Glen Rock August 10, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • Page 5 Onomachi visitors bid borough a fond farewell by John Koster The traditional picnic at the Glen Rock Municipal Pool complex marked the end of the first visit from Onomachi middle school students and their chaperones since the earthquake, tsunami, and radiation in March placed the town in peril and raised concern among Glen Rock residents about their friends in Japan. This year, Tour Director Yukio Senzaki and two assistants, communications worker Sumie Shiga and middle school teacher Miki Suzuki, led 14 middle students from the country town on northern Honshu, Japan’s largest and central island, and kept on eye on them while keeping another eye on Glen Rock and New York City. “What impressed me most was the warm welcome of Glen Rock residents, particularly of the host families,” Yukio Senzaki said through an interpreter. (All the adults visiting from Onomachi speak and understand some English, but are more comfortable speaking in Japanese.) Senzaki followed the lead of the late Onomachi Mayor Naotaka Akita, who worked out the plans for the first Onomachi trip with Kristen Stewart, a graduate of Glen Rock High School who was then teaching English in Onomachi. The mayor wanted to foster world peace through world understanding, and in particular wanted to nurture friendship between Japan and the United States. Kristen and her husband Steve O’Brien, also a graduate of Glen Rock High, have helped coordinate the visits for the past 20 years. The O’Briens were both on hand to organize Yukio Senzaki officially slices the cake while Sumie Shiga, left, and Miki Susuki, right, watch the ceremony. the visit and provide translation again this year. “The visits nurture young people’s personalities and expand their horizons in life and their world view,” Senzaki said. “It helps their future.” Senzaki was on his fourth visit to Glen Rock. Having seen the beloved tourist sites, he spent part of this trip on a visit to the New York City mayor’s office and the New York Department of Education headquarters. “We also saw the Brooklyn Bridge,” he said. “It was splendid. There was a lane for a walk in the middle of the bridge and we walked for one-half hour. It was safe. Japanese bridges have no pedestrian lanes.” The heat and humidity, he said, were somewhat formidable, but nothing he wasn’t accustomed to, since Japan is also sultry and damp in high summer. Senzaki spoke English with Mayor John van Keuren, Council President Pam Biggs, and Council Member Art Pazan. “I visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art and I was surprised to see a building inside a building,” said Sumie Shiga, referring to the Temple of Dendur, a keystone of the museum’s enormous Egyptian collection. “I walked through Central Park together with my host family. Among the many tall buildings I saw green trees, many of them old trees, which impressed me. We saw Fifth Avenue. It was wider than the Ginza (Tokyo’s upscale retail district).” She said the trip was educational and enjoyable. “Visiting America is good for my studying English,” she said. “As much as I can learn about American living, I’d (continued on page 15)