Guam and Karatsu friendship strengthened in Japan

Guam and Karatsu friendship strengthened in Japan
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The Guam Visitors Bureau (GVB) helped to strengthen friendship ties with the small Japanese coastal city of Karatsu from November 2-4, 2019.

Led by GVB Japan Marketing Committee Chairman Satoru Murata, the Guam delegation met with Karatsu Mayor Tatsuro Mine and other high-ranking leaders to discuss ways of furthering Guam and Japanโ€™s friendship, as well as developing a youth exchange program in English speaking countries. Karatsu was also invited to attend the next Pacific Island Environmental Conference.

โ€œWe were honored to have met with our friends in Karatsu and thank them for their hospitality. Weโ€™re appreciative of their efforts to help our island home with their recycling efforts and resources,โ€ said GVB Vice President Bobby Alvarez. โ€œItโ€™s these types of friendships that show us how tourism works to reinforce the over 50 year bond between Guam and Japan.โ€

Karatsu has been Guamโ€™s official Friendship City since July 24, 2013. However, there has been a strong connection between both locations long before that official title. Karatsu has been shipping basalt rocks to Guam for the islandโ€™s roads. The Friendship City also helps with Guamโ€™s treatment of waste, including recycling glass bottles and scrap tires. The recycled waste is loaded to the empty ships that bring the basalt rocks to Guam.

Karatsu officials also invited the Guam delegation to attend the cityโ€™s Kunichi Festival, which was added to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Intangible Cultural Heritage List.ย  The festival featured a daily parade of fourteen Hikiyama, which are massive traditional floats in the form of samurai helmets, sea bream, and dragons constructed from wood, lacquer, and other materials. The event attracted an estimated 570,000 visitors.

Karatsu is located on the island of Kyushu in the Saga Prefecture of Japan and has a population of 78,386 people.

About the author

Avatar of Juergen T Steinmetz

Juergen T Steinmetz

Juergen Thomas Steinmetz has continuously worked in the travel and tourism industry since he was a teenager in Germany (1977).
He founded eTurboNews in 1999 as the first online newsletter for the global travel tourism industry.

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