小規模な自治体における国際友好都市交流 : 松尾村とアルテンマルクト町の事例

1989年5月、松尾村は村制百周年記念行事の一つとして、八幡平音楽祭を開催した。招かれた音楽家は、オーストリア音楽大学のピアニスト、エリカ・ディヒラー教授と、オーストリア在住の声楽家佐藤喜美子氏で、招聘の仲介をしたのは松尾村の誘致企業であるグローバル伸和製薬の工藤忠利社長であった。松尾村の国際交流を考察するにあたっては、オーストリアという国と音楽、そして佐藤氏と工藤氏の存在が大きな意味をもつ。さらに、「国際交流は、音楽を通じて行うのが効果的であり、しかも感性豊かな子どもの時に行うのが理想的である」と主張し、中学生海外派遣事業を推進した石羽根重志村長の見識も重要である。本論では最初に、音楽と中学生海外派遣事業が、どのようにして松尾村とアルテンマルクト町を結びつけたのかを解き明かした。そして次に、友好都市提携後どのような交流へと発展していったのか、その軌跡を辿った。最後に、1994年の友好都市締結後10余年が過ぎた両町村の交流は、2005年8月20日の松尾村閉村式へのアルテンマルクト町民の参加を除いては、ここ3年間休止状態に陥っているが、その原因はどこにあるのかを考究した。On November 12, 1994, a "Declaration" of Friendly Relationship was officially proclaimed between Matuo and Altenmarkt. The aim of this monograph is to investigate how these two small self-governing communities, one a village, the other a town, situated at rather out-of-the way areas in their respective countries, have been led to have a friendly affiliation. How this affiliation has developed from 1994 through 2005, the year Matuo was incorporated into Hachimantai City, a new city, is also studied very minutely. Furthermore, some proposals are offered for a better future relationship of the parties concerned. In the late 1980\u27s, such issues as "international exchange" or "internationalization, " were ardently discussed in all over Japan. The then mayor of Matuo adopted "international exchange" as one of his administrative programs. His firm belif was that music is the most effective means for international exchange and, for that, it is ideal that the international exchange through music should be pursued by young boys and girls whose sentiments are very susceptible. Starting from May 1989, Matuo began to have musical events inviting musicians from abroad, specifically from Austria, in order to cultivate the musical sentiments of the young folks. With these in the background, Matuo decided to send its first delegates of junior high school students for an international music exchange to Vienna, music capital of the world. The Mayor himself joined as the leader of this first mission. However, the Mayor, on his return home, realized that the delegates of young folks from his village had not secured the opportunities for mutual understanding which is vital for better international cross-cultural exchanges. With the assistance of people who have something to do with Matuo, the village managed to find the town of Altenmarkt as the town of homestay for its delegation of young folks, and for hopefully a possible friendly relationship. Altenmarkt is a small town whose population is approximately 3, 400. Altenmarkt and Matuo have similar topography, although these communities have very long distance between them. In January 1991, Matuo sent its second delegation of junior high school students to Austria, visiting Altenmarkt for the first time. After a couple of exchange visits including the mayors and councilors of both sides, Matuo and Altenmarkt agreed to have a "friendly" relationship in 1994. Since then, Matuo continued to send its young delegations almost every year until 2002, while Altenmarkt sent its delegations for reciprocal visits only twice until 2005. It is not too much to say that friendly affiliation of Matuo and Altenmarkt has been rather one-sided in terms of reciprocal exchange visits. The City Salzburg joined later as one more place of homestay for Matuo delegation. The project of sending young folks to Austria was, at the starting point, initiated as a program of musical exchanges, but as it progressed, the emphasis moved to the cross-cultural exchange and understanding through homestays, though the two towns were pledged to promote and tighten the friendly relationship through various programs including educational and cultural, as well as economic, exchanges. The achievements of the project are, even on the side of Matuo, extremely limited. Some of the causes which have been preventing both communities from carrying out a better plan are that they do not have a section or agency which can coordinate effective exchange programs. Totally different financial systems are another reason. Matuo has been subsidizing all the expenses of its delegation every time, while Altenmarkt had to rely on the corporate donations to partially cover the expenses for visiting Matuo, or all the expenses for one to bear. One advantage of the friendly relationship between small-sized towns is, because of the smallness of the communities, that closer personal relationship can be more easily established. The reciprocal (for the side of Matuo, annual) visits have been for only three or four days, and even during that period, only young folks experienced homestay, all of the chaperons or adults staying at hotels. One proposal is that both Matuo and Altenmarkt should challenge the project to organize a better international exchange programs of cross-cultural understanding based on longer homestay