Sister City Synergy
A blending of two paintings by artists Royden Josephson and Kazuhiko Nagaki.
This mosaic rendition celebrates the sister city relationship between Ashcroft, BC and Bifuka, Japan.
Mosaics by Marina Papais, Royden Josephson and Daniel Collett with help from community volunteers.
Special thanks to Hiroko Kanamaru, MLA Jackie Tegart and the TNRD
2017
transcribed from sign
Marina Papais’ glass mosaic Sister City Synergy blends paintings by Ashcroft’s Royce Josephson and Bifuka’s Kazuhiko Nagaki.
Sister City Synergy is a large mosaic on the side of the Ashcroft library. Dedicated in 2017, it blends the cooperation between Bifuka, Hokkaido and Ashcroft. It is in three sections, on the right are fish that could represent the sturgeon and on the left is a series of connecting circles, the made focus is the large center section, depicting both cities.
Bifuka (Bifuka-cho)
The Japanese town of Bifuka, in Hokkaido, was twinned with Ashcroft in 1994.
Bifuka is a small community with a population of about 4,800 and is in Kamikawa Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. Bifuka is located in a valley in the north central region of the island of Hokkaido.
It is surrounded by mountains and the Teshio River flows roughly northwest through Bifuka.
One of the major highlights is the Bifuka Sturgeon Museum featuring beautiful aquariums and a small facility which maintains eight species of sturgeon. Sturgeon were found in the Teshio River as far as Bifuka until the Meiji Period is an era of Japanese history which extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912.
In 2016 the population of Ashcroft was 1,558 residents. Ashcroft is located in Thompson Country and borders the Thompson River and is 30 kilometres (19 miles) downstream from the west end of Kamloops Lake where the confluence of the Bonaparte and Thompson Rivers meet.
Ashcroft was incorporated as a village in 1952 and resembles that of desert terrain, due to the near desert conditions in lower elevation areas and has been marketed as sets for the film industry.
There are over 30 movies, TV series, short films, mini series, and commercials filmed in and around Ashcroft, some include: The Andromeda Strain, The A-Team, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, The Twilight Zone, Bird on a Wire, An Unfinished Life and The X-Files.