The Ikoma-Chuo Boys Baseball Team from Nara Prefecture visits Colorado(July 13, 2016)

On Wednesday, the 13th, Consul-General and Mrs. Ito attended the welcome ceremony for the Ikoma-Chuo Boys Baseball Team from Nara Prefecture. The baseball team was visiting Colorado to participate in a sports exchange with a Veil baseball team in Veil, Colorado. Before heading to the Mountains, the Ikoma-Chuo Boys stopped in Denver to attend their welcome ceremony that was held at Sakura Square in downtown, to which many Japanese-Americans and Denver City affiliates gathered to welcome the visiting team. As a representative of Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, Executive Director Derek Okubo of the Agency for Human Rights and Community Partnerships offered words of welcome, followed by welcome remarks from the Consul-General. From the visiting side, the Ikoma-Chuo Boys presented a message of encouragement towards the success of the exchange from Minister Sanae Takaichi of Internal Affairs and Communications. The ceremony proved a lively event and we hope this kind of sports exchange will deepen the already broad friendly exchanges between Colorado and Japan.