Halifax and the city of Hakodate in Hokkaido, Japan, have been sister cities since 1982. As a symbol of friendship, Halifax has been sending a Christmas tree to Hakodate annually. This tree is the main attraction for the annual "Christmas Fantasy" event in Hakodate. Many, many people appreciate this tree from Halifax.
Many volunteers in Hakodate work hard to make this event happen. We thought we'd give them a small gift from Nova Scotia. So, we took some Nova Scotia tartan and some Nova Scotia lavender...
...and made little Christmas trees out of them!
(Photo courtesy of Mr. Masao Oikawa.)
Through the good offices of the Hokkaido International Foundation, we shipped a box of about 50 of these lovely-smelling lavender Christmas trees to our friends in Hakodate.
Below on the right is Mr. Fumio Yamazaki, representative director of the Hokkaido International Foundation, presenting our little sachets to two directors of the Christmas Fantasy Executive Committee.
(Photo courtesy of Mr. Masao Oikawa.)
The little trees were distributed to members of the Halifax-Hakodate Friendship Association and volunteer staff of the Christmas Fantasy Executive Committee. Plus, the Hakodate City Mayor, Tourist Department Chief and International Department Chief all got one each too. Wow...our little bit of Nova Scotia went a long way! Thank you very much Mr. Yamazaki!
We would also like to thank Mr. Masao Oikawa, a professional photographer and a director of the Halifax-Hakodate Friendship Association for graciously providing us with some of the photographs. He is also the photographer responsible for the beautiful Christmas Fantasy poster.
We hope the friendship between our two cities will continue. We work in our own little way to contribute to this objective!
Enjoy some scenes of Christmas Fantasy in Hakodate...