The town of Tokai-Mura, Japan, values its sister cities relationship enough to send beautiful stone lanterns to honor the 10-year anniversary of their relationship.
This year, Idaho Falls not only is celebrating 10 years as Tokai-Mura's sister city, but also the centennial of its name change from Eagle Rock.To commemorate the occasion, Tokai-Mura residents gave Idaho Falls a pair of hand-tooled granite lanterns and the technicians to install them.
"They are literally a piece of art," said John Julian, a Rotary club member who oversaw installation of the pagoda-shaped carvings Monday.
The seven-ton lanterns are worth more than $100,000, but assigning a dollar value to them would insult the Japanese, Julian said.
They are being installed in Sportsman's Park. A 13-foot lantern will sit on the northern point of the park and be visible from Broadway Bridge. The other, a 5-foot lantern, rests back in the park.
A Japanese stone carver, whose family has fashioned granite for generations, carved the lanterns. They took more than four months to make.