9. Sister Cities

The sister city program is a worldwide activity. Cities may become paired in a number of ways—some simply because they are namesakes (have the same name), others because they have the same climate or population. Industrial cities sometimes pair with other industrial cities. Resort cities join with other resorts. Many get together because they have great numbers of relatives in each city who visit one another.

One peculiar pair of sister cities—Miami, Florida and its sister city Bogota, Colombia-resulted from the Miami committee's search, for a city most unlike itself. Miami and Bogota are different in every way, except in their need to communicate.

Miami has another sister. As a resort city, it is also paired with the resort city of Fugisawa, Japan, which is like Miami in its strong attraction for tourists.

Here are some sister cities that are paired for obvious reasons: Phoenix, Arizona has a climate similar to that of Penang, Malaya; Boulder, Colorado has a population similar to that of Meppel, Holland; Dayton, Ohio has industry similar to that of Augsberg, Germany; San Diego, California has a seaport similar to that of Yokohama, Japan. Colorado has a topography similar to that of Takayma; Montevideo, Minnesota and Montevideo, Uruguay have the same names.

Sister cities learn much about each other's customs through their relationship. Sometimes there is even a tendency to adopt each other's customs and ways of life.

Whoever heard of Santa Claus in Japan? One Christmas, gifts were anonymously donated to the children of the Holy Angels Orphanage of Moji, Japan by a business firm of Norfolk, Virginia, Moji's sister city. The man who played Santa and delivered clothing, cakes, a record player, and records was none other than the mayor of Moji himself.

The city of Yokohama, Japan once sent a gift of appreciation to its Sister city, San Diego, California. The gift was a pair of white Japanese ducks. Unfortunately, one of the ducks had died en route. The San Diego Committee knew about the Japanese custom of not losing face and did not want to embarrass the Japanese. They then discovered a duck of the same type and size in their own zoo. In a letter of thanks to the city of Yokohama, they enclosed a photograph of the two ducks standing side by side.

Orange, California has a namesake city. That city is Orange, Australia, but there has been little communication over the years except for the name. The city that has a good relationship with Orange, California is Queretaro, Mexico. Because of this, Queretaro has also been named as the sister city to Orange.'Many Mexican families have migrated to the Orange community. They cooperate in student exchanges, and other social, cultural, and athletic activities. When the mayor of Queretaro, Mexico was to be married, he invited the Mexican-American mayor of Orange, California to the ceremony and wedding party. Mayor Perez of Orange, California took a group of people to Queretaro for the occasion. Wedding guests who didn't know the background of the two mayors' families were surprised at how well the two wives seemed to get along. The mayors' wives couldn't resist talking about a certain coincidence: that they were actually sisters. From that moment the cities were a natural pair for sisterhood.