PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

“The goal of our Victoria-Morioka Friendship Society is to promote mutual understanding, awareness and appreciation of the special relationship that exists between the twin-cities of Victoria and Morioka. Since the original Victoria-Morioka sister-city agreement was signed May 23, 1985, this has largely been accomplished through visitor exchanges of individuals and organizations that are a part of both our communities.

Our society has an Executive and Board of Directors that volunteer their time to assist with these exchanges and help develop events that celebrate the special relationship between Victoria, Canada and Morioka, Japan. This year our executive is made up myself, Vice-President Paul Allison and our Secretary, Jim Currie. Serving on the Board of Directors is Past-President, Barb Cameron, Doug Potentier, Jim Nicholl, Russ Cape and Shigeo Sakuma. In recognition of his commitment and past contributions to our organization, Dick Nakamura also serves as a Governor of the Victoria-Morioka Friendship Society.

We have a number of events planned for the current year. This summer, a U-15 boys team from the Victoria United Soccer Club will travel to Morioka for a number of games including play in the annual Victoria-Morioka Friendship Cup. The visit to Morioka will take place July 31 - August 8, 2007. This is an exciting opportunity for this team of under 15 boys from Victoria to learn about Japan and play in friendly exchange games with teams from Morioka.

Also this summer, the Victoria-Morioka Friendship Society will also be involved in the extensive addition of plants to the Dr. Inazo Nitobe Memorial Garden at Royal Jubilee Hospital (RJH) in Victoria. The opening of the Nitobe Garden at RJH in May 2005 coincided with the 20th anniversary of the official agreement that established Victoria's twin-city relationship with Morioka. Establishment of the Nitobe Garden represents the largest joint project ever taken on between the friendship societies in Victoria and Morioka. While the initial first phase of construction is complete and fully paid for, it is our intention to add plants and new features to the garden over time as resources allow. This year's plantings will be supervised by our society Vice-President, Paul Allison. We need volunteers to assist Paul in this work and I encourage all those who call the "City of Gardens" home, to come out and join us in making the Nitobe Garden even more beautiful.

Thank you for visiting our Victoria-Morioka Friendship Society website. I hope it helps you to better appreciate the history and understanding that has developed between the cities of Victoria and Morioka. I'm sure Dr. Nitobe would smile at the many ways that his vision of a "bridge across the Pacific" has been realized since his passing at Royal Jubilee Hospital almost seventy-five years ago.”

- Bill McCreadie, President

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