Spirit Square Arbor - Castlegar, BC - Sister City Monuments on Waymarking.com

The official grand opening of Spirit Square took place on Saturday, August 16, 2008 and this arbor was presented to the city at the opening ceremonies. Spirit Square is one of hundreds created in communities throughout BC to commemorate the 150th anniversary of BC's becoming a British Crown Colony in 1858.
The plaque:

THIS TRADITIONAL WOOD SIGN WHICH
TRANSLATES AS "EMBETSU JAPANESE
GARDEN" WAS DESIGNED BY
CASTLEGAR'S SISTER CITY, EMBETSU,
JAPAN AND WAS PRESENTED TO THE
CITY ON AUGUST 16, 2008 IN HONOUR
OF THE GRAND OPENING OF THE NEW
CITY HALL AND SPIRIT SQUARE.

Embetsu, Japan

In 1989, representatives of the City of Castlegar and Selkirk College visited Embetsu to sign a Sister City agreement. Since then there have been several visits of adults between the two communities. In 1998, the Castlegar-Embetsu Educational Exchange Program, a program of youth exchange began with a group of eight students traveling from Castlegar to Embetsu. In 1999 Castlegar welcomed six students from Embetsu.

The Town of Embetsu* is located on the northern tip of the island of Hokkaido, Japan and has a population of 4,000 citizens. Agriculture, one of the township's key industries, has prospered by focussing on rice production. Embetsu has become well established as an important food producing area in Hokkaido. Other agricultural products are melons, asparagus and Japanese radishes. Scallops, flatfish, octopi, mottled skate and salmon are the leading commercial species fished in Embetsu. Tourist attractions in Embetsu include various parks, the Fujimi Road Station, the Restaurant Tongarikan, the Asahi Hot Spring and the Local History Museum.
From the City of Castlegar
* - Translated to English