MARQUETTE — Marquette Area Sister Cities Partnership board member Paulette Lindberg was recognized in February in Higashiomi, Japan, for her over 40 years of service in the partnership between Marquette and Higashiomi with a lifetime achievement award.

“I really appreciate the award,” said Lindberg. “I’ve received other such awards and this is a very big celebration.”

Lindberg operated Adventure Travel and Tour from 1976 to 2003 and has been on the sister cities board since 1980. She has served as a travel planner for both outbound and inbound visits between cities, and served for a time as the chair of the Marquette Area Sister Cities Partnership. This was her 15th visit to Higashiomi, and the latest of several award ceremonies she has been honored at there.

The award ceremony was held to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the city of Higashiomi, which underwent a name change in 2005. Lindberg was honored at the ceremony alongside a variety of city officials and area residents.

“The ceremony itself was a big, big deal. Big for the city, big for all the people who were there,” said Lindberg. “The achievement award that I was receiving, as I have told my board members here, it’s earned by all of us. My name happens to be on it. I happened to be there to receive it. But it’s the hard work of everybody that’s on our sister city program.”

While in Japan, Lindberg stayed with the Okumura family, who have been hosting her on trips since 2013. She visited several museums both in Higashinomi and in surrounding cities on her trip.

“I fell in love with Japan, and with the people and friends I met,” said Lindberg.

Key differences she notes between Marqette and Higashinomi include the food, as well as that Japan has narrower streets. When delegates from Japan visit Marquette, “what they enjoy seeing is our great Lake Superior. They have a lake, Lake Biwa … It’s nowhere near the size of Lake Superior, but it’s an unusually large lake for Japan.”

Mary Lou Blomquist, also a board member of the Marquette Area Sister Cities Partnership, defined a sister city as “a formal relationship with international partners to promote peace and understanding in the world.”

“We have had a partnership with Higashiomi, Japan, for 45 years,” said Blomquist.

It was “originally begun as a Rotary relationship with Dr. Pryce Duerfeldt, an NMU professor, as the champion of the project. The Kajaani, Finland, relationship was started 25 years ago by Marty Eskelinen of Marquette and a friend who lived in Kajaani, and later formalized by both cities.”

Michigan has a sister cities agreement with the Shiga prefecture, and according to Lindberg “there are 13 cities in Michigan that are connected to Shiga.” Michigan residents make delegation trips to Japan during odd years, so a group from Marquette will be visiting Higashiomi in July.

Blomquist described Lindberg as a “champion for international friendships” due to her decades of work “leading the Sister City Board and maintaining the contacts which have kept our relationship going.”