By Celeste Katz Marston — Celeste@theconcordbridge.org
Concord’s sister-city relationship with the Japanese town of Nanae is getting back into full swing, with plans to send a contingent to Hokkaido next year.
An 11-member group from Nanae arrived in Concord last October and stayed with local families. After a welcome that included a ceremony at the Town House, they saw the sights, including a visit to the Old North Bridge, and students in the group shadowed local kids at school.
This year, “We will be receiving another delegation from Nanae. It’ll be at the end of October, around the 26th. They’ll stay until early November,” Mike Lawson of the Concord Nanae Network told the Select Board at its most recent meeting.
And “the exciting news in ‘25 is that we’re planning a visit from Concord folks to Nanae,” he said, estimating that the last such trip took place in 2017.
The Concord group is expected to travel in June, spending about a week in Nanae with some options for side trips.
Details are still in the works, but Lawson said the delegation is likely to include 20 to 30 people.
“I wrote to the town manager [and] was delighted to hear back from her that there’s interest from [her], the Select Board, and town employees to be on that delegation,” he said.
“We’re also reaching out to members of the Network, to families that have hosted home stays, and to folks on the School Committee and schoolteachers to be part of the delegation.”
Asked by The Concord Bridge about funding for the trip, Lawson said “public officials pay for the trip themselves, not the town. Nanae can accommodate a large delegation and I’m confident that those who want to be part of the delegation will be able to travel to Nanae.”
Concord-Carlisle High School graduate Jack Brox McCarthy is currently living and working in Nanae as a teacher, cultural liaison, and government office worker by merit of the two towns’ relationship.
