by Kevin Smith
As the city of Logansport continues to explore sister-city opportunities, a delegation from Mibu Town, Japan, will visit Cass County at the end of June.
Mayor Mike Fincher received an e-mail from Hideo Shimizu, the mayor of Mibu Town Tuesday afternoon confirming that eight Japanese delegates will visit Logansport for two days, starting June 30.
The visit does not mean that the sister city relationship is established, he said, but he is encouraged by the progress being made and the opportunities that such an understanding might eventually bring.
“It gives Logansport and Cass County a presence in Japan that other communities don’t have,” Fincher said. “It also shows the Japanese that we are serious about economic development with Japan.”
Mibu Town has an estimated population of 39,911 and is located in the Japanese prefecture of Tochigi, Indiana’s sister prefecture, on the island of Honshu.
Last spring, 10 delegates from Logansport visited Mibu for a similar fact-finding visit, which was followed by a return visit by a three-person Japanese delegation in August.
Fincher said it is too soon to announce any planned events to mark the visit but he plans to sit down very soon to discuss a schedule with the 10 individuals who visited Mibu and the Logansport Economic Development Foundation.
As well as economic opportunities, Fincher touted the cultural value of the visit and the proposed link up with Mibu Town.
“It gives the people of Logansport a cultural opportunity to meet people from Japan,” he said. “We hope to have a school exchange with Mibu where we send children to Japan and they send children to Logansport to see how we live and get along.”
• Kevin Smith is a staff writer at the Pharos-Tribune. He can be reached at (574) 732-5148 or kevin.smith@pharostribune.com
