Cities celebrate links

Seven students from Sugito in Japan visited Busselton last week as part of an annual sister city exchange program.

The program began in 1994 and is open to Year 9 students from Busselton secondary schools.

The visiting students took in the sights and embraced the Australian way of life.

At a civic ceremony, the students gifted City of Busselton Mayor Grant Henley two sake glasses and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic mascot.

Showing the depths of the sister city relationship, the parents of visiting student Haruto Arai had previously visited Busselton as part of the Suginoko Wind Orchestra tour in 2004.

Haruto made sure he met up with Busselton Senior High School music teacher Nicky Hair during his visit. Mrs Hair co-ordinated the music tour and visited Sugito with the Busselton Brass Band in 2003.

Nine Busselton students will travel to Sugito in October for a reciprocal visit.

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