APPLETON — The City of Appleton has three sister cities, one is in Japan. Appleton’s Mayor, Tim Hanna, just returned from his third visit to Kanonji.
When Mayor Hanna met with the mayor of Kanonji, he says they had a lot of similarities.
"You want to make sure you have a good quality of life in your city,” says Mayor Hanna. “That's what mayors do, and it doesn't matter what culture, what language, what religion, it really doesn't matter and that's something that I’ve discovered over the years. It's kind of, it's really cool."
Appleton and Kanonji’s relationship go back 31 years. This was the mayor's third visit and this time, music is what brought the cities together. Musicians Corey Chisel and Adriel Denae traveled along with Mayor Hanna. They wrote a song with children here about Appleton and wanted to do the same for kids in their sister city in Japan.
"This was our gift to Kanonji. Corey went with me. We worked with some kids over there in one of their schools. Corey took their ideas and wrote an original song about Kanonji,” says Mayor Hanna.
Mayor Hanna hopes to keep the city of Appleton’s relationship with Kanonji for generations to come.
"There are some very deep personal relationships with people from our sister cities and those are very strong,” says Mayor Hanna.
The two cities also participate in a youth exchange program. Mayor Hanna says it's a great way for the kids to experience different cultures.
