Sunday, October 21, 2012

リヴォルノ - 大村市 (Livorno - Ōmura)

On October 9, a delegation from the Japanese city of Ōmura, headed by its mayor Takashi Matsumoto, has been received in our Town Hall in view of a possible twinning with our city. The rationale behind this choice is that the first Japanese diplomats arrived in Italy in 1585 through the port of Livorno.
Delegazione giapponese, cerimonia delle Marine Estere, LivornoJapanese delegation at the Foreign Navies ceremony in 2011

I am very happy about this, but I am quite ashamed to confess that until now my only knowledge of this prospective sister city was through the libretto of Puccini's Madama Butterfly:

Il Commissario Imperiale:

È concesso al nominato
Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton,
Luogotenente nella cannoniera Lincoln,
marina degli Stati Uniti, America del Nord:
ed alla damigella Butterfly
del quartiere d'Omara Nagasaki,
d'unirsi in matrimonio, per dritto il primo,
della propria volontà,
ed ella per consenso dei parenti
qui testimonî all'atto.


Madama Butterfly, Atto Primo
Libretto di Luigi Illica e Giuseppe Giacosa
Musica di Giacomo Puccini
The Imperial Commissioner:

It is permitted to the herein named
Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton,
Lieutenant in the warship Lincoln,
United States Navy, North America,
and to Miss Butterfly
of the Omara district of Nagasaki,
to be united in matrimony, the first by right
of his own wish
and she by consent of her relations
here witness to the contract.


Madama Butterfly, Act One
Libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa
Music by Giacomo Puccini

Livorno is already twinned with Bat Yam (Israel), Haiphong (Vietnam), Novorossiysk (Russia), Guadalajara (Spain), Adana (Turkey) and Oakland (USA).

External links: Ōmura, Nagasaki - Livorno, sister cities (Wikipedia)

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wonderful where alike is happening.

Please have a good Sunday.

Jack said...

I am impressed that you could identify the city through your recollection of Madame Butterfly. Though, I don't really understand the purpose of the sister city programs.

Lois Evensen said...

How very cool.

Leif Hagen said...

Konnichiwa! Genki desuka? Ohisashi buri desu ne!
Nice to catch up with you and your blog again!
Kind regards from EAGAN daily photo
Sayonara

VP said...

Jack - I don't understand them either, but they are always a good excuse for some nice trips abroad using public funds...

Stefan Jansson said...

I'm sure they didn't know too much about your town in Japan, we have a few twinned cities in Haninge as well. Would be nice to visit them all one day.

Nori Katayama said...

I've never known that city! Huuummm! :)

Birdman said...

We have a 'twin' city too. I think it a strange concept, really.

VP said...

Nori - This is so funny... and quite worrying!

cieldequimper said...

It's never too late to learn... Versailles doesn't have twin cities unfortunately...

Traveling Hawk said...

Wiki says: to promote cultural and commercial ties. Timisoara has also 10 sister cities. Amog them, from Italy: Faenza, Palermo, Treviso.

Gunn said...

And if Livorno need a twin city up in the north.....
Well, you can ask if they have heard about Stavanger :)

We have 12 twin cities, but non from Italy.

Luis Gomez said...

This is a great post VP. I am glad I came late to the comments. I just learned much more by reading them.

Dina said...

Leave it to you to make an opera connection, VP!

I wonder what (or if) the Japanese think of "Madame Butterfly."