The Bridge Is the Real Symbol

The fine article on the “Mito: Anaheim’s Sister City” exhibit at the Anaheim Museum (“Sisterly Show Offers Taste of Japan,” Calendar, Jan. 18) left me with the same apprehension I experienced back in 1976: That the samurai sword would be construed as the symbol for the Anaheim/Mito sister-city program. At that time, when the public relations officer for the city of Anaheim learned about the strong ties between Mito and the samurai, he sought to have the sword as the symbol.

From the Japanese I’d picked up in preparation for our first delegation to Mito in November of 1976, I knew that Mito meant “passageway to water,” and I scurried about looking for something to fulfill that concept. Anaheim Shores, across from Servite High School on La Palma in Anaheim, was being built then. The developers agreed, at no cost, to build a bridge measuring 18 by 25 feet that would be an exact replica of the Shinkyo Sacred Bridge in Nikko.

When Mayor Wado of Mito met our own Mayor Bill Thom in the middle of the bridge, I felt that here was the essence of the whole program. The bridge is depicted on the Sister City medal, and Mito has published a book called “Bridge to Anaheim,” written in kanji.

Although the bridge is surrounded by an iron fence for the privacy of the residents at Anaheim Shores, one still can view it by looking through the fence from Falmouth Drive where the home models used to be. I sincerely hope that some attention is focused on both the bridge and on what it symbolizes because it is so representative of the great efforts made on both sides of the ocean.

BILL DALY

Anaheim

Daly was chairman of Anaheim’s first delegation to Mito .