The Cupertino-Toyokawa Sister Cities program is marking a unique milestone during this year’s student exchange program: the third generation of a Toyokawa family arriving in Cupertino.
Yakumo Imaizumi, a high school student from Toyokawa, is joining Cupertino’s delegation of homestay visitors nearly 40 years after his father, Fumiaki, first came as a student delegate in 1986. His grandfather, Tokuyoshi, was one of the pioneers of the Cupertino Circle in Toyokawa, and the family has remained deeply connected to the exchange program ever since.
The sister city organization threw a welcome dinner Oct. 3 for Imaizumi and the other Japanese students in this year’s delegation.
“For us, when members of the Imaizumi family visit Cupertino, it is like having members of our own family here,” said longtime committee member Virgil Klein, who, along with his wife Trish, hosted Tokuyoshi Imaizumi during his sister city visit.
Klein and his wife Trish have been members of the Cupertino-Toyokawa sister city organization for more than 40 years.
“Since its beginning in 1978, the relationship between Cupertino and Toyokawa has fostered cultural understanding, lifelong friendships and meaningful community ties,” he says.
The Cupertino-Toyokawa Sister Cities organization, founded in 1978, has worked in close partnership with the City of Cupertino to make exchanges like this possible. Today, the nonprofit counts more than 40 active members and volunteers who organize events, including Cupertino’s annual Cherry Blossom Festival, which helps fund the student exchange.
Each year, 16 Cupertino students and three chaperones travel to Toyokawa, while a visiting delegation stays in Cupertino homes, fostering the kind of lifelong friendships the Imaizumi family represents.
“These exchanges truly blossom into lasting connections between our two cities,” says Trish Klein.
“In addition to the sister city, student and adult delegation visits, we have had numerous visits between our family and the Imaizumi family,” adds Virgil Klein. “When members of the Imaizumi family visit us, it is like having members of our own family together. For us, this is the truest expression of what the sister city bond means, not just an international friendship, but family ties that span across the ocean.”