Mayor Richard Bissen Jr. and first lady Isabella Ka‘ihikapulani wave to crowds along the route of the Rose Parade, an annual tradition following the opening ceremony for the 56th annual Fukuyama Rose Festival. After jokingly announcing that Mayor Bissen would have the “best taxi driver” for the parade, Mayor Naoki Edahiro surprised his city’s guests and drove the parade vehicle himself, with first lady Masumi Edahiro in the front passenger seat. Members of Japan’s Halau ‘Olu‘olu accompanied the vehicle. MAUI COUNTY photo

Maui County commemorated the 15th anniversary of its Sister City relationship with the people of Fukuyama City, Hiroshima, Japan during a visit by Mayor Richard Bissen Jr. last month to meet with city dignitaries.

Bissen also joined in the Rose Parade at the 56th annual Fukuyama Rose Festival, which was held for the first time in four years at Bara Koen or Rose Park.

The rose is a symbol of peace and recovery for Fukuyama, said Fukuyama City Mayor Naoki Edahiro, who described how residents planted 1,000 roses with their own hands in their gardens and small flower beds along the streets to recover from the devastation of the post-war era.

At a welcome luncheon with Edahiro, Bissen played the ukulele and sang “Haleakala” while First Lady Isabella Ka’ihikapulani Eleneki Bissen danced the hula.

Mayor Bissen also performed the Japanese song “Koko No Sachi Are” before presenting the ukulele that was handcrafted at Mele ‘Ukulele in Wailuku to Edahiro.

In Hiroshima, Mayor Bissen met with Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui, who is president of Mayors for Peace.

The Maui County mayor also laid a wreath at the Cenotaph for the Victims of the Atomic Bomb, which holds the names of those killed by the bomb, at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.

Another gift brought from Maui was a poi pounder that Mayor Bissen presented to Okayama Prefecture Governor Ryuta Ibaragi during preliminary discussions about a potential Sister City relationship with a city in the Bizen region.

Sentaro Ishii, a samurai from Bizen who was among Gannenmono, or “First-Year People,” as one of the first immigrants from Japan to Hawaii in 1868, married a Hawaiian woman and settled in Hana, Mayor Bissen noted. The poi pounder was created by students of the nonprofit Ma Ka Hana Ka ‘Ike in Hana.

Maui County was governed by a Board of Supervisors in 1956 when Sister Cities International was created under President Dwight Eisenhower to promote diplomacy through global relationships. In the late 1950s, the County Board of Supervisors had informal Sister City relationships before formalizing relationships in the 1960s.

Mayor Bissen said Sister Cities have a valuable role for the islands in establishing and sustaining strong business, cultural and educational relationships. Through international exchanges such as these, “We learn more about each other and in the process, we learn about ourselves,” he said.

Mayor Richard Bissen Jr. and first lady Isabella Ka‘ihikapulani wave to crowds along the route of the Rose Parade, an annual tradition following the opening ceremony for the 56th annual Fukuyama Rose Festival. After jokingly announcing that Mayor Bissen would have the “best taxi driver” for the parade, Mayor Naoki Edahiro surprised his city’s guests and drove the parade vehicle himself, with first lady Masumi Edahiro in the front passenger seat. Members of Japan’s Halau ‘Olu‘olu accompanied the vehicle. MAUI COUNTY photo

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