annual basis to help students cover the expenses of this essential program.
** Bonus Note ** Don’t miss out next year on the annual January SWF event, “Where Sushi Meets Borshch.” This provides the dazzling entertainment of Ukrainian Dancers and Taiko drummers, and some delicisios classical cuisuines of our sister cities.