The Airport Connection: San Bruno and Sister City Narita, Japan, Mark 20 Years of Cultural Exchange

San Bruno renewed its bond recently with its neighbor in Japan, commemorating two decades of a sister city relationship with a celebration among city and school officials, a delegation of 30 people from Japan and invited guests.

After 20 years of being sister cities, on Aug. 18 Mayor Jim Ruane and Kenji Sekine, the vice mayor of Narita, Japan, re-signed a declaration solidifying the relationship in front of a crowd of about 120 people at the senior center.

The signing of the agreement capped an evening of presentations and awards, with officials from both cities giving praise to one another for honoring their cultural connections.

"I was just thinking yesterday how far apart we are geographically yet how close we are personally," Ruane said before the declaration ceremony. "Although we are somewhat separated in language, in the language of friendship there is nothing lost in translation."

The original sister city agreement was signed in October 1990 when Bob Marshall Sr. was mayor.

The idea actually came about in the 1980s when the Rotary clubs from each city initiated the planning of the relationship.

Narita, a suburb of Tokyo and the home of one of the busiest airports in the world, with more than 13 million annual passengers, was known as an airport city. San Bruno had the same distinction, being adjacent to San Francisco International Airport.

Since then, delegations from the two cities have made frequent trips back and forth. Nearly every year since, San Bruno has also sent students and teachers to Narita. 

Speaking to the audience at the event, Marshall said he was proud that the relationship has been maintained all these years.

"I can't believe it was 20 years ago when someone was asking me if I could go to Narita, Japan, to represent the United States," he said. "They told me I had to leave in two days, and I had to get one other businessperson to go with me. Well, I thought it was one of my nice friends playing a joke on me."

The Aug. 18 event included presentations, gift exchanges, a traditional Japanese song performed by students and proclamations honoring both cities for the sister city relationship.

Ruane also made four people from the Narita delegation honorary San Bruno citizens, including Satoki Hayashi, 71, who sparked the idea for the sister city relationship when he came to San Bruno in 1982 and noticed the similarities between the airports next to each city.

Food, donated by the San Bruno Lions Club, was served following the event and then San Bruno officials treated the Narita delegation to dinner at the Basque Cultural Center in South San Francisco.

In addition to the sister city celebration, members from the Narita delegation were taken to a number of places around the Bay Area during their stay in San Bruno. All trip expenses were paid by members of the delegation, participants, Sister City Committee members and the San Bruno Lions Club, according to Sister City Committee member Larry Franzella.

To see the itinerary of the delegation's trip, check out this map. Feel free to add other locations and media to the map.