HOT SPRINGS -- As the 30-year anniversary of its sister city partnership with Hanamaki, Japan, approaches, the city of Hot Springs and the Hot Springs National Park Sister City Foundation have begun planning a celebration to take place in January.
On the date of the signing of the original agreement, Jan. 15, delegates from Japan will visit for the first time since 2020.
"Hundreds of people have participated, maybe thousands," Mary Zunick said, "if you include people who have both traveled to Hot Springs and been hosted by local host families, interacted with students at schools."
Zunick leads the sister city efforts as the cultural affairs manager for Visit Hot Springs and executive director of the Hot Springs Sister City Program. She has been to Japan 11 times since spearheading the program.
Hot Springs is expected to be able to send a group of delegates in September to coincide with Hanamaki's Matsuri, or Cherry Blossom Festival, which dates back more than 400 years. Japan made the decision to fully open the country back up to tourists and visitors in October, making it one of the last to drop covid-19 regulations.
In 2018, Hot Springs sent a delegation of 25 people to celebrate 25 years of partnership. Over the years, hundreds have visited the sister city through the program, including at least 250 students from Hot Springs schools. Hanamaki has also sent quite a few students from Hanamaki Higashi High School and Hanamaki Kita High School.
"As a Japanese teacher, it's just such a great opportunity for myself and my students to learn more about Japanese culture, to practice Japanese language, to foster cross-cultural communication," Betty Brown, Japanese teacher at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts, said.
"It's kind of the dream as a Japanese teacher to have a sister school, let alone a sister city to be able to bring my students to and for students from Japan to come to the U.S.," she said.
Brown, who learned Japanese in high school, has been to Hanamaki twice now and to Japan five times. She has been at the School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts for five years.
Since the pandemic, the schools have shifted to doing virtual exchanges as a way to stay connected. Because of this, the number of students able to participate has increased as more have the ability to attend a Zoom chat than to fly overseas.
A notable exchange in 2019 saw Hanamaki Higashi send baseball players to compete in a tournament with the Lakeside team.
The celebration in January is planned to coincide with the opening of a sake brewery at the beginning of the year -- Origami Sake, 2360 E. Grand Ave.
Matt Bell and Ben Bell (no relation) decided to open the state's first sake brewery after years of learning about the drink. Through the exchange program, Ben was able to go to Japan and work for Nanbu Bijin brewery in Hanamaki for two years. The new brewery will source the famous Hot Springs thermal water and rice grown in Arkansas for its product.
Mary Zunick has led the Hot Springs Sister City Program since its inception almost 30 years ago. - Photo by Lance Brownfiled of The Sentinel-Record