Higashiomi citizens notice few differences with city merger
2005/02/15　By Gerald Peterson, 17, with contribution by Pryce Hadley, 15

With this year's Marquette Sister City delegation trip to Higashiomi , Japan , some people might wonder, “What happened to that Yokaichi city that the delegation used to go to? Did they pick out a new sister city or something?”

　The delegation did in fact visit the same location they've been going to every other year for the past twenty-five years. However, the city has gotten much bigger and it has a new name.

　In February, Yokaichi merged with the nearby towns of Aito, Eigenji, Gokasho and Koto to form the city of Higashiomi . What used to be a city of 45,000 became a city of almost 80,000.

　The merger was implemented to help the financial situations of these towns. In Japan , about seventy percent of a city's revenue has traditionally come from the national government, with the rest coming from local sources. However, in recent years the Japanese economy has slowed down and the government hasn't been able to provide as much financial assistance as it once did. By merging, the communities cut costs by combining services.

　Takashi Yamaguchi, the head of the Higashiomi planning department, said that one of the few challenges that citizens have faced in the merger is the persistence of established rivalries between the communities that merged. Most of this rivalry is due to competition between local sports teams. He said that it is something that all of the citizens of Higashiomi have to work on to make their city even stronger and more unified.

　Teenagers from Shiga Gakuen High School in Higashiomi weren't concerned about rivalries. They explained that the merger didn't affect them apart from a few subtle changes in addresses, and was therefore easily accepted.