Your are cordially invited to attend the SDYSCS 58th Annual Luncheon & Meeting.

It is our pleasure to invite you to attend the San Diego Yokohama Sister City Society 58th anniversary luncheon on Sunday, September 13, 2015. Come and celebrate a longstanding relationship between the two cities as well as learn about the exciting development and success we have had in building educational exchange through modern technology and methodology.

San Diego and Yokohama is one of the oldest sister cities on the West Coast, part of a larger initiative started by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to build people-to-people friendship through sister city exchanges. The San Diego Yokohama Sister City Society was key to rebuilding U.S.-Japanese ties at the national level following World War II, and has tremendously enriched the cultural life of residents in both cities through numerous arts, zoo, and library book exchanges over the decades. Many student, civic, and military delegations have also been exchanged through the sister city relationship.

This year we have established a partnership agreement with three public schools in Mission Bay and their counterparts in Yokohama, with prospects of further expanding the partnership. The principal of Kanazawa High School and another Yokohama delegate will be present at the luncheon. They will be very interested in exploring opportunities in San Diego during their visit and this is a perfect opportunity to give them a warm welcome and discuss exciting initiatives that our sister city exchange is all about.

Food, music, dance and crafts of Asia come alive September 26 and 27, 2015 at Balboa Park. In celebration of the Centennial of the Panama Pacific Fair, Taste of Asia Festival will be staged 12 noon to 5 PM at the International Cottages.

The grand finale is Chinese Moon Festival on Sunday, September 27 at 7 PM at the Organ Pavilion. The program begins with three lion dance troupes prancing to drums, gongs and firecrackers. Xiamen University (China), a national treasure of dance, wushu and music performers, are feature entertainment. A display of fireworks will shine over the Organ Pavilion, along with set pieces of a dragon, carp, lotus and “100”, will conclude the festivities.

The Organ Pavilion show is free. The Celebration is hosted by the Houses of China, India, Korea, Philippines; and Confucius Institute @ San Diego State University. The Avery Tsui Foundation is a prime underwriter of expenses.

The San Diego-Yokohama Sister City Society has recently partnered the Mission Bay cluster of the San Diego Unified School District with Kanazawa Municipal Schools in Yokohama thanks to the support and cooperation of the Yokohama Board of Education.

Barnard Asian Pacific Language Academy Principal and SDYSCS Board Member Mr. Edward Park, with the support of the San Diego-Yokohama Sister City Society, has made multiple visits to Yokohama in order to realize this partnership.

The purpose of this binational school-to-school partnership is to develop mutually beneficial ties in the form of educator training exchanges, collaborative projects, and virtual classrooms connecting students and teachers across the Pacific.

Students and teachers alike can work together to develop best practices in distant education, team curriculum design, foreign language learning, and integration of multimedia technology in the classroom setting; the possibilities are endless!

57th Annual Meeting and Luncheon
10:30 a.m. Sunday, September 21, 2014 – Admiral Baker Clubhouse

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For more information please contact :
Thelma Press, President (619-294-7275) or
Steven Sigafus, Vice President (760-444-4164)
San Diego Yokohama Sister City Society

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Please join us for this marvelous occasion and renew our friendships.

10:30 am Registration and Social Hour
11:00 am 57th Annual Meeting and Luncheon

Delicious variety of Sunday Brunch entrees

Reservation $30 per person (special rate – parking provided)

Variety of Opportunity Drawings

Presentation of the Sister City Spirit Award

Corporate: San Diego Unified School District
Individual: Surprise Announcement

Please join us for this marvelous occasion, renew friendships, and enjoy our opportunity Drawings

Checks should be made payable to the San Diego-Yokohama Sister City Society

Please kindly RSVP by September 15th, 2014

First Annual Japan-U.S. Goodwill Cherry Blossom Festival
12:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. –  Sunday, April 7, 2013
1401 Shelter Island Drive, San Diego, CA 92016

Attendees are encouraged to park for free at the Shelter Island Shoreline Park parking lot,across from Humphreys Half Moon Inn & Suites. A free shuttle will be provided from 11:30 a.m.to 3:30 p.m., to take attendees to and from the event site.

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For more information please contact :
Kaneko Bishop, President (619-583-8979) 
San Diego Yokohama Sister City Society

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Dear Member and Friends

Our weather has been very unpredictable, but certainly spring has arrived with all the flowers blooming.

One hundred years ago last year, 3,000 cherry trees were sent from Japan to Washington, D.C. as a symbol of eternal friendship between these two great nations.

To commemorate this centennial year, approximately 2,000 cherry trees were distributed to 36 cities in the U.S., San Diego was chosen to receive 31 trees. Fifteen were planted along the promenade by the U.S. Midway Museum and 16 were planted around the Friendship Bell on Shelter Island.

The San Diego-Yokohama Sister City Society and the Unified Port of San Diego would like to honor this beautiful symbol of friendship by holding the First Annual Japan-U.S. Goodwill Cherry Blossom Festival on Sunday, April 7, 2013, from 12:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Friendship Bell.

For this special event, we are inviting high school students to participate in a Japanese speech contest.

I am enclosing a flyer describing the event and would like to invite you to come and enjoy a beautiful spring afternoon with family and friends at the Friendship Bell.

As a non-profit organization with no funding from the City, I also would like to thank you for your generous support, which has made all of our projects possible.

I am looking forward to see you on April 7.

Sincerely,

Kaneko O Bishop
President

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Presented by

Performance by San Diego Taiko

High School Japanese Speech Contest

Japanese Cultural Table

• Origami Activities
• Calligraphy Workshops
• Paper Cutting Demonstrations

Bake Sale (proceeds go to the Tohoku Disaster Relief Fund)

JAPAN TO HONOR WOMAN FOR PROMOTING U.S. TIES
By Peter Rowe –

SAN DIEGO — Del Cerro resident Kaneko Bishop’s efforts to introduce Americans to Japanese culture have made her a well-known figure in San Diego.

And in Tokyo.

During ceremonies in the Japanese capital this month, Bishop will receive one of the government of Japan’s most prestigious decorations: The Order of the Rising Sun, with Gold and Silver Rays. She was cited for contributing “to the promotion of regional relationship between Japan and the United States.”

Kaneko Oshima Bishop, 83, was born in Nagoya, Japan. Since moving to San Diego in 1972 with her husband, H. Kenneth Bishop, she has been prominent in the Japanese-American community. A master of the Japanese tea ceremony and ikebana, the art of flower arranging, she is president of the San Diego-Yokohama Sister City Society. Co-founder of Balboa Park’s Japanese Friendship Garden, she has served on the San Diego Human Relations Commission, the San Diego International Affairs Board and the Mingei International Museum’s board of trustees.

While she’s demure and soft-spoken, Bishop is known for her ability to get things done. After an earthquake and tsunami devastated northeast Japan, she led a fundraising campaign that netted $10,000 for relief efforts.

But citizen diplomacy, as Bishop practices it, is a two-way street. When San Diego County was ravaged by wildfires in 2003, residents of Yokohama sent a $17,000 donation.

“The citizens there know San Diego,” Bishop said in a 2006 interview, “and take a special pride in San Diego being a sister city.”

Established in 1875, the Order of the Rising Sun is the Japanese government’s oldest decoration. Bishop’s conferment ceremony will take place May 15.

Peter Rowe • U-T Original article Below
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/may/03/tp-japan-to-honor-woman-for-promoting-us-ties/