Viewpoints
KANAYAMA BEGINNINGS
By Bill Tatsuda
March 19, 2007
Monday AM
Darrell Hargraves, Ketchikan School Superintendent at the time,
started the Ketchikan-Kanayama Exchange Program in 1986. Rosie
Roppel took the first group of kids to Japan. Christa Bruce was
the first exchange teacher to spend a year teaching in Kanayama
with her husband Jim and two sons.
I went to Kanayama in 1988 with 5 other businessmen from Ketchikan.
As a result of our trip Ketchikan sent a Nathan Jackson Eagle
Bear Totem Pole to Kanayamain 1989, and they returned the favor
by sending the suit of armor and a Japanese screen to Ketchikan
in 1992. I went to Kanayama again as a chaperone in 1992.
This is one of the best exchange
programs in the world and should be continued. The number of
residents of both cities who have been impacted in a positive
way numbers in the thousands.
Bill Tatsuda
Ketchikan, AK
Received March 14, 2007 - Published March 19, 2007
Related Viewpoint:
 Kanayama
Exchange By Amber Leslie Williams Baldwin
20th
Anniversary for Ketchikan -Kanayama! By Dan Patton
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