On the 12th July a ceremony was held in Aberdeen’s town hall to mark the signing of a friendship agreement between the cities of Aberdeen and Nagasaki, Japan. The Mayor of Nagasaki had already signed the document earlier in the year, but in the ceremony on Monday the Lord Provost of Aberdeen concluded the process by adding his own signiture to the agreement document. The ceremony was attended by the Director of the Japan Local Government Centre, Noboru Fujishima, and Assistant Director Miho Shikano. The Consul-General of the Japanese Embassy in Edinburgh and his wife were also in attendance at the ceremony.
The friendship agreement is not a formal twinning contract producing a pair of sister cities, but a more informal link between communities. It is hoped that this will be a new kind of linking for an age of austerity, designed to promote exchange between groups and organisations within the local communities in Aberdeen and Nagasaki. For example, over the last 15 years the Rotary Clubs in both Nagasaki and in Aberdeen have been sending a student abroad every year for over a decade and this year too, a student will leave for Japan this week for a three week stay in Nagasaki.
The Director and Assistant Director also took the opportunity to visit Glover House:
Glover House in Aberdeen was the family home of Thomas Blake Glover, The Scottish Samurai, who was one of the founders of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd in Nagasaki, Japan. The house Thomas built for his parents, was given by Mitsubishi in 1997 to the Grampian Japan Trust and has been restored to its former Victorian splendour with many original details and features.
The Lord Provost of Aberdeen signs the Friendship Agreement
