Chris Smith: Long after Nagasawa, the Kagoshima-Santa Rosa link endures
Re-produced from the Press Democrat
It was long ago, 1875, when Kanaye Nagasawa of Kagoshima, Japan, arrived in Santa Rosa as one of his country’s first-ever visitors to America.
The young samurai settled at Thomas Lake Harris’ utopian colony at Fountaingrove, and in time oversaw construction of the round barn and became a wine king.
When the firestorms of last October ravaged Fountaingrove and the round barn, people in Kagoshima sent Santa Rosa more than $75,000 in relief and recovery funds and expressed great sorrow for the city’s losses.
And just last Friday, the mayor of Kagoshima visited Santa Rosa as head of a delegation of adults and students. They toured what remains of Fountaingrove and nearby Coffey Park and Mark West-Larkfield.
In the afternoon, the visitors met at City Hall with Mayor Chris Coursey and City Manager Sean McGlynn.
Both mayors praised the transpacific friendship that over the past 30 years has seen scores of Santa Rosa students visit Kagoshima, and Kagoshima students visit Santa Rosa, through an exchange program sponsored by the Rotary Club of Santa Rosa Sunrise.
A team of Japanese teens followed intently the mayors’ conversation across a table in the City Council chambers.
Mayor Mori told Coursey his city of 600,000 mourned the deaths and destruction dealt by the fires, and is pleased to see that Santa Rosa is coming back. The two city leaders exchanged gifts and posed for photos.
