By Patrick Baron
BLOOMINGTON – The Bloomington-Normal Sister Cities Committee will celebrate its 55th anniversary this year with a trip to Asahikawa, Japan.
Bloomington-Normal and its sister city Asahikawa have met every five years since 1962. Committee chairman Darren Sampson explained 30 people have signed up to visit our sister city across the sea, and he hopes that number will reach 40 by the time the trip rolls around.
“We have a lot of folks joining us on a trip to Asahikawa, Japan, in late July,” said Sampson. “We’ll be heading out there for a couple weeks and doing some sightseeing and enjoying our sister city.”
Sampson also said the group will be living with host families for the duration of the trip. He explained it creates a more authentic, engaging, and person experience with our counterparts across the sea.
“While in Asahikawa the members who are going will be staying with host families, so they’ll be getting the full student exchange experience,” said Sampson. “It reduces our cost and provides a more interesting experience for the visitors.”
Bloomington will also play host to a number of visitors coming to town next month. Sampson explained the guests will stay with host families and visit while some local schools are on spring break.
“We’ve got 15 students coming in with two chaperones, they’ll be here over the Unit 5/District 87 spring break from March 25 to April 2, and we’ll have host families lined up for when they’re staying here,” said Sampson.
The group will travel to Asahikawa at the end of July and remain there until the beginning of August.
Patrick Baron can be reached at [email protected].
