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Twenty-seven years after boarding my first plane to Japan, I found myself speaking to hundreds of people at the Japanese Ambassador’s residence in Washington, D.C. I never could have predicted where that first trip would lead. The most consequential experiences in life rarely announce themselves in advance.
Read MoreIt was an extraordinary privilege to welcome Mary Jean Eisenhower, granddaughter of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, to Fort Worth for Sister Cities International’s annual conference. Her visit reminded me that global stability is built one relationship at a time. Citizen diplomacy may not make headlines, but it creates the trust that survives everything else.
Read MoreIt was an honor to welcome Ghana’s Vice President, the Honorable Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, to Washington, D.C. for Sister Cities International’s 70th anniversary. Watching national and local leaders come together reminded me that international relationships aren’t only built in capitals, they’re built city by city. If you’ve never visited Africa, put it on your list.
Read MoreWalt Disney World’s busiest day tops out around 85,000 visitors. Expo 2025 Osaka was averaging 230,000 a day. What stayed with me wasn’t the scale of the buildings, it was watching our Youth Ambassadors turn a national exhibit into a series of personal connections.
Read MoreThe United States just established its first two sister-city partnerships with Papua New Guinea, a country of roughly 860 languages and a motto that says it all: “Expect the unexpected.” A signing ceremony is only the beginning. The real work happens through the decades of relationships that follow.
Read MoreNara is often overshadowed by Kyoto and Osaka, but it taught me an important rule: do not get distracted while holding deer food. Beyond the humor, the city offered a lesson about identity. The strongest communities don’t imitate their neighbors, they lean into what already makes them unmistakably their own.
Read MoreI had never seen a grown man carry and dance with a 100-pound tuna on his shoulder until the opening day of our U.S.-Japan Sister Cities International Summit. Between that and the story of a tsunami-swept boat that became a sister-city friendship, I learned that a conference becomes memorable when people encounter a story, not just information. Thank you, Izumisano, for that kind of welcome.
Read MoreAt the USA Pavilion in Osaka, visitors could feel what it’s like to launch into space while 230,000 people moved through the Expo that day alone. A world expo is a little like the Olympics of people-to-people diplomacy. The most important result may not be how many people walked through a pavilion, but how many left with a new idea about another country.
Read MoreThey came from 47 states and spoke 22 languages between them, all training in Fort Worth before representing the United States at Expo 2025 Osaka. What impressed me most wasn’t their talent, it was their willingness to become a stranger’s first personal connection to America. Diplomacy doesn’t belong only to governments.
Read MoreBefore millions of visitors ever walked through Expo 2025 Osaka, I got to see the USA Pavilion behind the scenes with Sister Cities International. More than 160 nations were facing the same challenge: how do you represent an entire country in a limited space? The finished result looks effortless because the preparation was not.
Read More“Carlo, this is a Thai tie that you can tie to strengthen ties between Thailand and the United States,” Ambassador Suriya Chindawongse told me before joining a live band for karaoke. I’ll remember the tie. I’ll remember the karaoke even more.
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