type:論文

type:Article

姉妹都市提携のブームが全国の自治体を席巻した1980年代に、盛岡市は波に乗り遅れるなと言わんばかりに、同市出身の新渡戸稲造の終焉の地ビクトリア市と姉妹都市提携を結んだ。1985年の締結から約四半世紀が経過したが、その間、教育、スポーツ、芸術等多岐にわたる分野で事業が展開されてきた。しかし、盛岡市民意識調査によると、ビクトリア市との姉妹都市交流への市民の関心は、年を追うごとに低下している。本論では最初に、その原因はどこにあるのかを考察した。さらに、姉妹都市交流を通して「市民相互の理解と友情」を一層深めるという姉妹都市提携の「盟約書」に掲げた目標が到達されているのかを検証した。最後に、異文化理解と相互交流に向けて、単発的なイベントの羅列から政策立案・検証への方向転換を図る必要性を提言した。

The literature pertaining to sister cities in the United States credits their movement to President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who, in the 1950s, advocated fostering "world peace by furthering international communication and exchange at the person-to-person level through city-to-city affiliations." His administration espoused a prominent role for sister cities to play in American foreign relations, particularly with Japan. It was as early as 1955 that among Japanese communities, Nagasaki City established the first sister-city type relationship with Saint Paul, Minnesota, in the United States. Since that time the number of sister-city relationships has steadily increased each year, and there were 1,411 sister-city affiliations with Japanese municipalities in 2006, reports the Council of Local Authorities for International Relations (CLAIR). The mushroom phenomenon of sister cities from the latter half of the 1980s through the middle of the 1990s, led to the official signing of a sister-city agreement between Morioka and Victoria in 1985; the former is the birth place of Inazo Nitobe, a distinguished educator and an advocate of peace, and the latter is the place of his demise. This paper deals with the sister-city relationships between the two cities, with a focus on whether they have strengthened their ties of mutual understanding and respect for their counterparts over twenty years. For an integrated approach to the study, the student exchange programs between the two municipalities should be minutely analyzed, because they regard the sister-city as a vehicle to promote international understanding of their citizens, especially the younger generation, in an era of globalization. The article concludes by answering the question provided earlier. Have the citizens of the two cities accomplished mutual understanding? The answer is "to some extent." We presume that critical features to making the relationship deeper and more successful are to possess a concrete aim of the sister-city relationship, well-constructed plans to accomplish the goals, strong community participation and support, and highly cultivated language skills.

identifier:3

identifier:KJ00007600659