Mayor heads for Japan

Published: April 23, 2009 6:00 PM Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star

Vernon’s mayor is packing his salesman’s hat. Wayne Lippert leaves Saturday for a week-long trip to Tome, Japan, Vernon’s sister city. “I always do my best to promote Vernon and the North Okanagan,” he said. And the main priority of the trip will be to ensure Tome residents book holidays to the Okanagan. “There’s been a lot of visits here from Tome before,” he said. “I’m going there to raise awareness about Vernon and the North Okanagan as a place to visit.” Lippert will also be encouraging Tome businesses to invest in Vernon. “With our new economic development service, we need to look at opportunities. We are part of a global market,” he said. Lippert also believes the trip is a chance to investigate how other cities tackle issues like transportation, crime and infrastructure. “Regardless of where I go, I always go to see how things are done,” he said. “The Japanese culture has been around a lot longer than ours so we can probably learn something from them.” The trip will cost taxpayers $5,000 and Lippert defends the bill. “Just four tourists from Japan making a trip here pays that back. It’s a good investment,” he said. Lippert’s journey will be part of a trip that will see 32 local residents go to Tome, which is 500 kilometres north of Tokyo. Everyone else on the sister city exchange is paying their own expenses.