Saitama students impress on annual visit

Meeting the Mayor and being able to have a personal photo taken with her was a highlight for many of the 57 students from Saitama Junior High School who represented the school on their annual visit to Hamilton City Council today.

In turn, Mayor Julie Hardaker said she was impressed by the friendliness and obvious enjoyment shown by the students during the visit.

She noted that every one of the visiting students represented a different school in Saitama which gave them the chance to make new friends in their home city, as well as in the Waikato.

Saitama students are hosted in Hamilton by Melville Intermediate.

Hamilton has had a sister city relationship with Saitama in Japan for more than 30 years. It is the oldest such relationship, having begun in 1984 when the city was known as Urawa. Hamilton also has sister city relationships with Wuxi in China and Sacramento in the USA.