オースティン・アメリカ・ステーツマン紙への寄稿 2005年5月14日在ヒューストン日本国総領事 加茂佳彦
In performing my duties as Consul-General of Japan for the state of Texas, Austin is probably the city outside of Houston that I visit most often.When I visited Mayor Wynn’s office last year, he told me about two very famous figures in the United States who are not originally from Austin, but have adopted it as their hometown.They are Michael Dell of Dell Computers and world renowned Tour d’ France champion, Lance Armstrong. I can definitely understand why they choose to live in Austin, a city that is the state capital of the great state of Texas, the University of Texas main campus, gently sloping hills and the beautiful Colorado River that flows through the city, the beautiful Town Lake, bats included, and the live music and party scene of 6th Street.
It also has cultural diversity that helps to make Austin the number one “most livable city” in the U.S. today.One new dimension of this cultural diversity that is being celebrated this coming weekend is the re-establishment of the Japan America Society of Greater Austin (JASGA).This “Establishment Reception” will be held this Sunday, May 15, 2005 at the Japan May Festival at the ZilkerBotanical Garden, 2222 Barton Springs Road,.The party will feature an afternoon of Japanese food including sushi and other culinary offerings, some from the numerous local Japanese restaurants, cultural activities such as beautiful traditional dances by the Hanayagi Japanese Dance Academy, entertainment featuring Austin’s own Taiko drum troupe, demonstrations of aikido, judo and budo-taijutsu martial arts and fellowship for both American and Japanese peopleAustin and Japan have many ties of friendship, and I am very pleased to see the re-establishment of JASGA.One of the other most important ties of friendship is the sister city relationship between Austin and Oita.Oita is located on KyushuIsland and is surrounded by beautiful green mountains, much like the Texas Hill Country, and enjoys the majestic scenery of BeppuBay, with water flowing through this city from the OitaRiver.Oita has been this region’s capital for more than 1300 years.
Austin and Oita have developed various areas of exchange in education, culture, business and government.One of the symbols of friendship between Oita and Austin is the beautiful granite gate in the TaniguchiJapaneseGarden at the AustinBotanical Gardens in ZilkerPark.This gate was dedicated by officials from Oita to the city of Austin in November 1998.Austin and Oita will celebrate the 15th anniversary of their sister city relationship next year.
At the state level of Japan-Texas relations, the state of Texas has established a Memorandum of Understanding to promote industrial and technological exchange programs with ShimanePrefecture in Japan.Ironically, Shimane is the second smallest prefecture in Japan with a population of only 760,000, but because both Texas and Shimane have the economic advantage of high tech industries in common, they both mutually benefit from each other.
The strong ties between Japan and Texas have been further strengthened by the selection of U.S. Ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer who was an owner of the Texas Rangers with President Bush several years ago.Furthermore, Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams is apparently a close friend of Ambassador Schieffer. Secretary Williams is eager to promote business between Texas and Japan.“Texas Days” will be held during August from the 1st through the 3rd, 2005 at Aichi Expo2005, the 21st Century’s first World’s Fair. “Texas Days” will provide an ideal showcase of Texas, particularly the many business opportunities that are so prevalent here.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Mike Mansfield once said that the Japan-U.S. relationship is the most important bilateral relationship in the world.In my opinion the Japan-Texas relationship is the most important bilateral relationship for both of our countries.
Thank you.