OXNARD : Japanese Officials Get Tour of the City

Members of the Japanese Assn. of City Mayors toured Oxnard on Thursday and were treated to an American-style barbecue lunch.

After a workshop where city officials made presentations on their jobs, the tour began with a visit to the Y.H. Products factory in the La Colonia area of Oxnard, Oxnard Mayor Nao Takasugi said.

The firm sells a Japanese health food drink, called green magma, which is a well-established product in Japan, Takasugi said.

The next stop was Oxnard’s farmers market at the corner of Seventh and B streets. Local farmers sell freshly picked fruits, vegetables, eggs, nuts and flowers every Thursday.

The visitors then were treated to a barbecue lunch at the Community Center park.

“To a man,” Takasugi said, “they commented on the amount of the servings. They’re not used to seeing that much food.”

The tour of the city included the municipal golf course, the Channel Islands Harbor, the maritime museum and the new library site. Models of new homes were also on the tour, because the visitors were interested in seeing American homes, Takasugi said.

At the end of the day’s tour, Takasugi said, he treated the visitors to “a bit of refreshment” at the private Tower Club in Oxnard’s Union Bank Building.

The group was part of a contingent of 70 Japanese dignitaries who are on their way to Washington, D.C., as part of the U.S. Mayors Fellowship Exchange Conference. The other 35 visitors spent the day in Santa Ana, Takasugi said.

Only three elected mayors were in the Oxnard group. The other 32 visitors were division heads and department heads of various Japanese cities.