Three Japanese visitors, two of them from Creston’s sister city, enjoyed a week of touring the Creston Valley, with activities including brewery and winery tours, a visit to the Creston Valley Wildlife Management Area and art galleries, fishing and boating.
Mitsuya Akshiba, from Japan’s Yokohama region, is in Canada for one year on a teacher exchange and has been tutoring Creston Mayor Ron Toyota’s grandson, Bryan Dumas, who leaves Aug. 23 on a Rotary youth students exchange to Yamaguchi prefecture, staying with three host families for 10 months.
Shoji Nagao visited Creston last year with others from Kaminoho (Creston’s sister city, now part of the city of Seki), and wanted to bring his wife, Chidori, for her first visit.
“They have a small farm and grow their own rice ... and also green tea, which they sell,” said Toyota in a report prepared for town council.
The Nagaos spent 10 days in Canada, arriving in Calgary on July 12, and staying in Banff with translator Yoshie Kawamura, who brought them to Creston on July 15. They flew out of Cranbrook to return home on Monday.