By Yonah Lempert Luecken

Homer Independent Press

As part of Homer’s sister city relationship with Teshio, Japan, the Alaska Japanese Club of Homer has been developing connections with the coastal fishing town across the Pacific Ocean. From 3 to 7 p.m. on Saturday at Karen Hornaday Park, the club holds a cultural festival with  Japanese games, food and traditional drumming led by Taiko drum master Mr. Furuta from Tokyo, Japan.

Homer established a sister city relationship with Teshio, a small city on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, in 1984. Homer is one of eight Alaskan municipalities that affiliate with sister cities in Japan. Homer and Teshio are both coastal fishing communities surrounded by stunning scenery, and have a shared interest in tourism. Like Homer, Teshio is a destination of choice for birdwatchers. The sister city relationship stagnated for almost 10 years after lawyer Steve Yoshida, a former Homer Chamber of Commerce member and driving force behind the sister city program, retired and moved to Hawaii after 25 years in Homer.

Megumi Beams reinvigorated the sister city relationship after moving  to Homer from Fairbanks in 2011 and became the sister city liaison and translator working with the Homer Chamber of Commerce and the Japanese Consulate in Alaska in 2019. Beams is the current president of the AJCH.

As part of the sister city program, students in local schools have exchanged letters with students in Japan, and  Japanese language classes have been offered at local elementary schools since 2022. Cultural events have been brought to Homer as well, including a May 2024 performance by the Tomodachi Daiko drum group from Anchorage, to celebrate Homer’s 40-year friendship with Teshio. That performance led to the formation of Taiko drumming in Homer.

The AJCH has seven Taiko drums. Six of the drums were built at the Kachemak Bay Campus of the Kenai Peninsula College with help from Frank Jeffries and Jacki Holzman, members of Tomodachi Daiko. Furuta also assisted in the hands-on making of the cow-skin drums. The festival this week marks Furuta’s third visit to Homer.

Beams organized the first delegation of Homer students to visit Teshio since the sister-city relationship was reactivated. Ten Homer residents, including five student ambassadors from local schools, spent 15 days in Japan in 2025. Teshio officials gave the delegation members traditional Japanese happi coats emblazoned with a logo celebrating the sister city relationship, which were worn by AJCH members at a demonstration of Taiko drumming on July 21 at Bishop’s Beach. Happi coats, light jackets with wide sleeves, originated in the Edo Period in Japan, from 1603 to 1868.

Student ambassadors from Homer participate in a rigorous process of learning about Japanese language and culture and have Zoom sessions with students in Teshio who are learning about American culture. Currently, the club is fundraising for a planned 2027 trip to Japan. 

Beams states that the cultural exchange fostered by the AJCH “teaches new generations to become global citizens.”

AHCH board member Anna Roderiguez-Sansom said, “Part of the goal of what we’re doing in the club here is when they walk through the door, they are walking into Japanese culture.” Roderiguez-Sanson described the benefit of exchanges between the Teshio and Homer students as “penpals on steroids.”

Roderiguez-Sanson lived in Japan as part of a work assignment during her career and said she developed “a great love and respect for the culture.” She appreciates the effort the student ambassadors put into preparing for their 2025 trip to Japan, saying that watching post-trip presentations the students did at the Homer Public Library, Homer City Hall and Homer United Methodist Church made all the preparation of the club members worthwhile.

Roderiguez-Sanson said of the responsibility of being a global citizen, “It’s not a vacation. You are part of something now, and you need to share the knowledge of what you learned.”

Roderiguez-Sanson described the long-term benefits to student ambassadors as knowing they have the ability to go where cultures are very different and learn how to function and see beyond differences among people. She described the students from sister cities playing basketball together, saying, “Suddenly they were not kids from Homer, and they were not kids from Teshio. They were a group together.”

At the Taiko drum demonstration on July 21, Ann Scheer, visiting from California, said she had learned about the event from Homer’s events calendar and described the experience as “Fantastic.” Her teenage son, Joel Scheer, who is a drummer, said, “It’s a little different. They get a lot of sound. They’re really loud!”

The AJCH offers activities for adults as well as youngsters. Homer residents can learn about Japanese cooking, traditional drum playing and other aspects of Japanese culture. AJCH member Wes Schacht was introduced to Japanese culture during work experiences at Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage. He joined the AJCH when it became active in Homer.

Roderiguez-Sanson says, “We’re open for anybody. If you want to be involved with our Japanese Club, you’re welcome to come.” 

Meetings are usually scheduled at 11:30 a.m. on Saturdays at the conference room in the library. Anyone interested in learning more can call 907-308-1861 to connect with the AJCH. This week’s meeting, however, will not be held as club members will be at Hornaday Park for the Japanese Summer Festival. With drums, food and games, it’s sure to be a good time!