'Sister' City

Here is a map of Hokkaido.
Our Village of Tsurui is about a 40 minute drive north of Kushiro City.

A few years ago I was visiting family and friends in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia Canada. Both of my brothers were living in Burnaby at the time and one of them took me up to Burnaby Mountain Park.

I had never been up there and was surprised to see totem poles that did not resemble those of the West Coast First Nations people of British Columbia. They were instead totems carved by Inu First Nations people from Hokkaido Japan! What were these totems doing atop Burnaby Mountain?

Turns out Kushiro City and Burnaby City are Sister Cities! How appropriate - the closest city to the place where I was going to live in Hokkaido Japan was the sister city to the very place where my brothers lived!

When we stumbled across this information...my brother and I just looked at one another and said, "weird".

This coincidence made me feel a little better about my move so far away from home.

Never far from you bros.

your sis,
t