Not taking my wife to Japan would have been an insult, says mayor

Manukau Mayor Len Brown is defending taking his wife on his sister-city trip to Utsunomiya City, saying it would have been an insult to his Japanese counterparts if he hadn't.

Mr Brown, a candidate for the Super City mayoralty, is faced with controversy for spending more than $16,000 of ratepayer money to take his wife, Shan Inglis, and three staff to Utsunomiya.

Mr Brown said the Japanese mayor would have suffered a loss of "face" had Ms Inglis not travelled because both the Mayor and Mayoress of Utsunomiya hosted them.

The cost was a necessary expense to build contact and trust with the Japanese, who are New Zealand's fourth largest trading partner.

Japan's consul-general in Auckland, Hachiro Ishida, says meeting face-to-face is the most effective way of dealing with the Japanese, and the sister-city programme has helped this.

Mr Ishida would not comment on the controversy surrounding Mr Brown's trip, saying the matter was "sensitive". But he said many New Zealanders still struggled to understand how highly the Japanese valued face-to-face dealings.

"Dealing through the internet does not work all the time, and nothing beats developing a person-to-person relationship," Mr Ishida said.

Roger Matthews, international director of Sister Cities, said media attacks about the trip were "unfortunate".

He said Mr Brown's trip would have brought "immense" benefit to New Zealand because of the "huge level of respect" Asian cities such as Utsunomiya placed on a visiting mayor and what he recommends.

"There are cities who are known to send their children to a foreign school solely based on the recommendation of a visiting mayor," Mr Matthews said.

The Japanese consulate will tomorrow host Japan Day with the Japanese Society of Auckland at the ASB Showgrounds, which Mr Ishida says will show how a sister-city relationship has directly benefited Auckland.

"People from Auckland's sister city Fukuoka are here along with more than 60 others who paid their own way to attend the festival, and this will translate to tens of thousands of dollars to Auckland's economy," Mr Ishida said.

Fukuoka has been Auckland City's sister city since 1986.

Japan Day, now into its ninth year, is Auckland's biggest one-day fair that showcases Japanese food, culture and arts, and will this year feature a kimono with a London bridge design made for Cherie Blair, wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

JAPAN DAY

Where: ASB Showgrounds, Greenlane.
When: 10.30am to 5.30pm Sunday.
What: Kimono show, Japanese calligraphy, martial arts, performances and food.