Did you know there is a popular restaurant in Japan named after Penticton?
Chelsea Ishizuka is a born and raised Pentictonite living in Tokyo. When she found out there was a restaurant in Japan named after her home town, she had to check it out.
鈥淢e and my husband decided to pay a visit to Japan鈥檚 鈥楶enticton,鈥欌�� Ishizuka posted to a Penticton Facebook. page. 鈥淲e sat down to a delicious 鈥榶aki curry,鈥� the signature dish of Penticton and asked our server, 鈥渄o you know why this restaurant is called Penticton?鈥�
It turned out their server was the owner of the restaurant, she wrote.
鈥淗e rarely serves customers, so the fact that he happened to come to our table was amazing,鈥� said Ishizuka on Facebook.
鈥淗e told us he visited Penticton and he loved it there. Because he really liked the meaning of Penticton, he decided to name his restaurant after it: 鈥淎 place to stay forever.鈥�
The restaurant is located in a small ski village in Liyaman.
Later that evening, the couple dropped in at the local bar and who happened to be there? The owner of 鈥楶enticton鈥� restaurant, said Ishizuka. She asked to take a picture with him and the rest is history!
Penticton has another connection to Japan.
Ikeda, Japan is Penticton鈥檚 sister city and that town and its government helped create the beautiful Japanese Gardens located beside the Penticton Art Gallery.
Penticton has been a sister city with Ikeda, Japan 鈥� located in the Nakagawa District of Tokachi in Hokkaido 鈥� since 1977.
The idea to establish a Japanese garden in Penticton arose during a 1992 visit to Japan. During the Ikeda delegation鈥檚 visit in 1993, newly elected Mayor Kazuo Oishi presented Penticton with a set of conceptual plans to build a garden. Construction began in February 2003 and the garden is today maintained by a group of volunteers.
The city鈥檚 Ikeda friends designed and constructed a traditional sign out of old growth walnut wood. It arrived just in time to be installed for the September 2005 dedication ceremony.
To report a typo, email: editor@pentictonwesternnews.com.
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