Denver to Japan - Support and contacts
Introduction
It takes a lot of people working together to make a trip like this be successful. On this page we provide you with information about the people and contacts that are helping us pull it all together.
Supporting organizations and people
- Denver - M.E.M. travel agency
- Denver - Denver Sister Cities
- Denver - Denver Takayama Sister City Committee
- Tokyo - Moe Tanaka
- Tokyo - Peggy Kanada
- Takayama - Mayor's Office: Akila Tanaka
- Takayama - Mayor's Office: Takashi Nomura
- Kyoto - Sophia Boudeliou
Denver: M.E.M. Travel
Address:
1209 19th Street
Denver, CO 80202-1403
(Sakura Square, upper level)
Phone: 303-295-1300
Email: memworld@msn.com
Website: http://www.memtravel.com (in Japanese)
M.E.M. Travel is a local agency down in Sakura Square that specializes in Japan travel. Kitty and I have used them for all of our Japan trips except our first. The Denver Takayama Sister City committee uses them for their student and adult exchanges.
The agents at M.E.M. all speak Japanese so they can communicate with brokers of hotel rooms to find the best rates for each trip they plan.
Our primary contact: Hiroko Takeyama
Email: hiroko@memtravel.com
Hiroko is working very hard to build our trip just the way we want it - and we have been very fussy!
Hiroko's assistant: Shiho Figgins
Email: MEM@memtravel.com
You may remember Shiho as the young woman who brought us all water bottles at our gathering at MEM travel in mid-July. She is new at M.E.M. and is quickly learning the ropes around the agency.
Denver: Denver Sister Cities International (DSCI)
Address:
Denver Sister Cities International
2480 W. 26th Ave, Suite 20B
Denver, CO 80221
Phone: 303-832-1336
Email: info@denversistercities.org
Website: http://denversistercities.org
DSCI is the parent organization for all 10 of Denver's Sister Cities. Each of these Sister Cities has their own committee that works to build a unique relationship between Denver and its counterpart in a foreign country. Denver is one of hundreds of cities around the US with Sister City relationships. The collection of US cities with Sister City ties is managed at the national level by the State Department.
If you are interested, there is lots more information on the history and breadth of this organzation on the national Sister Cities home site.
The current DSCI president is Flora DuPree
Email: flora@floradupree.com
Phone: 303-587-8588
The current DSCI Treasurer and webmaster is Gayle Stallings
Email: gayle@gstallings.com
Phone: 303-757-5651
Denver: Denver Takayama Sister Cities Committee (DTSCC)
Address - send to the DSCI office:
Denver Sister Cities International / Takayama Committee
2480 W. 26th Ave, Suite 20B
Denver, CO 80221
Email: send to DSCI at info@denversistercities.org
Website: Takayama tab on the DSCI home page:
http://denversistercities.org/takayama
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000584486884
Denver and Takayama have had a Sister City relationship for over 50 years. Typically Denver will send 4-16 high school students to Japan for two weeks, including a week of homestay in Takayama, every other year. In the alternate years, a small group of students from Takayama will come to Denver for a week (and usually do some other US sightseeing) to stay in a host family home.
Over the years there have been other exchanges. For example the Denver Municipal Band has traveled to Takayama and various Takayama musicians and dancers have come to Denver to perform. Several Denver mayors have visited Takayama, and some past mayors of Takayama have visited Denver. The new mayor of Takayama, Mayor Kunishima will be here in his first official visit as mayor in October this year, although he has come to Denver before becoming mayor.
Currently the chair of DTSCC is Sachiko Nakahira, and the co-chair is Ken Nakamura. Ken is also the Takayama FaceBook manager.
DTSCC chair: Sachiko Nakahira
Email: sachikonakahira@yahoo.com
Phone: 720-244-2798
DTSCC co-chair: Ken Nakamura
Email: denver_takayama.sci60@yahoo.com
Phone: 303-519-2611
Tokyo: Moe Tanaka our main scout in the largest city in the world
Moe Tanaka
Moe is the oldest daughter of our good friend Akila Tanaka (see below under Takayama), and and a delightful young woman in her own right.
Moe is currently finishing up her Associate degree in Art (done in December) and will be looking for work in the Spring. She has been working part time as an assistant director in a TV production company for three years and is hoping to find work at an advertising agency or production company.
Our friend Moe Tanaka
Email: moetanaka@japan.lakeland.edu
Cell phone: +81 (0) 80-2627-1610
Tokyo: Peggy Kanada - our link to UUs and Buddhists in Tokyo
Peggy Kanada
Moe is the oldest daughter of our good friend Akila Tanaka (see below under Takayama), and and a delightful young woman in her own right.
UU extraodinarePeggy Kanada
Email: pegkanada@gmail.com
Cell phone: +80 5077 5515
Takayama: Akila Tanaka, Executive Director of Overseas Strategy Dept., City of Takayama - and our friend
Akila Tanaka
We first met Akila in 1993 or '94 (lost in the mists of time). We have met all his immediate family and stayed in their house. We are in touch, but not regularly. When we do re-connect it is always just like picking up a conversation you were having a few minutes before.
Akila speaks excellent English and has a real sense of humor. And he is good at his work. For this trip, he will be organizing all our activities in Takayama with the help of his staff member Takashi Nomura (see below). It looks like our paths won't actually cross during this trip, however, as Akila will be in Denver with the Mayor's contingent the same dates we are in Takayama! But I know he will have prepared an excellent program for us.
Our friend Akila Tanaka
Email: akila@wonder.ocn.ne.jp
Phone: +81 (0) 577-35-3346
Mobile: +81 (0) 90-7012-5400
Takashi Nomura
Project Chief, Sister City Program Takashi Nomura
Takashi will be our main contact and connection for the Takayama part of our adventure. He will escort us on the bus from Tokyo to Takayama and generally usher us about Takayama during our stay.
Email: ta.nomura@city.takayama.lg.jp
Phone: +81 (0) 577-35-3346
Mobile: +81 (0) 90-9022-0889
Mayor Michihiro Kunishima
We have known Mayor Kunishima since before he was Mayor. Elected Mayor of the newly enlarged Takayama district in 2011, Michihiro-san has visited Denver with various Takayama contingents in the past and been very involved in the Denver - Takayama relationship.
Takayama mayor Michihiro Kunishima
Michihiro Kunishima - Mayor of Takayama
Kyoto - Sophia Boudeliou; Friend of Kitty's nephew Chris
Sophia Boudeliou
Sophia has been interested in the japanese culture since she first saw Kurosawa Akira's movie 'The Hidden Fortress' when she was 12.
After graduating from her university in France, where she majored in Japanese art and literature, she was accepted to Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto as an exchange student in September 2010, and is currently still studying there. Apart from her studying, she also entered a Japanese modeling agency in February 2011.
Our friend in Kyoto Sophia Boudeliou
Email: sosmokestacklightning@softbank.ne.jp
Mobile: +81 (0) 80 3820 2716