Kaohsiung Stengthens Ties with Hachioji City / 高雄市與八王子市簽署友好交流協議書
Chu Chen- the first elected female mayor for the special municipalities
The 4th Mayor of Kaohsiung, Chu Chen, was inaugurated on December 25th, making her the first elected female mayor for the special municipalities. Mayor Chen pledged to be above corruption while aiming to develop economy during her four-year term.
直轄市首位民選女市長
高雄市第四屆市長陳菊就職典禮於25日舉行，也是首位直轄市的民選女市長，陳市長提出「清廉透明」及「經濟發展」為其施政目標。
◎By Yu-Fong Wang
Kaohsiung's "Reach Out" program reports another success - On November 1st, Acting Mayor Chu-Lan Yeh and Hachioji City Mayor Ryuichi Kurosu, signed an agreement to enhance bonds between the two cities and made Hachioji the 23rd city to be allied with Kaohsiung. This tie will elevate Kaohsiung's visibility in the international community.
Hachioji City
Southwest of Tokyo, Hachioji City has a population of 560 thousand people, 23 universities, and approximately 110 thousand students. It features a strongly scholastic atmosphere. Mt. Takao stands erect in the city, along with stunning natural landscape, attracting 2.5 visitors to visit each year.
The two Chinese characters "Kao-Hsiung" are pronounced as "Takao" in Japanese, similar to the name of Mt. "Takao" in Hachioji City. Such a coincidence brings forth the opportunity for Kaohsiung and Hachioji to join together. When Mayor Kurosu and the representative of the House, Hagiuda Ichiro, led a delegation to visit Kaohsiung last November, the idea of bonding these two cities was mentioned. In February this year, Deputy Mayor Yoshiyuki Tanaka and government officials paid another visit to Taiwan to deliberate the possibility of such an alliance taking place. In response, Acting Mayor Yeh, along with directors of the Economic Affairs Bureau and the Information Office, visited Hachioji in the following April to demonstrate their commitment to this venture. During the trip of Fu-Feng Hong's (Director-General of the Economic Affairs Bureau) to Hachioji in September, he invited Mayor Kurosu to Kaohsiung to sign the Friendship Agreement. Mayor Kurosu kept his promise and came to Taiwan this month.
The signing ceremony took place in the city hall, attended by about a hundred people: Acting Mayor Yeh, high officials of the Kaohsiung city government, Mayor Kurosu, eight members of the Hachioji City Council, including deputy speaker Susumu Akiyama, and sixteen representatives from the government, the representative of the House, Hagiuda Ichiro and his wife, and delegates from the Interchange Association, Japan. To start, students from Chung Cheng Elementary School performed an aboriginal dance from the Amei tribe, followed by a film featuring the exchanges between the two cities.
Enhance bonds between these two cities
On behalf of the people in Kaohsiung, Acting Mayor Yeh extended her welcome towards Hachioji, the 23rd city to forge an alliance with this city since 1962.
After first welcoming the gathering in Chinese, Mayor Kurosu went on to his gratification towards this tie. Mayor Kurosu indicated that he has witnessed a number of wonderful interactions between the two cities after his acquaintance with Yeh which first took place about a year ago. He praised the natural landscape and cultural characteristics that Kaohsiung features, as well as the internationally known Kaohsiung Port. He truly felt honored that Hachioji City can be allied with Kaohsiung.
◎文／王御風
高雄市的「城市外交」再傳捷報，11 月１日，前高雄市代理市長葉菊蘭與日本八王子市市長黑須隆一共同簽署友好交流協議書，成為高雄市第23個友好結盟城市，讓本市的國際能見度更為提昇。
八王子市位於東京都西南方，人口約56萬人，市內有23大學，學生人數約11萬，為一個學術氣息濃厚的學園都市。市內擁有高尾山等多貌美麗的自然景觀，每年前往觀光人數約250萬人。
高雄市與八王子市的情緣源自於其市內著名的高尾山，與高雄的日文發音相同，同為(Dagou），2005年11月該市市長黑須隆一先生與國會眾議員荻生田一郎先生率團訪問高雄時，黑須市長即對此巧合特別有感觸，遂提起雙方結為友好城市的意願。2006年２月，該市副市長田中義行先生與市府相關人員再次抵達本市商討雙方結為友好城市之可行性。接著，今年４月，葉前市長率同本府建設局、新聞處等首長前往八王子市訪問，以實際行動回應兩市結為友好城市的意願。今年９月，本府建設局局長洪富峰先生於訪問日本期間，特別代表市長，前往八王子市邀請該市市長率團前來本市簽署友好交流協議書，於是黑須市長在本月來訪，簽署協定。
簽署儀式在市府中庭舉行，葉前代理市長及本府各局處首長、黑須隆一市長、該市副議長秋山進等８位市議員及市府官員代表團共16人、日本國會眾議員萩生田伉儷、日本交流協會代表等各界一百多人現場觀禮。典禮首先由中正國小小朋友帶來阿美族舞蹈表演，並播放兩市交流影片，隨後由葉前代理市長及黑須市長致詞，葉前代理市長代表152萬高雄市民歡迎八王子市成為本市自1962年以來第23個結盟城市。
黑須市長在致詞時，首先以中文向大家問候，對兩市友好結盟深感喜悅。黑須市長表示，自從一年前認識葉代理市長以來，從兩市數次互動中感受到溫暖情誼。他讚賞高雄市有自然景觀也有傳統文化，更有國際知名的高雄港，八王子市對於能與高雄市結盟深感榮幸。