Pasadena's New Friendship City

Pasadena has five Sister Cities, but many people don't know that we have two Friendship Cities.

The first, established in the late 1980s, is Kasukabe, Japan.

Our newest, as of this week, is Paju, South Korea.

Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard and Paju Mayor Ryoo Hwa-Sun sealed the deal on Monday during a signing ceremony in the council chamber here at Pasadena City Hall.

Visitors from Japan

Several high school students from our sister city of Mishima, Japan, visited Pasadena City Hall yesterday. They're in town for about 10 days, staying with local host families, and are learning about the community plus seeing the sights.

They were in Little Tokyo yesterday when the earthquake hit. Welcome to Southern California, kids!

Barney Melekian met with them in the council chamber to discuss how local government works in Pasadena and what his responsibilities entail.


Then I took them on a tour of the building.


Many thanks to Bryan Takeda of the Pasadena Sister Cities Committee for arranging the visit.