"ARIGATO" Host Towns in Support of the Team USA -Toward and Beyond Tokyo 2020- held at Japan House Los Angeles

On Wednesday, September 25, the Consulate-General of Japan in Los Angeles, Japan House Los Angeles, the Secretariat of the Headquarters for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games (Cabinet Secretariat of Japan), and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan co-sponsored “ARIGATO” Host Towns in support of Team USA -Toward and Beyond Tokyo 2020- held at Japan House Los Angeles.

The event began with opening remarks by Consul General Akira Muto and Ms. Yuko Kaifu of Japan House Los Angeles, followed by remarks from Mr. Hisanori Takahashi, a former MLB / NPB profession-al baseball player, highlighting the return of baseball in the Summer Olympic program in 2020.

Later, Mr. Yoichi Arai of the Secretariat of the Headquarters for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games introduced the “ARIGATO” Host Towns initiatives, established in 2017 to promote interna-tional exchange and display recovery and revitalization efforts made in disaster-stricken areas impacted by the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. At the panel discussion Mr. Toichi Ueda, Mayor of Hanamaki City, Iwate Prefecture and city officials from Ofunato City, Iwate Prefecture and Kitakata City, Fukushima Prefecture, as well as two students from Hanamaki Gakuin Hanamaki Higashi High School showcased each city. Ms. Mary Zunick, sister city executive director of Hot Springs, Arkan-sas, a sister city of Hanamaki, Olympian Robert Shephard, and Mr. Derrick Chapman, Los Angeles County Fire Department Battalion Chief, also participated as panelists and talked about friendship rela-tions with Japan.

The program concluded with a reception where the panelists and approximately 100 guests mingled and enjoyed Japanese cuisine including beef and rice from Iwate and sake from Fukushima and Iwate prefectures.