27 years apart, but friendship remains
“WHEN I heard Mr Kawamura was back in Dubbo, I jumped in the car and drove home from Canberra to catch up.”
Adam Mortimer was just 15 when he flew up to Minokamo, Gifu Prefecture, Japan as one of the first Dubbo Sister City student exchange group.
Kizunari Kawamura was a local administrator who was dabbling in market gardens with his wife Keiko and family when his visitor arrived. “I had a daughter of a similar age to Adam. We thought it would be good for her education to meet people from a different culture, so Keiko and I were very happy to have Adam in our home,” Kizun said with his always beaming smile. Arthur and Beryl Mortimer were at Shoyoen Gardens when the reunion happened with the man who cared for their son all those years ago. They, like many parents whose children have gone to Minokamo, were so grateful for the hospitality shown their offspring and could not wait to say thank-you again in person.
This is Kizun’s third visit to Dubbo, his first in 17 years. “The city has outgrown Minokamo,” he said.
“It is very beautiful here in the Japanese Gardens. Shoyoen is a real oasis in the centre of this place which has been hit by a terrible drought. We are very happy to have our culture recognised and for young people like Adam to be able to show their friends what it is like in our country,” Kizun smiled.
Adam commented that old friends and old connections are easy to maintain these days through social media, but there is nothing like the person-to-person contact, so driving up from Canberra was no big deal.
“We needed to reconnect,” he said.
Recollections of his trip to our sister city in Japan?
“Very vivid, actually. It was my first overseas trip and a great big culture shock. It affected me so much that when I came home, I told Mum and Dad I would go back some day. I’ve been lucky enough to do that, although not back to Minokamo – yet,” Adam explained.
“Minokamo is very different to Dubbo. It is very green, there are three big rivers and it seems like everyone grows their own fruit and vegetables.”
Fears?
“I was really paranoid that I wasn’t going to be able to eat the food and, by the time I left, the thing I missed most was exactly that – the food! I’m interested to see there are now two Japanese restaurants in Dubbo. That was so far away in 1992,” he laughed.
What are Adam’s thoughts about Dubbo’s Japanese Gardens?
“This is the first time I’ve been able to experience Shoyoen. It’s a lovely garden, a real authentic Japanese tribute so it’s good to be here for the 30th anniversary.”
Kizun agreed.
“This is deep Japanese culture. Very proud to see it here in Dubbo.”
Kizun says Adam was a very good and “very smart boy”. He remembered when Adam was in Minokamo, it whetted his appetite to travel to Dubbo some time.
“This is my third trip. It is so good to be back. I have been wearing some T-shirts with Aboriginal paintings I bought at the (then) Western Plains Zoo on my first visit. I love them, especially the one with a drawing by my friend Lewis Burns. He has stayed with my family a couple of times, so to see him and Adam at the same time makes me very happy.”
In fact, when Bridget and I visited Minokamo last month for the 30th anniversary, we stayed with Kizun and Keiko, and the first thing we saw when we opened the front door was an iconic painting of turtles, in the distinctive blue colours and brushwork, signed “Lewis Burns, Dubbo”!
Next week I’ll explore the friendship with our local elder but to finish off the reunion between a Dubbo son and Japanese “Dad”, I thought it worth recalling Adam’s words about the 72-year-old who looks 40.
“Kizun keeps fit working in his farm. I remember a lot of the places we visited were agricultural and Minokamo is an agricultural city. I was very disappointed when I came back to Australia that I couldn’t get the two kilo-sized nashi (Asian pear) they have over there.”
His host dad didn’t allow the under-age student to sample Saki but he did take him to one of the Japanese people’s favourite venues.
“He was a bit naughty and introduced me to the Pachinko Parlour, the equivalent of an Australian pinball arcade or pokies hall. It was loud, crowded and fun,” Adam recalled.
Adam spent a few hours with Kizun reflecting on the few days when a young Aussie schoolkid met a wizened Japanese man and his family, and forged everlasting bonds before travelling home to Canberra with a contented heart.