No.127 Visit to the old and new mayors of Ozora Town

From May 15th to 16th, I visited our sister city, Ozora-cho, Hokkaido, with City Council Chairman Watanabe. They expressed their gratitude to former town mayor Eiji Yamashita, who retired at the end of his term on April 22nd, and paid a courtesy visit to Kazumasa Matsukawa, who was appointed as the new town mayor on April 23rd. At the same time, the new town council chairman, Tetsumi Haramoto, I also greeted the new vice chair, Mr. Hiroshi Saito.

Former Mayor Yamashita started working at Memanbetsu Town Hall in 1978, and after serving as the agricultural administration section chief and the planning and coordination section chief, he ran for the mayoral election in 2003 when he was the planning and finance section chief, and was elected for the first time. Immediately after taking office, he accomplished the great task of merging with the former Higashimokoto Village, and in 2006, upon the inauguration of Ozora Town, he was re-elected as the mayor of Ozora Town.Since then, he has served the town for 4 terms for 16 years, and since Memanbetsu Town Mayor, for a total of 5 terms for 19 years. He has devoted himself to the development of
He is currently young, 62 years old, and we believe that he still has the energy and stamina to be active in his current role.However, in December of last year, he answered general questions at the town council meeting and announced that he would be passing the baton at the end of his current term. Therefore, he announced his decision not to run in the April 2020 election.
I was surprised at the sudden announcement of his resignation, but Mr. Yamashita has been thinking about his future plans ever since he was first elected mayor of Memanbetsu.
On November 6th of last year, they came to Inagi City to attend the 50th anniversary commemoration of the city's incorporation. Although he didn't say anything at the time, I later learned that he had already made up his mind, and I felt a little disappointed.

I have been to Memanbetsu Town and Ozora Town a total of 7 times so far. The first time was in 1999, when I was the branch chief of the Inagi City Fire Brigade and visited there to interact with the Memanbetsu Fire Brigade. The mayor at this time was Mr. Yamashita's predecessor. The second time I visited was in 2003, as part of the executive committee of the Inagi City Employees Union. We were on a social trip, and I remember that Mr. Yamashita, who was elected mayor of Memanbetsu Town for the first time that year, gave us a very warm welcome.
After that, the fourth time was in 2011, when I was invited to the ``Memanbetsu Tourism Summer Festival'' in the year I was first elected mayor, and visited Ozora Town, where I was given a tour of the former Higashimokoto Village area for the first time. .
Since then, Mr. Yamashita has come to Inagi, and I have visited Ozora Town, and we have deepened our mutual exchange.
The people of Ozora Town have always welcomed us as if they were our hometown whenever we visited. It makes me sad to think that Mr. Yamashita, who was at the center of this, will be gone.

Mayor Matsukawa started working at the Memanbetsu Town Hall in 1992, and has experience in various departments such as general affairs, welfare, commerce and tourism, construction, the Board of Education, and the Social Welfare Council, and is very knowledgeable about the administration of Ozora Town. This time, I met with the new Mayor Matsukawa and promised to continue to develop our sister city exchange.
Mr. Yamashita, thank you very much for your time. And Mr. Matsukawa, thank you for your continued support.
We will proceed with the sister city exchange project while praying for the development of Ozora Town and the further deepening of the bonds between the two municipalities. I hope that the exchanges between citizens will further deepen.