Rhea County native making cultural connections between Chattanooga and Tono, Japan [photos]

About the Sister City Association

The Chattanooga association was chartered almost 40 years ago by the state as a member of Sister Cities International. It acts as a “channel for cultural exchange aimed at motivating and empowering private citizens, municipal officials and business leaders” in hopes of increasing the ideas of being internationally engaged and aware. Chattanooga Sister Cities are:› Hamm, Germany› Wolfsburg, Germany› Wuxi, Peoples Republic of China› Givatayim, Israel› Gangneung, Republic of Korea› Manfredonia, Italy› Tono, Japan (tentatively scheduled for fall 2017)Source: chattanoogasistercities.org

Last May, Alex Hughey was looking square in the eye of graduating from Middle Tennessee State University with a degree in organizational communication and a minor in health. She had a few ideas about what she wanted to do with her life, and most involved travel.

By September, she found herself on a plane to the city of Tono in northern Japan where she'd landed a one-year job through the Tono Education and Culture Foundation, which pays her salary. She has since extended the position for another three months.

Hughey, a 2012 graduate of Rhea County High School, is a cultural ambassador for Chattanooga through the city's Sister City Association. Her job will end in November, but until then she will continue to introduce Chattanooga and American culture to Tono. The two cities are working toward becoming Sister Cities, something Hughey says could happen this fall.

Tono ECF is focused on promoting international exchanges, arts and Japanese culture. As part of the job, Hughey's been working with the local tourism association to make Tono a friendly place to visit.

"I have gone around to the tourist destinations, making English signs to be put up," she writes in an email, filled with exclamation points that sum up her excitement for the job.

"I have worked with the tourism association here, helped many foreign travelers who are English or Spanish speakers, and overall the improvements to this town are tremendous already!"

She's also been visiting schools, taught Southern cooking classes and led outdoor activities, using her athletic skills from high school and college - she played travel volleyball and Amateur Athletic Union basketball at Rhea County and interned as a lifeguard at Walt Disney World while at MTSU. She says the ECF also presents choral and ballet events, international lectures from guest speakers and English classes.

The relationship between the two cities began about 25 years ago when Louisa Mesich, a retired teacher from Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences, looked into starting a cultural exchange program. She reached out to the Nashville Japan Consulate, and Tono was chosen.

Middle and high school students from CSAS and Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts have been involved in the exchanges over the years. One of those students was Strat Parrott, who in 2015 formed Chatono, the Chattanooga Tono Friendship Committee.

Since Chatono's formation, the Sister City process has been accelerated. Parrott says the experience of visiting Tono in 1999 while in high school had a big impact on him and the direction his life would take.

"It really changed my perspective and really my life path and what I do. It turned it from local work to global work."

He started Juncture about eight years ago as a global branding and marketing company, for example. The company has worked with Facebook and Redbull in Japan in the past.

Hughey says she learned of the Tono job opportunity through mutual friends of Parker Allen, a CSAS graduate now working in Tokyo as chief operations officer of Langley Esquire, a consulting firm that specializes in public affairs and corporate advisory. He is vice chairman of Chatono.

Parrott says his group identified three finalists for the job from a pool of 10, and then Tono officials chose Hughey. He says they chose Hughey in part because she did not speak Japanese nor did she have an interest in or knowledge of Japanese culture before taking the job.

"They wanted someone who would see the country or the city as a first-time tourist with new eyes," Parrott says.

"She was a great choice. She represents Chattanooga well. She's young, well-educated and she has a background in hospitality with training at Disney. She is well-spoken, friendly and nice. She can also cook, and does a little art and speaking and dance, and she has a willingness to learn and engage."

Though remote, Tono is a tourist destination, though it attracts mostly domestic visitors. With lots of farmland, it is similar in size to Chattanooga, but with about half the population.

Hughey says she communicates weekly with officials here and also talks with Tono's mayor, Toshiaki Honda.

"The tourism association here is loaded down with Chattanooga maps and tourist information," she says. "I would like to eventually make Chattanooga tourism association the same way after becoming sister cities."

In January, she escorted a group of 13 Japanese citizens to Chattanooga for a four-day tour. She says seeing her hometown through their eyes and with her own "new" eyes was a thrill.

"It really made me realize that my job is so worth the smiles on their faces, coming to America for the first time and seeing one of the greatest cities in America," she says.

Hughey says there are three English-speaking staff members in the ECF office, and they provide a good deal of help for her, though she is learning to speak Japanese. She also speaks some Spanish.

She'll need those language skills to land her dream job of being a cruise director, which requires international work experience and the ability to speak three languages, she says.

"I will most likely get a job in Chattanooga, hopefully within City Hall or in that field," she says.

"I would like to do the opposite of my job now. Promote Tono IN Chattanooga! There is so much room for tourism help within Chattanooga, and I feel I would be a perfect fit! This job will help me in just about any walk of life. I have learned cultural skills, new language, TONS of public speaking events, English as a Second Language assistant, marketing, public relations, etc.!"

Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.

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