SISTER CITY OF MIZUSAWA

"Dear Mayor: I would like a close tie of friendship between your city and ours. . ."

Presentation of bells from Japan to Mayor Morris of Gaithersburg by Takao Nahajima,
second secretary of the Japanese Embassy, shown with his wife, Mrs. Nahajima.

In July of 1968, the Mayor of Mizusawa, Japan, C. Takahasi, wrote a letter to the Mayor Morris of Gaithersburg in which he said:

". . . In advance of the coming hot season, I presented the Mizusawa Observatory with a hanging bell that tinkles in the wind hoping the bell would be able to comfort the staffs who are enthusiastically engaged in observation and research works. And I am much pleased to know that they are enjoying a cool and lovely timbre of tinkle. . .

I am sending you a package of two hanging bells by the surface mail, one for the Observatory and the other for you. . .

Dear Mayor, I would like to have a close tie of friendship between your city and ours, both as the cities of international scientific research works and to promote it with our good will, which would be the greatest honour and joy for me. "

A few months later, a formal presentation of the bells took place in Gaithersburg. Takao Nahajima, the representative from the Japanese Embassy, gave one set to Gaithersburg Mayor Harold Morris and the other to Rear Admiral Don A. Jones, Director of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. As shown in the Gaithersburg Gazette article below, Admiral Jones in turn presented the bell to A. W. Helm, the observer at that time, to display in the observatory.

The Gaithersburg Gazette featured the event in their issue of September 18, 1968, with a double photo on the front page.

The sister cities of Gaithersburg and Mizusawa remain in contact with each to this day.