Behind the Headlines

By Paula Wethington

Monroe’s sister city visitors from Hofu, Japan, arrived last week. The five students are staying with local host families until Aug. 14. The chaperones flew home Sunday.

My family has been involved with Monroe’s sister city program hosted by the Monroe International Friendship Association since we hosted one of the Japanese students in 2001. So the summer student exchange season is always a fun time of year for us.

One of this year’s Hofu chaperones, Makiko Fujimoto, is a public information officer at Hofu City Hall. She and I chatted quite a bit during her stay since our jobs are in similar fields.

Makiko told me she had a deadline to meet in Japan this week. As soon as she got back to the office on Monday, she was expected to write an article for the city newsletter about her trip and what the students are doing!

Here’s Makiko and I at one of the sister city social events on Saturday: