A new memorial bench in Tyler Rose Garden honors Tony Tadasa for bridging East Texas and Japan, inspiring global understanding through his sister city work. <\/p>\n
TYLER, Texas \u2014 A new memorial bench honoring a man known for connecting cultures was unveiled Sunday at the Tyler Rose Garden.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Tyler Sister Cities organization hosted the dedication ceremony for Tony Tadasa, a longtime member who died in 2021 and is remembered for strengthening international relationships between East Texas and Japan.<\/p>\n
According to the organization, Tadasa, who is originally from Japan, came to the United States to study at Tyler Junior College. He later became a key figure in fostering Tyler\u2019s sister city relationship with Yachiyo City, Japan.<\/p>\n
The memorial is near the Sister Cities peace pole on the east end of the garden.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThough they\u2019re thousands of miles away, they\u2019re still our neighbors,\u201d said Tyler Mayor Don Warren.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Warren said when he visited Tyler’s sister city, Tadasa helped them prepare to engage respectfully in Japanese culture and business etiquette.<\/p>\n
Former Sister Cities President Jennifer Rader said she remembers Tadasa\u2019s kindness.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of him, I was able to go teach in Japan for a couple of years,\u201d Rader said. \u201cIt was a life-changing experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ceremony coincided with a visit from a delegation from Yachiyo City, many of whom had personal connections to Tadasa. The group spent several days in Tyler, culminating in the bench dedication.<\/p>\n
Rader said placing the memorial beside the peace pole was intentional.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you sit on the bench, you can see Yachiyo, Japan, listed on the pole,\u201d Rader said.<\/p>\n
Organizers said they hope visitors who see the memorial will be inspired to learn more about his legacy and the importance of global understanding.<\/p>\n
\u201cTony was a connector,\u201d Warren said. \u201cHe brought people together from two different sides of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new memorial bench in Tyler Rose Garden honors Tony Tadasa for bridging East Texas and Japan, inspiring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226911,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-226910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}