Although last year marked the 50th anniversary of Walla Walla’s sister city relationship with Tamba-Sasayama, Japan, COVID-19 had postponed celebrations to this year. The pandemic also suspended the yearly student exchange program — no visits had taken place since 2019. Therefore, resuming the exchange visits this year seemed especially vital for the program, not only to celebrate a historic milestone but also to preserve their yearly tradition.
“Sister cities” refer to officially recognized relationships that towns forge with one another across countries. President Eisenhower founded the Sister Cities program in 1956 to help restore international relations that WWII severed, as well as to stifle mounting Cold War tensions. The program emphasized a grassroots form of diplomacy, which Eisenhower believed could better foster goodwill.
In the context of post-WWII politics, sister city programs seemed to especially benefit U.S.-Japan relations. The cities of Saint Paul, MN, and Nagasaki, Japan, established the first trans-Pacific relationship in 1955. Others soon followed, such as Seattle and Kobe (which is nearby Tamba) becoming sisters in 1957. Eventually, the cities of Walla Walla and Tamba-Sasayama linked up in 1972.
Barbara Noel, left, with students dressed in traditional Japanese garb.
Tamba-Sasayama is a rural town of 40,000 that is centered around agriculture. Comparable to Walla Walla’s sweet onion is the Tamba black bean (kuromame). In terms of size and lifestyle, the two towns are a fitting pair.
This year, a delegation from Tamba-Sasayama visited Walla Walla at the end of August, and in October, a group from Walla Walla returned the favor. Five high school students alongside nine adults traveled to the Japanese town for 12 days.
In Walla Walla, a commemorative plaque had been built on the bridge at Spokane Street, which was renamed the Friendship Bridge in honor of the sister cities. While the plaque was presented in August, statues of dekansho dancers (renowned in Tamba-Sasayama) that are currently being built will eventually adorn the bridge.
Barbara Noel, secretary of the sister city committee for the past 15 years, had helped build and design the plaque and statues. Born in Walla Walla, Noel grew up to pursue myriad occupations, working as a police dispatcher, banker, stockbroker, photography sales rep, masseuse, and, finally, cat rescuer.
If she’s recognized nowadays, it’s for her latest role, as the “cat lady of Walla Walla.” Ironically, she’s allergic to cats. Retired from the cat business, she currently devotes her time to the Uku-Ladies, a local women’s ukulele group, and, of course, the sister city program.
Noel learned about the Sister Cities program in the early ’90s through an ad in the paper. She cut the ad out and held on to it for several years. Then, in 1998, back in Walla Walla, she finally took the opportunity.
“When I got there, I felt like I was going home,” she said. “I felt like I had lived there in a past life. It just felt so comfortable.”
That initial visit turned out to be the first of many, and now her own home reflects aspects of Japanese culture. The Noels’ living room is decorated in various Japanese accoutrements, as a pair of traditional kimono dresses are draped on the wall.
Robert Keatts (left) and Barbara Noel (right, nearest the camera) enjoy a meal at a low table, as is typical in Japan.
In contrast to her multitudinous working life of various career shifts, her devotion toward Japan appears singular and steadfast. Reflecting on her recent visit, her faith in the exchange program seemed as strong as ever.
“The students had their eyes opened to another part of the world,” she said. “There’s nothing like living with a host family, and really living the life over there.”
Robert Keatts was the sister city’s chairman from 2003 to 2015. His affinity for Japan can be traced back to the ’60s when he joined the U.S. Air Force after graduating from high school. 19-year-old Keatts had trained in Texas for a few months before he was deployed to Misawa, Aomori, located in Japan’s northeast. Keatts fondly recalled his very first morning in Misawa.
“A young Japanese boy was shaking me, and he was saying, ‘Ohayo, ohayo, ohayo-gozaimasu!’ I wake up, and I look at him and say, ‘No, I’m from the state of Washington.’” Keatts had misconstrued the Japanese word for good morning, “ohayo,” with the state of Ohio.
Keatts ended up serving in Japan for 27 months before spending a year in Vietnam. But that period in Japan had been formative for Keatts, leaving an indelible mark that has lasted since.
“There was something about the Japanese culture that was like a magnet,” he said. “And I’ve never been able to say what exactly it was that created this interest in Japan. I don’t know what it is.”
The sister cities’ two-week exchange program began in 1994, and soon thereafter, Keatts was gradually getting involved. He became vice-chairman in 1999. The exchange program was successful, as visits continued nearly every year, except for a few instances, such as in 2001, directly after 9/11. But Keatts explained that such exceptions were rare.
“The year they came that really surprised me was March 2011, after the big [Tohoku] earthquake,” he said. “I thought there was no way they were going to come. And they did. We were very supportive of that group.”
Keatts has now visited Japan at least a dozen times through the sister city program. Outside of the program, he and his ‘families’ will visit one another whenever possible.
“Because of my frequent visits to Sasayama, I tell people here that I know more people in Sasayama, Japan, than I know in Walla Walla,” he said. “And the reason is that people in Japan will let me live with them for two weeks. And there’s nobody in Walla Walla that wants me to live with them for two weeks,” he added, laughing.
The welcoming committee came out to greet travelers from Walla Walla when they arrived in Tamba-Sasayama, Japan.
Peace signs abound during the Walla Walla delegates’ visit to Tamba-Sasayama, Japan.
Although Keatts has no biological children, he and his wife have hosted at least 40 exchange students over the years. In conversation, Keatts will earnestly refer to each of them as his children. After decades of friendship, his ‘children’ have started their own families, which only lengthens the list of relatives that Keatts will visit.
“I have a Japanese grandson who is a fencer,” he said. “He just participated in a big tournament in Japan. I guess he came in second. So, he’s pretty good.”
Dustin Palmer has been chairman of the sister city committee since 2018. Palmer grew up in Walla Walla and currently works with the Corps of Engineers. He first visited Japan in 2003 as a Wa-Hi student.
Keatts, as chairman, had been visiting local schools to deliver presentations on the exchange program. Palmer was intrigued and signed up. Now, two decades later, Palmer said that he could probably recall every single detail of his trip.
The exchange program is a two-week trip designed for high school students and chaperones. A group from Tamba-Sasayama visits Walla Walla every March, and a Walla Walla group visits every October.
During their two weeks in Tamba-Sasayama, some of their activities included pottery and cooking classes. T-S is famous for their pottery, as their kilns are some of the oldest in Japan, dating back 800 years.
They also attend seasonal festivals — one for their wild boar, another for their Kasuga Shrine. The students also visit schools, the local castle and shopping districts.
Palmer noted how rewarding the program can be, especially in the long run, evidenced by how he’ll meet students, years later, to hear how life-changing their two weeks abroad had been.
“The real payoff is opening doors of opportunity for students who may or may not have that ability to [travel], and to see just how much of a dramatic effect it has on their lives,” he said.
Both Walla Walla and Tamba-Sasayama are small towns, so it would seem unlikely for either to be tied to some place 5,000 miles away. Palmer thereby stressed how the program can help people understand how big the world is, but also how similar people are. To truly understand how the world is foreign — and yet not foreign — he explained how one’s contact had to be personal and unmediated.
“Most [people] interpret things they’ll never experience through a grapevine structure, where that ends up being television, social media, entertainment,” he said. “But if you’re never actually there to see just how unique and, at the same time, similar you are to the other people living in other places all over the globe, you can’t appreciate how you do certain things [in your own life]. It brings cultures and communities together in a way that solidifies relationships all over the world.”
