No. 47 Friendship City Agreement between Soma City, Fukushima Prefecture and Nozawa Onsen Village, Nagano Prefecture

(public information Inagi October 15, 2015 issue publication)

In November 1991, the city entered into a sister city relationship with Memanbetsu Town in Hokkaido (currently Ozora Town after merging with Higashimokoto Village). Starting with elementary and junior high school students, we expanded our circle of exchange to include agricultural organizations and arts and culture organizations, and in November 1995 we concluded a mutual support agreement in the event of a disaster. In the event of a large-scale disaster, Ozora Town, which has a high self-sufficiency rate, can be expected to provide food assistance, and these exchanges have led to mutual safety and security.
Recently, as the city's population has increased and businesses have diversified, interactions with other organizations have also increased.
On August 18th of this year, we concluded a friendship city agreement with Soma City, Fukushima Prefecture. The details were reported in the September 1, 2015 issue of the bulletin, but in March 2011, after providing support immediately after the Great East Japan Earthquake, we concluded a mutual support agreement in times of disaster in June of the same year. However, we are still dispatching staff to work on reconstruction projects. We hope that this agreement will begin a relationship through sports and culture.
By the way, our exchange began in November 2005 when we concluded an agreement with Nozawa Onsen Village in Nagano Prefecture regarding the ``Atsumare Inagi Kids! Nozawa Onsen Juku''. The children of Inagi were given the experience of being away from their parents for a certain period of time, and each year we held experiential learning activities such as mobile classrooms for 6th grade elementary school students and ski lessons for 1st grade junior high school students.
In July 2008, we concluded a mutual support agreement in times of disaster, and the village chief and fire department chief also had the opportunity to participate in Inagi City's disaster prevention drills.
Last year, we visited the children's camp site for the first time in response to a request from the village chief to commemorate the 10th anniversary of experiential learning, and the friendly city told us that in the future, we should expand the exchange to include not only the children but also the citizens in general. The conclusion of an agreement was proposed.
In June 2015, members of the Citizens' Council for Friendship City Partnership, which was established by Inagi citizens in April of this year, visited the site and made recommendations regarding future friendship. A ceremony to conclude the friendship city agreement with Nozawa Onsen Village will be held in the middle of next month.
Inagi City's Fourth Long-Term Comprehensive Plan states that it will "promote exchange activities beyond the city limits, such as sister cities and international exchanges," and that "we will promote exchanges and information exchanges between related municipalities through sister cities and city events." In the basic concept, the outline of the measures is ``to become even more active.''
We hope that these sister city and friendship city agreements will help mutual development. In the future, we would like to work on interacting with cities overseas.