Continuing Longmont’s longstanding relationship with Japan, visitors from the Japanese city of Chino spent last weekend in Boulder County to learn more about life in Longmont.
Friday through Wednesday, four Chino representatives immersed themselves in Longmont by attending events and city meetings. The group included the mayor of Chino, Atsushi Imai. Chino is a mountainous city in the Nagano Prefecture of central Japan.
The visit was coordinated by the Longmont Sister Cities Association, which sends student ambassadors in the St. Vrain Valley School District on trips each summer. In addition to Chino, Longmont is a sister city with Ciudad Guzman in Mexico and the Northern Arapaho of the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming.
Longmont also hosts students from the sister cities. The most recent group of Japanese exchange students visited Longmont in 2019.
Chino was established as Longmont’s first sister city in 1990. One reason the Japanese adult delegation visited Longmont this month was to commemorate 35 years of the partnership.
“We have a chosen family in Chino, Japan,” said Courtney Michelle, president of Longmont Sister Cities. “And they have a chosen family here in Longmont, Colorado.”
Mayor Imai was joined by Hiroyuki Yajima, a Chino city employee; Yoriko Kasai, honorable president of the Chino International Club; and Soki Tatsugi, vice president of the Chino International Club. This was the first trip to Longmont for Imai and Yajima, and a returning visit for Kasai and Tatsugi.
On Saturday, the group attended a Longmont Symphony Orchestra performance. They also stopped by Longmont’s Cinco de Mayo celebration in Roosevelt Park.
“We took them there to show them one of the huge events in Longmont,” Michelle said. “Some of them had tacos for the first time.”
On Sunday, the Japanese delegation saw Rocky Mountain National Park and went shopping in Estes Park. Their dinner that night at Longmont’s Callahan House was attended by Consul General Hiroyuki Okajima and Vice Consul Yuki Zaitsu from the Japanese consulate in Denver.
Monday was filled with meetings with the Longmont Area Chamber of Commerce, Visit Longmont and city staff. Michelle said the delegates were interested in learning how Longmont attracts new businesses and residents.
After seeing the Longmont Museum and the Tower of Compassion on Tuesday, Imai spoke to the Longmont City Council about the value of the sister cities program.
“I hope to continue to further deepen the ties between our two cities and create new opportunities for exchange for future generations,” Imai said through a translator.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Longmont mayor Joan Peck praised the sister cities program.
“Having the Japanese delegation here was an amazing thing,” Peck said. “I am honored that they came.”
The Longmont Sister Cities trip to Chino will have seven students and two adult chaperones this summer. The student ambassadors will be in Japan from July 13 through 26.
Longmont will host students from Chino, as well as from the other two sister cities, at the end of July.
Michelle said that one of Imai’s takeaways from his visit was that Longmont was a friendly, safe place for Chino’s students to visit.
“To feel and see that firsthand, I think, was impactful,” Michelle said.
Originally Published: May 8, 2025 at 4:05 PM MDT
AloJapan.com