By Verna Slate, Williamson County Bureau
MARION — More than a dozen visitors from Kanie, Japan arrived in Marion this weekend for the cities' annual Sister City cultural exchange, the Southern Illinoisan reported.
The Marion-Kanie relationship has run for years as a low-key but steady bridge between a small southern Illinois city and a town half a world away — the kind of civic relationship that survives long after the officials who started it have moved on. This year's visit brought the delegation back to Marion for another round of the exchange that keeps that connection alive.
No further detail on the delegation's itinerary was included in the available reporting, but the visit itself is worth marking: in a county more often in the news for courthouse trouble and coalfield history, a weekend of hosted Japanese guests is a reminder that Marion keeps its doors open in more directions than one.
— Compiled from reporting by the Southern Illinoisan.
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