MANSFIELD, Ohio – Half a world away from Mansfield is a city in the mountains of northeast Japan: Fukushima, Tamura. It’s a city with a very special connection to Mansfield thanks to the efforts of Ann Brown and the Sister City program.
The two cities formalized their sisterhood in 2001, and ever since have made exchanges in friendship, business and education from across the globe. Brown has been involved in the program since day one, and said her passion for Sister City comes from being of foreign descent herself.
“I understand the importance of feeling welcome in a country,” said Brown, who is Polish. “We live in a multicultural country, but people still are very isolated in terms of their contacts. It’s important to learn from other cultures, other viewpoints and other parts of the world – I have seen firsthand the positive impact of what happens when people interact like that.”
The exchanges between Tamura and Mansfield are mostly educational, with five students coming to Mansfield on an annual basis to live in a host home, visit the area and get a feel for American life. Brown said the Japanese students are able to visit Mansfield more often than vice versa because Japanese schools systems are often better organized and subsidized.
“They’ve made the education of their students a real priority, to get an experience of what Americans are like because being an island they’re pretty isolated,” she said. “It’s also good for our people here to see how well behaved and polite and clean they are, so we are learning from them also. It’s a two-way street.”
Despite the infrequency of student visits to Tamura, the Japanese city accepts Mansfield visitors with open arms. Brown and a group of Mansfield natives visited just this past May, touring the Japanese countryside and visiting school systems as they immersed themselves in the culture.
Brown’s visit in May was her first visit since a 2011 earthquake and tsunami rocked the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which stood less than 20 kilometers from Tamura’s borders. Brown and a group of people in Mansfield sent a video message to Tamura: “Ganbare, Fukushima! Ganbare, Nippon!” (Fight on, Fukushima! Fight on, Japan!)
Accompanying Brown on her trip in May was Mary Spon, who helps organize the student exchange program. Spon said the biggest cultural difference she noticed was in Tamura’s schools, as she described a hospitable lunch hosted by middle school students and an elaborate show organized by elementary students.
“Everything is done with great care and highly organized, I was so impressed – and every place we went they made us feel so welcome and so highly appreciated,” said Spon. “I was really overwhelmed with the hospitality they extended to us.”
“You don’t see behavior problems in schools, and they’re all anxious and eager to learn,” added Brown. “In their culture there is a desire to strive for being the best you can be, they recognize that by being the best you are contributing to your country.”
Brown also noted in a city as large as Tamura, the crime rate is extremely low – in a city of almost 40,000 people, Brown said she remembers seeing maybe one police officer. In contrast, Spon described a time when Tamura students visited Mansfield and were traumatized by the idea of juvenile court.
“It was completely foreign to them because they don’t have that there,” said Spon. “When we showed them places they were incarcerated, many of the girls cried because it was inconceivable that a child would be put into a detention center. So we cut that out of the visit.”
Brown explained there is more civility in a place like Tamura versus places in the United States, an atmosphere that is very relaxing for visitors.
“Everyone here is disgruntled about something; but over there, no matter how much money they make they all are happy to do the job they’re doing, and they do it well,” said Brown. “I know in the background there’s a lot of rules they’ve been born with that can cause stress – I think Americans would have a rough time living in a place like that – but this is what works for them.”
Despite the differences, Spon said what interested her most was to see the sameness between the two cultures. And, she added, to see the people of Tamura’s interactions with Brown.
“When she went there she was like the queen – they so appreciate everything she’s done to make everyone feel so welcome in our community and keeping this going,” said Spon. “The mayor even gave us a hug, which is not really according to their culture. We were welcomed like royalty because of Ann.”
“I don’t know about that,” said Brown with a laugh.
“You won’t say it but I will, because she is just the heart of it,” countered Spon.
Brown said her biggest goal with the Sister City program is to expose people to a world far beyond the borders of Mansfield, Ohio.
“Friendships develop, we learn a lot, and I think exposure to the bigger world will teach people what it’s really like,” she said. “I recognize the importance of these exchanges not only for friendships’ sake, but so we can learn more about how other countries function and get the whole story of what it’s really like.”
