Thank you for supporting Alaska Japanese Club
Alaska Japanese Club Homer appreciates that our community has been supporting our club. The Homer Public Library provides us with the conference room every Saturday mornings for our cultural studies, planning meetings and Japanese group lessons, as well as on Saturday afternoons at Homer United Methodist Church and Homer Council on the Arts for Taiko drumming lessons. Another big thank you to the Homer Foundation as our fiscal sponsor and to Petro Marine Services, South Peninsula Hospital, Girl Scouts of Alaska and 100 Women Who Care as business sponsorships. We are very thankful of your individual sponsorships as well as monetary donations and non-monetary donations from businesses in town. We also would like to say thank you to businesses around town and on the Spit in Homer area for allowing us to put our donation boxes at their business sites toward Alaska Japanese Club Homer. We are also grateful that our students, parents, chaperones, our members and our supporters share their hearts, their time and their efforts to support those programs in the Alaska Japanese Club of Homer.
We truly appreciate our sister city, Teshio, Hokkaido in Japan for their kindness, their hospitality and their true friendship with us.
Alaska Japanese Club encourages especially new generations to become global citizens as a part of an emerging sustainable world community and whose actions support the values and practices of the community.
We will give a couple of presentations at the Homer Public Library on Thursday, Feb. 5 at 6 p.m. and at Porcupine Theater on Thursday, Feb. 12 at noon, hosted by Kachemak Bay Rotary Club. We are also planning to give another presentation at Homer City Hall and participate in the Winter Carnival Parade. You will see those upcoming events on our flyers and Instagram. We are hoping to see you all at those events.
Thank you for being part of our journey. Your generosity has been a guiding light. May this holiday season bring you immerse joy and fulfillment.
Megumi Beams, Sister City Liaison/Interpreter
Alaska Japanese Club Homer Director
Teshio grateful for sister city exchange experience
We would like to express our sincere thanks for our great sister city relationship between the City of Homer and the Town of Teshio in Japan. We give thanks to Alaska Japanese Club Homer for fundraising activities in order to bring five student ambassadors, three chaperones and one trip assistant with Megumi Sensei to Teshio this early June. We are very thankful that those student ambassadors’ delegation came to visit Teshio Elementary School, Teshio Junior High School, Teshio High School and the senior center to have a wonderful exchange experience together. The trip is made possible by successful fundraising efforts which are acknowledged with gratitude.
It has been 40 years more since we have been developing our sister city relationship between City of Homer and Town of Teshio. This visit was a significant and remarkable experience with student ambassadors’ delegation. We also think that keeping online class sessions between the students from the both cities can help develop global citizenship in new generations by allowing them to engage with diverse perspectives, understand different cultures, and collaborate with people from around the world, fostering a broader understanding and appreciation for cultural differences.
It was wonderful to see the sister city banners which had our Teshio’s scenery with our mascot, Teshio Kamen, hung on the street in Homer through the website from the Council Office of Japan in Anchorage.
By discussing some great ideas regularly, we are hoping to foster a deep, genuine sister city relationship by supporting cultural and educational exchanges between young generations. These exchanges are aiming to strengthen ties between the two cities.
Mayor Tadashi Yoshida
Teshio, Hokkaido in Japan
Thank you for supporting cultural learning
Thank you for supporting Alaska Japanese Club Homer, especially the Girl Scouts of Alaska. We got to learn about how the boats were made of in Japan, and what was in the boat. We had a lot of great experiences in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Hiroshima. We appreciate your time to help us achieve many goals for our club. Thank you again for our supporters. And we hope you have a Merry Christmas.
Rei and Sei Beams, 2025 student ambassadors
Homer
Thank you for supporting sister city relationship
To all who have supported the Homer Alaska Japanese Club by fundraising, setting things up, or in any other way; thank you for helping the students enjoy and immerse themselves in the culture of Japan with trips to our sister city as well as learning the language and culture of this beautiful country. We have been able to explore and reopen the relationship with our sister city Teshio, Hokkaido, Japan and have made friendships with those we have met. We have been able to do all these amazing things together with the help of our community’s support.
Elayna Wilson, 2025 student ambassador
Homer
Thank you for helping to provide eye-opening cultural experience
On behalf of the student ambassadors of the Alaska Japanese Club of Homer, I would like to thank the generous individuals and organizations in Homer that made this trip possible. This trip was truly an eye-opening cultural experience that was a once in a lifetime. It was only made possible by such generous donations that we received. While we were in Japan, we were able to experience not just the culture but the lifestyle as well, through Japanese host families where we got to meet and play with and learn from the new friends that we made there. We were also able to experience many other cultures when we went to the 2025 Osaka expo, such as Egyptian culture and Chinese style food. This was a very positive and educational trip, seeing the skyline of Tokyo from the Tokyo skytree, going to the Golden temple in Kyoto, and especially our Sister City of Teshio. Again, many, many thanks for supporting this trip and allowing us to experience this unique culture and lifestyle.
Finnegan Brewer, 2025 student ambassador
Homer
To everyone who supported our group of delegates to Japan
Whether it was financial assistance, donations, or time spent in strenuous fundraising, I give my deepest thanks. I know it was a huge ask to make the trip happen in such a short span of time, and there were definitely moments when I thought we wouldn’t make our goal. To my amazement, five student ambassadors, three chaperones, one trip assistant with Megumi Sensei were able to have the experience of a lifetime and make lasting connections with our sister city, Teshio, Hokkaido. It makes me so proud that our little town values international relations and cultural understanding.
With love and gratitude,
Angela Smith, Alaska Japanese Club Homer chaperone
Homer
Sister city visit was an unforgettable experience
The most heartfelt arigato gozaimasu to you all for your incredible support of a worthwhile program, that led to a once in a lifetime experience for the Student Ambassadors, as well as the chaperones. Visiting our Sister City of Teshio is not something I will ever forget. Touring City Hall, discussing some of the similar issues facing our communities, learning how Teshio mitigates coastal erosion similar to what we have on the Spit, seeing our town of Homer featured at the local museum, and spending a day in each of the schools in Teshio was incredibly special. The students stayed with host families that welcomed them into their families and made connections that will stay with them. They truly got to see how, even an ocean apart, and culturally distinct, we have so much more in common than not. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts.
Sarah Brewer, Alaska Japanese Club Homer chaperone
Homer
Clear communication helps build trust in law enforcement
I love the City of Homer. For that reason, I was genuinely disappointed by the tone and content of a recent Homer Police Department Facebook post describing an arrest on Nov. 21.
Law enforcement communications carry real authority. When official posts include sarcasm, emotional commentary, or details that appear to assume guilt, they risk crossing important lines professionally and constitutionally. The presumption of innocence and the right to a fair legal process are not abstract ideals; they are foundational to public trust. When those principles appear to be treated casually, confidence in the institution suffers.
Social media can be a powerful and positive tool for public safety messaging, transparency, and community connection. But it requires discipline. Clear, factual communication builds trust; editorializing and public shaming erode it. The post in question did not reflect the level of professionalism I expect from a department entrusted with such serious responsibilities.
Very respectfully,
Daisy Kyriss
Eagle River
