The Prez
CITY OF
NEW ORLEANS HOSTS DELEGATION FROM SISTER CITY OF MATSUE, JAPAN
New
Orleans, LA – Today, the City of New Orleans reinforced its cultural ties and
friendship with its international sister city, Matsue, Japan, by hosting a
delegation of business leaders for several special activities, including a
plant exchange that will yield educational fruit for students at Langston
Hughes Academy Charter School.
At a
ceremony this morning at Dillard University, a delegation from Matsue presented
the City and students from Langston Hughes Academy (LHA) with Japanese fig tree
cuttings that will be housed and cultivated in Dillard’s greenhouse during a
required quarantine period. The fig trees will then be planted in school
gardens that are part of FirstLine School’s Edible Schoolyard New Orleans
Initiative, including the Langston Hughes Dreamkeeper Garden.
In
return, the LHA students presented the Matsue delegation with the City’s gift
of okra seeds and a cookbook of favorite New Orleans recipes.
“We’re
eager to see these fig plants grow and thrive, just as we hope our relationship
with Matsue will flourish,” said New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu. “This visit
was an important step toward continued cultural understanding, a strong sister
city relationship with Matsue, and many future cultural and economic exchanges.
The idea
of the edible plant exchange came from Matsue, and representatives from that
city chose fig trees, which are widely grown in Japan for their fruit. In order
to fulfill U.S. Department of Agriculture quarantine requirements for foreign
plants, the City reached out to Dillard University to house the 30 fig tree
cuttings in its greenhouse. Dillard has an existing partnership with Langston
Hughes Academy on a program called “From Seed to Table.” The program creates
the opportunity for Dillard University students and LHA scholars to use the
greenhouse located on Dillard’s campus as an educational facility twice a
week. As part of the project, vegetable
seeds will be planted in the greenhouse for initial growth and then
transplanted to the LHA Dreamkeeper Garden.
The fig
tree cuttings will remain in the Dillard greenhouse for two years, and then
will be transplanted to gardens at five FirstLine Schools across the city.
“I am
always excited when we can find new ways to partner and engage the community.
This is exactly that kind of partnership,” said Dr. Walter M. Kimbrough,
president of Dillard University. “Working with the City of New Orleans, our
sister city Matsue, Japan, and the Langston Hughes Academy, we have a unique
opportunity for learning on many levels,” he added.
”The
Edible Schoolyard New Orleans is thrilled to partner with our fellow garden
enthusiasts from our sister city of Matsue to broaden the knowledge our
scholars have about international horticulture,” stated Claudia Barker,
Executive Director of Edible Schoolyard New Orleans. “Our scholars will participate in an intercultural
exchange through which they will learn about a similar climate, thousands of
miles away, where a non-traditional Louisiana crop, like okra, can thrive. This lesson will continue for years as the
Japanese fig trees flourish throughout our five gardens.”
The
Matsue delegation’s visit also included a tour highlighting New Orleans’
rebuilding efforts, several meetings with City officials and local business
leaders, and a luncheon hosted by the New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation
and the New Orleans Business Alliance.
Although
Matsue, which sits along the banks of the Ohashi River in Japan, is thousands
of miles from New Orleans, the two cities share much in common. Matsue is sometimes called the “water city”
because of the prominence of lakes, the river and a network of canals in the
city-scape and scenery. Like New Orleans, Matsue is also a popular tourist
destination.
New
Orleans and Matsue signed an official sister city agreement in 1994, but the
cultural exchanges ended following Hurricane Katrina. Last year, Matsue Mayor
Masataka Matsuura visited New Orleans to meet with Mayor Landrieu and to attend
a luncheon in his honor, to discuss restoring and developing cultural and
economic ties between the two cities.
This
week’s visit by the Matsue delegation is a direct result of those meetings.
Unofficially,
New Orleans’ ties to Matsue stretch back more than 100 years with a shared
connection to author and journalist Lafcadio Hearn, who lived in New Orleans
from 1877 to 1887 and moved to Matsue in 1890 and became a naturalized Japanese
citizen. Hearn became gained international fame for his writings about Japan,
particularly his ghost stories, and remains a favorite writer in that country.
The
Matsue delegation’s visit coincides with the opening of a special Tulane
University exhibition titled, “The Open Mind of Lafcadio Hearn,” featuring
writings and other artifacts from Hearn. The delegation attended the exhibit’s
opening reception that featured a lecture from Hearn’s great grandson.
City
officials expect there to be continued cooperation and exchanges between New Orleans
and Matsue going forward.
District
D Councilmember Cynthia Hedge-Morrell said, “I am excited about the
rejuvenation of our sister-city relationship with the people of Matsue. I had
the pleasure of leading a delegation of students to Matsue prior to Katrina,
and will forever remember the kindness and hospitality of our sister city.”
