But the mayor’s travel will be “more on tourism and business promotion,” according to his senior adviser and public information officer, Vic Pangelinan.
Pangelinan, who was designated as acting mayor, said Flores will be meeting with five mayors and the governor of Kyoto.
Flores will promote Saipan and the rest of the CNMI as an ideal tourist destination in the Pacific region for the Japanese, Pangelinan said.
Flores was accompanied by one staff member and a Japanese-English interpreter.
They are expected to return to the island on Feb. 14.
Pangelinan said the mayor’s travel will certainly benefit the commonwealth.
The mayor’s office, for the past 20 years, has been exchanging students with the Sanpo-en group as part of a cultural exchange program.
Some of the Japanese students who have been to Saipan eventually “came back here not as students but as tourists,” Pangelinan said.
In Japan, the Saipan students will visit the Kyoto Zoo, the Toei Movieland, the Enryaku-ji Temple, Nagano Jyoyama Elementary School, and the Zenko-Ji Temple.
The students will also visit a potato factory.
