Please consider joining Denver Sister Cities International committee for Takayama, Japan. During the pandemic, we meet on Zoom. We are currently meeting on the 3rd Tuesday of each month from 7 pm to 9:00 pm MST. Contact us if you wish to join the committee. The scope of the Denver Takayama Sister City Committee (DTSCC) is all of Japan:
* geography * language * culture * the people
.. and we are
fortunate to have Takayama as our base, our center, our core. Takayama itself is a place where we can get beyond the tourist facade: meet students and teachers, business people and government employees, artists and musicians; we can make friends; create art, music, and business opportunities; share techniques and lessons learned. We can gain experiences beyond what just travel agencies can provide. And because of contacts-of-contacts, including the larger Sister City web, we find we can draw on resources in other cities in Japan as well as Colorado and the rest of the US. Similarly, in Denver we can provide homestays, insights, and experiences that the average Japanese tourist to Denver does not have access to. This makes us unique in the Japanese and Asian community of organizations in the Denver area. We are focused on the exchange of people, goods, ideas, and more, between Denver and Japan. We have a grass roots, people-to-people focus and a wide net of connections across the US and Japan. Other organizations have different focii: local conditions and rights of the Japanese community; faith and theological questions; upscale business connections and cultural exchanges; academic studies, and so on. DTSCC plays a complementary role in this circle of organizations, and provides a unique perspective and set of opportunities. Seen as a center for person-to-person contact between Japanese and American peoples and cultures, DTSCC opens up deeper perspectives and connections. We've seen our students come back from their trips to Japan with an appreciation of the Japanese aesthetic: the care put in to the design of even the most prosaic items (manhole covers seem to be a constant surprise, for example), as well as just ways to go about their daily lives. The Japanese culture has much to teach us, and DTSCC is one path to knowledge:
* celebrating Japanese holidays
* sharing stories among members
* supporting local Japanese-owned and Japanese-oriented businesses
* hosting students, artists, musicians, and tourists from Japan
* traveling to Japan
* participating in events of other local Japanese-oriented organizations
* sharing Japanese arts, crafts, and culture through events such as DSCI's World Wide Festival
Also, new residents from Japan can join and observe us and learn how to be more comfortable in their new, American home: US holidays and traditions, for example. We are involved because we need, and want, to grow and learn how to live a rich, full, interesting life. And we like to have a little fun.