Over Labour Weekend Mayor Garry Moore and Mayoress Pam Sharp hosted a delegation of about 50, led by Mayor Takeshi Nakada and Mayoress Fusako Nakada. The sister city relationship is New Zealand's longest-running with a Japanese city.

Included among the festivities was the planting of a pair of flowering cherry trees in the Sister Cities Gardens Park at Halswell Quarry Park. They completed a set of 30 cherry trees planted in the Japanese garden to commemorate the Christchurch- Kurashiki anniversary.

At an evening ceremony, Mayor Nakada presented a gift from Kurashiki to the people of Christchurch. It is a model of a sculpture which Kurashiki artist Wataru Hamasaka is creating which will be installed in the Japanese garden in March next year. Mr Hamasaka will spend some time living in Christchurch as Artist in Residence at the Arts Centre.

Mr Wataru is a professor at the Kurashiki City University of Art and Science. Several of his sculptures have been installed around the Japanese city. Mayor Nakada said his work for Christchurch will be made from granite. Its main section will be white, about 2m long and will hold water. In it will float a smaller black granite canoe.

The Mayor explained that the artist was exploring connections between New Zealand and Japan and the work referred to sea travel and being surrounded by oceans.

In August Mr Moore travelled to Kurashiki with a small delegation from Christchurch. There, he presented a model of a sculpture called Lines Extending by Christchurch artist Graham Bennett. ð­ Information about Christchurch's sister cities is available on the web, at www.christchurch.org.nz/SisterCities/