In 1872, 111 Japanese officials — known as the Iwakura Mission — stopped in Utah during a transcontinental railroad ride to wait out the winter snows. While here, they struck up a lasting friendship with local dignitaries.
On Sunday 130 years later — another group of Japanese and Utah officials celebrated that friendship with the unveiling of a memorial plaque. In an hourlong ceremony at the University of Utah, leaders spoke of the strong military, financial and political ties between the state of Utah and Japan.
"We are truly fans of Japan," said Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, adding that Japanese immigrants in Utah today work as lawyers, farmers — "even politicians."
After an introduction by Elder L. Edward Brown of the LDS Church's Quorums of the Seventy, the plaque was uncovered and sculptor Dee Jay Bawden shared some thoughts in both English and Japanese. Several speakers, in fact, used both languages to address the audience of about 100.
In 1872, the delegation from Japan toured Utah's hospitals and schools and, according to speaker Dean Collinwood, attended an LDS Church service in the tabernacle on Temple Square where some thought the LDS sacrament was passed to celebrate the New Year. Collinwood also mentioned the accomplishments of the 1872 contingent and showed photographs of several members.
After the Olympics, the new plaque will be installed on the wall of the former Union Pacific Railroad Station in the Gateway — the same place the original members of the Japanese Iwakura Mission entered the city. After the snows melted in 1872, the mission moved on to Washington, D.C., and their diplomatic agenda there.
Presiding at the ceremony Sunday was Consul-General Koichiro Seki from the Japanese Consulate in Denver.
The plaque ceremony coincides with the "One Heart, One World" exhibit in the ZCMI Center, a collection of 90 poems written by people with disabilities and illustrated by 90 works of art by a wide spectrum of artists. The "One Heart, One World" project was the brainchild of NHK (The Japanese Broadcasting System). It will remain in Salt Lake City through March 17.