Michael Dukakis draws applause while addressing Arlington-Japan delegation April 27.
A bench emblazoned with logos representing Arlington and Nagaokakyo, Japan, was unveiled amid rain showers near the Town Hall flagpole Sunday, April 27. It honored the late Dick Smith, who fostered the sister-city relationship starting in 1975.
Photo series showing dedication >>
The dedication highlighted the three decades of formal connection between the two communities, called “ArlingtoNagaokakyo.”
Among those offering warm recollections of Smith, who died in late December, was Michael Dukakis, the two-term Massachusetts governor and 1988 presidential candidate.
“I would have been here earlier had we extended the Red Line to Arlington,” he said, as many residents laughed.
Dukakis, known for taking public transportation, had known Smith from their days together at Harvard Law School, in the late 1950s.
Steven Byrne, introduced by Selectmen Kevin Greeley as the youngest chairman of the selectmen, offered a welcome to the throng surrounding the Dallin-sculptured flagpole.
Sue Sheffler, a former School Committee member long active with the sister cities, and Sonoe Toyama provided introductions. Sheffler said how heartened she is that two from Arlington now teach English in the Japanese city.
Apart from Dukakis, speakers were Yutaka Oda, mayor of Nagaokakyo; Masahiro Koyama, president of Nagaokakyo Friendship Committee; Takao Igusa, Nagaokakyo Friendship Committee; and Greeley.
Following the dedication, the crowd filed into Town Hall’s Robbins Auditorium for dinner and entertainment.
The John E. Thayer III Award was presented to the Town of Arlington.
Sheffler received the award presented by Keiko Thayer, for the Japan Society of Boston, widow of John Thayer III, longtime member of the society’s board who was dedicated to furthering relations between Japan and the U.S.
With her was Toyama, who helped shepherd the student exchange for the last decade, as well as Mayor Oda and Joanne Routenberg, current president of the Arlington-Nagaokakyo student exchange. Sheffler wrote that she “has done an exceptional job for the last three years on our side of the world.”
Sheffler applied for the award on behalf of both sister cities as an entity. The Japan Society of Boston responded in kind, creating a certificate and engraved sake cup for each city.
Accompanying the honor is a $1,000 award, to be used to start a scholarship fund to send students on trips to Nagaokakyo.
Sheffler wrote April 28 after the “whole group of 72 visitors went in waves to State House, Boston sightseeing, Harvard Square, dinner at Masonic Lodge and being officially greeted at Town Meeting. One visitor, Mike Koyama, was first on stage at Town meeting 38 years ago, with Dick Smith.”
That was eight years before the sister-city agreement was formalized.
At the April 27 dinner, ShinDaiko performed Taiko drumming from the Town Hall stage.
The program lists Nagaokakyo entertainment as Naruko Dance and “Sweet Caroline,” a Neil Diamond tune often sung at Red Sox games.
Richard Duffy, unofficial Arlington historian, and Greeley provided a version of the performance presented last June honoring the 100th anniversary of Arlington Town Hall.
In closing, Duffy, Greeley and Patsy Kraemer led a singalong “Let there be Peace on Earth.”
Kraemer wrote April 29 that planners estimated people 250 for the evening, and she thought the number was closer to 235.
Arlington-Nagaokakyo Facebook | Jan. 11, 2014: Service held for peace activist who founded sister-city program
This story was published Tuesday, April 29, 2014.
