Sausalito – Sakaide Cultural Exchange
Thrives Online and in SF Celebration
2020 was as much an unusual year for the Sakaide-Sausalito Sister City Program as it was for everyone else, but in the spirit of international friendship, through the dedication of our all-volunteer Operations Council, we carried on.
While our in-person Summer exchange had to be canceled for safety concerns due to COVID-19, we spent our summers instead working on a “digital exchange”, where each city sent videos to the other showing what kinds of activities and places they might experience had they been able to come visit us.
Sausalito sent the first videos, documenting the 8pm Howl and at-home pizza-making, and Sakaide responded with their own videos, including a special message from the Mayor of Sakaide City, Hiroshi Aya. Each video was uploaded to our Sausalito Sister Cities Youtube channel. We hope to keep adding to this video collection and building a repository of videos for future generations to refer to for education and fun.
In addition to our digital exchange, Sausalito Sister Cities was approached by Antennae Theater to participate in 2020’s Labor Day “The Heart of San Francisco Celebration”, where multiple “love boats” would be adorned with a theme celebrating international friendship, understanding, and peace in a time of international separation. Sausalito’s Sister City Boat was to be adorned with 1001 Origami cranes in memorial of the 75th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing.
To accomplish this, Sausalito Sister Cities teamed up with longtime pillar of the program, Matsuno Patrick, and the San Francisco Japantown’s Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California to produce these cranes, which were then diligently attached to secure fabric straps to adorn the boat by Harry Chapman. Video of the event is still being edited, but once it is ready we will proudly display it on our Sausalito-Sister Cities website and Youtube channel.
While this year was certainly a strange one, we look forward to the possibilities and hope of 2021 and eagerly await the return to Sausalito of our good friends in Sakaide. Here’s to 2021!
