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Sister City and Friendship City Commemorative Events
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Hiroshima City holds events to commemorate Sister City and Friendship City Days for each of the six overseas sister city and friendship cities.
The events are run by the Hiroshima Messengers selected through public recruitment.
Daegu Day
From May 3 to 5, the Daegu Day commemorative event was held at the Hiroshima Flower Festival venue.
This time marked the 20th anniversary of the sister city relationship.
The visiting group from Daegu Metropolitan City included a delegation as well as an arts group, and numbered around 100 people in total.
The event included a commemorative stage event, opera performance, a Daegu Metropolitan City tourism section and medical tourism section at the Korea Daegu Madan (square).
At the commemorative ceremony on the 4th, there were speeches by the chairperson of the Daegu Day Executive Committee, Hiroshima City Mayor, the administrative deputy mayor of Daegu Metropolitan City, and the Consul-General from the Consulate-General of the Republic of Korea in Hiroshima.
This was followed by a gala concert by three opera singers based in Daegu Metropolitan City, enchanting the audience of around 300 people.
In addition to the above activities, there was also an opera performance by the Daegu Metropolitan City Opera Company who visited Hiroshima as the arts delegation.
The performance was held on the 5th at JMS Aster Plaza's large hall, and they performed La Boheme, entrancing the audience of around 1,000 people.
Over the three days at the Korea Daegu Madan, there was also a hanbok (Korea's traditional costume) corner where people could try on a hanbok, and Korean home cooking on sale.
The venue was bustling with many families, young women and others, and the visitors experienced Korean culture.
During the period there were around 6,000 visitors, and the event was a great success.
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Gala concert by opera singers from Daegu Metropolitan City (Carnation Stage)
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Hanover Day
On May 21, the Hanover Day commemorative event was held at Hiroshima City International House.
At the German food and drink tasting section, visitors could experience tea ceremony in the style of Ueda Soko, who had strong connections with Hanover, as well as tasting authentic German-made sausages, German bread, and baumkuchen cake. There was also a "rutcherage" section, where visitors could try drinking two different types of alcohol in one gulp each.
At the section displaying information on German and Hanover, there were displays of the 7-seater "conference bike" that was brought over from Hanover, a panel explaining the history of exchange between Hiroshima City and Hanover City, and photographs and other objects from exchange activities conducted through the Ueda Soko "Cha no Yu" tea ceremony.
There were also sections where visitors could try making paper models of Hanover trains, a display and read-aloud section of German picture books, and an easy German brush-writing section, and each section was busy with many visitors, ranging from adults to children.
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In the hall, after the opening concert by Yuko Ou on clarinet and Keiko Hiramoto on piano, a commemorative ceremony was held, with speeches from the organizers and a video message from the mayor of Hanover City.
This was followed by a presentation by Hiroshima Messengers Kai Zaremba and Yukie Hashimoto, who used photos to talk about the attractions
of the city of Hanover, and then held a game for remembering German numbers.
There was then a concert of German music, with wonderful performances of mainly songs related to Germany by three groups:
Asaka Shirai (sitar) and Kaoru Shirai (bassoon);
Yoshihiko Ueda (oboe) and Shinri Aratani (piano);
and Takashi
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Opening concert
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Okita (viola) and Chiharu Okita (piano).
The concert ended with the audience joining in a chorus of "Rose on the Heath".
There were around 290 visitors, and through a varied program they enjoyed themselves as they deepened their understanding of Hanover and Germany, and developed a greater affinity with our sister city.
Montreal Day
On July 9, the Montreal Day commemorative event was held in the Multi Area on the 6th floor of Fukuya Department Store in front of Hiroshima Station.
First, visitors were given an original maple rusk made by the Hiroshima City social welfare corporation Minaga-en and maple water.
At the commemorative ceremony, there were speeches by the organizers, a message from the mayor of Montreal City, and speeches by the special guests－a representative from the office of the Quebec office in Japan and the Canadian consul and trade representative in Nagoya.
Next, the Hiroshima Messengers Hiroyo Osaki and Tomoko Kurahashi held a quiz about Montreal City, and visitors who answered questions correctly were given presents.
There was also a commemorative performance of balloon art by the Canadian street performer
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Commemorative performance
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Long-Legged Ponta which greatly entertained the children at the venue and brought lots of applause.
Other attractions included a fun lottery draw for specialty goods such as maple syrup, a display of information on Montreal and Canada, a display commemorating the 375th anniversary of the establishment of Montreal City, and the display and sale of specialty goods.
There were around 330 visitors on the day, and they deepened their understanding of Montreal and Canada while enjoying the food, arts and culture.
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Volgograd Day
The commemorative event for Volgograd Day was held on September 10.
To commemorate the 45th year of the sister city agreement, the venue for the event this year was changed from Hiroshima City International House where it is usually held, to the central square in Shareo, in Kamiya-cho.
Moreover, the Russian music concert was also enhanced in content－in addition to Kazuki Tanaka and the Hiroshima choir, who perform every year, three young musicians who are active in Volgograd were also invited, as well as students from Elizabeth University of Music.
Once visitors registered at reception, they enjoyed part 1 of the concert while tasting the Russian cake paxlava.
Part 1 of the concert featured a piano, violin and flute performance by five students from Elizabeth University of Music and a solo soprano performance.
At the commemorative ceremony, the head of the executive committee and Hiroshima City mayor gave speeches, and the Hiroshima Messenger Ekaterina Simakina read out a message from the mayor of Volgograd City.
The next section was planned by the Hiroshima Messengers.
There was a presentation on Volgograd City using photos, a Russian language lesson and a quiz on Russia and Volgograd City.
People who got the right answers in the quiz were presented with a prize of Russian goods by Ekaterina.
Next was part 2 of the Russian music concert, where various Russian songs were performed by Kazuki Tanaka and the members of the Hiroshima choir.
In part 3 of the concert, three young musicians from Volgograd City gave a wonderful performance of piano and flute as well as a solo baritone performance, and even people passing by the venue stopped to listen to the music and singing by the performers.
Around 600 people attended the event, further enhancing exchange between Volgograd City and Hiroshima citizens.
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Chorus by Kazuki Tanaka and members of the
Hiroshima choir
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Concert by young performers from Volgograd City
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| (International Relations & Cooperation Division ) |
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