The Lima Sister Cities Association held a walk-a-thon at the Japanese Garden along the Ottawa River Walk Saturday morning.  The event helps support the upkeep of the garden and the improvements being made there, like the authentic Japanese lantern and bowl that were donated to the association.  They are also raising money to send a group of students to Lima’s sister city Harima-cho Japan next summer.  The organization has been around for nearly 30 years and helps promote the cultural exchange between Lima and cities similar to it all around the world. 

The Japanese Garden was a gift from Lima's Sister City Harima-Cho Japan full of weeping cherry trees. You can find the garden across the river from the Lima YMCA. It serves as a symbol of friendship between the two cities. This Saturday the sister city association is preparing a site at the park for some special pieces of art.

Matthew Neely is Lima Sister City President and says, “We’re having a community clean up at our sister city garden to just pull weeds and do yearly maintenance it’s all done on a volunteer basis to allow the beauty to be shown to everybody and it gives you a sense of ownership working on it.”