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Hanamaki mayor accepts
Clinton trading cards
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The Sentinel-Record, Saturday, April 13,
2002
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| Hanamaki Mayor Tsutomu Watanabe
and an uncut sheet of Clinton trading cards, which he accepted
during a ceremony Friday morning I front of the sister city
exhibit at the Hot Springs Civic & Convention Center. |
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Mark Gregory, staff writer
The Sentinel Record
A Japanese-language version of a new Clinton trading card
was presented to the mayor of Hanamaki Friday in a ceremony
that launched Hot Springs' first international marketing
effort aimed specifically at its sister city.
The Hot Springs Advertising and Promotion Commission, which
created the card specifically for that purpose, simultaneously
launched a special Japanese-language area on the city's
tourism web site, geared at promoting international tourism
from Japan.
A news release also was sent to the Japanese media, coordinated
with Hanamaki City Hall. Hanamaki city's public relations
division will approach the local and prefecture media with
the release.
The release also will be distributed to key national media
and selected hotel/leisure/travel publications. The coverage
will be monitored and reported back to the commission
.Hanamaki Mayor Tsutomu Watanabe accepted a small supply
of cards from Dick Kelley, the president's stepfather, during
Friday morning's ceremony, which was held in front of the
sister city exhibit at the Hot Springs Civic & Convention
Center.
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| Hanamaki Mayor Tsutomu
Watanabe accepts an uncut sheet of Clinton trading cards from
Dick Kelley, left, the president's stepfather, during a ceremony
Friday morning in front of the sister city exhibit at the
Hot Springs Civic & Convention Center. |
The bulk of the 50,000 trading cards, which feature a photograph
of former President Clinton greeting students on visit to
Tokyo in November 1998, were shipped to Hanamaki on Thursday
for free distribution Friday at the offices of the Hanamaki
International Exchange Association in Nahan Plaza.
Friday's ceremony was a stark contrast to the release of four
previous Clinton trading cards last year, when hundreds of
people lined up for hours at the center to get their sets,
because this card is not being released in the United States.
Watanabe was joined by Kenji Nakashima, head of Hanamaki's
Planning and Living Environment Division, and Hiroyuki Otobe,
head of Hanamaki's International Division.
Clinton was aware of the Hanamaki delegation's visit and the
card, he said.
"Briefly, over the phone, he said it was a wonderful
idea. He's looking forward to seeing the card," Kelley
said.
Clinton will be in Hot Springs Friday to view an exhibit of
photographs taken during his eight years I office, now on
display at the civic center, and to attend a fund-raiser for
U.S. Rep. Mike Ross, D-District 4.
Watanabe, in remarks interpreted by Segawa, said it was a
"great honor" to receive the cards, and promised
to "make the most" of the 50,000 cards, which would
be handed out to the citizens of Hanamaki.
Steve Arrison, the commission's executive director, said it
decided to target a specialty market with the fifth card in
the Clinton series after 100,000 of the fourth card featuring
Clinton dressed in a Razorback warm-up jacket and palming
a basketball in front of the White House, were distributed
in less than 24 hours.
"I'm not real smart, but gosh, when those cards went
that quick we thought 'We probably need to do another card,'
and we were looking at the various specialty markets, and
the niche markets, and we thought about our international
friends," Arrison said.
The card is done totally in Japanese "to tell the people
in Hanamaki and the rest of Japan not only about Hot Springs,
but they are our sister city," he said.
This is our first really international marketing effort focused
at our sister city, Hanamaki, Japan," Arrison said.
The two pages on the web site "explain the great things
to come and do in Hot Springs, Ark.," he said.
The commission and its staff worked with Chelsea Hill and
her translation company called Origin - The Language Agency,
in Maui, Hawaii, to produce the Japanese text that is included
on the back of the cards, which were produced by CJRW Outmarketing,
the city's advertising agency.
The city of Hot Springs began its sister city relationship
with Hanamaki in January 1993, the same month Clinton was
inaugurated for his first term.
"For more information, log on to www.hotsprings.org/jp.htm" |
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