| welcome remarks by organizing committee chair, Jenny McCampbell |
Few if any of the sister-cities have followed the lead of St. Johns, MI and Konan-city in Shiga prefecture, Japan. What started as a penpal attempt in 1994 evolved into a visual exchange of the elementary and later also junior high schools. The latest innovation may be to repurpose the Japanese pieces so that another Michigan location can host them side by side with local students' art, attaching them to fabric banners or wall spaces in the town library or other accessible venue. In this way the art may travel to several places. Meanwhile the St. Johns art will travel west across the ocean to appear next at the Konan-city library in August 2017, together with Japanese art produced in the new school year (school starts in April in Japan, so by August there will be lots of summery themed subjects to choose from). The Michigan-Shiga connection is based on the Great Lakes in USA and the large, Biwa (lute) shaped lake of Shiga prefecture and dates to 1968, soon to be celebrating 50 years. The other significant anniversary is 1917-2017, the 100th year since The Biwako Song was written. Here is an excerpt from the 20 fourth grade singers under the direction of their music teacher, Ms. Shirley Anne Ries, who taught them to strum along with ukulele, as well.
