First class travel experience to Isesaki for band members

by Bob Stephens

There is no travel as exciting and immersing as Sister Cities home stays. Instead of staying in anonymous, internationally-identical hotels, our Sister Cities trips give you a real feel for the place and its people that no tour guide can provide. And the people are the Sister Cities folks themselves, and so are incredibly loving and giving hosts.

This year’s cultural exchange trip for the Isesaki City Summer Festival was no exception. Kellswater played Irish folk songs at the Saturday festival, then helped to carry the shrines for the Sunday parade through downtown.

It was a thrilling, first-hand experience for the band members – Myself and wife Cindy, vocalist (and percussionist) Steve Gaither, and tenor and guitar player Bob Jones. But we also reaffirmed dear friends from previous trips (for the Bobs) and all of us made new ones.

We had a very touching moment when playing music in the lobby of the large municipal hospital the day before the festival. The visitors and the patients clapped along, tapped their feet, and smiled, even though many had no idea what the words were saying. But, when we performed one Japanese song “Hometown,” one of the ladies with the Isesaki Sister Cities program took a microphone around and got some of the audience to sing along. There were several folks in the audience with tears in their eyes.

As always, the Welcome Party and other get-togethers were full of warm socializing with our wonderful friends. The parades on Saturday and Sunday were riots of color, with very polite and appreciative crowds. And the tears returned again as we left our host families and friends to return to our Springfield homes. Our Isesaki homes are still in our hearts.

Click on thumbnails below to see larger photos: