Our sister city relationship officially started on March 22, 1963. Though being the 62nd earliest out of the sister city relationships formed between Japanese and American cities, it is the third among those between Japanese and Michiganian cities. As a result, before the word of internationalization prevailed in Japan, Wyandotte had first brought the consciousness of the significance of the international exchange to Komaki through the adoption of Wyandotte as a sister city in 1963. (Map of Wyandotte)

The 34th US President Eisenhower administration (1953 - 1961) promoted the project for the encouragement of international goodwill by the adoption of sister-city relationship. In response to that idea, Komaki and Wyandotte entered into a sister city relationship in 1963 thanks to serious efforts made by a businessman named William C. Morrison. He was then a vice-president of Jervis B. Webb International Corporation in Detroit, Michigan.

This corporation had a technological partnership with Daifuku Machinery Works Ltd. in Komaki those days. Morrison, often visiting Komaki, unofficially urged Komaki to form the sister city relationship with Wyandotte. Then, given Komaki's informal consent, he paid a visit to Wyandotte, where he strongly persuaded Wyandotte Mayor DeSana and the council members to adopt it. (Surprisingly, DeSana was elected to be a council member in Wyandotte in April of 2001 after having been a Michigan State Senator, the mayor again, and the Michigan Transportation Secretary.)

With Mr. DeSana at recent dinner

On March 4, Wyandotte City Council made a resolution that would make Komaki a sister city under the American Municipal Association's People-To-People Program. A committee was appointed to develop a program, and Morrison was declared an honorary citizen of Wyandotte. The city of Wyandotte sent him to Komaki as representative of Wyandotte.

Visited by him, Komaki Mayor Kambe in turn introduced a resolution for accepting the offer to form the sister city relationship with Wyandotte. Receiving him warmly, the city council of Komaki made the resolution on March 22, 1963. Our kinship was thus officially formed. Since then, it has endured some four decades fostering a great deal of good will. In this way, Morrison played a crucial role as go-between in forming the sister city relationship. Without his devoted efforts, our kinship would not have been established.

The notion of our sister city relationship occurred because the two cities shared some common characteristic traits. Both cities, for instance, were a relatively equal distance from a large city. Komaki is a satellite community near Nagoya; Wyandotte, Detroit. Nagoya had the headquarter of Toyota Motor Company, while Detroit is regarded as capital of US automobile industry those days. In both metropolitan areas, the automobile industry has supported a substantial segment of economy.

The sister city relationship has come a long way. After the establishment of the relationship, cultural and gift exchanges were made between the two cities. However, the exchange activities had not necessarily been brisk prior to 1987. As time passed, many of us realized the benefits and importance of our sister city relationship expanded by the citizens of both cities. In 1987, the Komaki-Wyandotte Friendship Association was founded as a civic group by people in every walks of life in order to cement the kinship with our American brothers and sisters more firmly.

The Association's principal goal is to revitalize the relationship with the cooperation of both cities and their residents. Beyond the obvious cultural discrepancy, a number of people in both cities have made every efforts to extend the relationship. In fact, those efforts have absolutely promoted the relationship in recent years. The programs executed abound and vary. Among them are educational exchange such as the student and teacher exchange, artistic exchange including the exchange of works of art, and cultural materials exchange with books and cultural artifacts.

Meeting for student exchange at Wyandotte City Hall

In particular, in 1997, the Association planted 30 cherry trees at schools, a park, the library in Wyandotte in honor of the 10th founding anniversary. Concurrently, the Association helped the city of Komaki commemce a new program there. The city of Komaki wanted to have junior high school students visit to Wyandotte municipal Wilson Middle School. A Komaki city official, accompanying the Association's planting delegation, talked it over with the Wyandotte mayor and a representative of the Wyandotte Public School District at the Wyandotte City Hall. In 1998, the city of Komaki sent the initial student delegation to Wilson Middle School and has continued the program. In 1999, the Association began implementing the new program on which it in turn invites Wyandotte middle school students and chaperons to Komaki every year. The Association has successfully hosted the middle school delegation every year since then.

In May of 2001, the relationship being again inactive, the Association set the stage for the socialization with Wyandotters. To revitalize the relationship, it sent the small delegation of six people. Cohosted by the Association and the Komaki Jaycees, this program truly went well. Wyandotte citizens fully welcomed them, giving a heartfelt welcome party of around 50 citizens in Wyandotte. They included Mayor Subuda, Mayor-protem Sutka, Council member Talluto, and Treasurer Swiecki.

It was a small though very powerful delegation. Not only did the delegation members each form their personal friendship, they succeeded in revitalizing our sister city relationship by socializing with many citizens in Wyandotte. They also had the joint meeting of the Komaki and Wyandotte Jaycees there. These two Jaycee organizations had started their friendly relationship in 1976 and had become sister chapters in 1986. The representatives of both chapters signed the Joint declaration vowing that the two chapters would strive for the further expansion of the sister chapter relationship as well as the sister city relationship in the future.

The Association has thus far carried out varying programs successfully and also wants to hit the ground running to extend the sister city relationship more in the future. However diligently we worked, a great success of sister city exchange activities whether by the cities or citizens results largely from the overwhelming support of the people of both cities.

Written by Kenji Watanabe

Copyright (C) 2001 & 2002 Kenji Watanabe. All rights reserved.