How Salt Lake City’s 9th and 9th whale found a second home in Japan

SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake’s 9th and 9th whale now has a home in Japan — sort of.

Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall gifted a scaled-down replica of the iconic “Out of the Blue” roundabout sculpture to the city leaders of Matsumoto, Japan, during a recent trip to the country she and other city officials made to celebrate the 65 years the two cities have been connected as sister cities.

The exchange took place in early October, but the whole thing was rekindled this week by a video the Salt Lake City Department of Economic Development posted to social media, chronicling the small whale’s big 5,500-mile adventure.

Maintaining a connection

Its adventure also dates back over a year ago, when Matsumoto officials toured Salt Lake City in July 2023. While Salt Lake City is also sister cities with Chernivtsi, Ukraine; Izhevsk, Russia; Keelung, Taiwan; Torino, Italy; and Trujillo, Peru, Matsumoto is its longest-running sister city. The two have been paired since 1958, two years after the Sister Cities International program began to create partnerships between international cities.

Lindsey Nikola, deputy chief of staff in the Salt Lake City Mayor’s Office, told KSL.com that city staff took Matsumoto Mayor Yoshinao Gaun and other Matsumoto leaders to different parts of Utah’s capital city, including the Pioneer Day parade. They also exchanged gifts outside the Salt Lake City-County Building.

She’s not sure if anyone from Matsumoto ever saw the 9th and 9th Whale at that time.

Returning the favor

A few months later, Gaun sent Mendenhall a letter inviting her and a Salt Lake City delegation to the Japanese city of about 240,000 people by the Hida and Hokata mountain ranges. City leaders last visited the city over a decade ago, so they took him up on the offer — although it wouldn’t happen until about a year later.

Gift exchanges are customary in these types of trips. Salt Lake City has a display of the trove of gifts it has received from its sister cities inside City Hall, including some items from Matsumoto. So city leaders knew they wanted to bring a gift with them when they arrived.

They also wanted something that could represent Salt Lake City and its people, which quickly led to the 9th and 9th whale. “Out of the Blue” was installed at a roundabout at 900 South and 1100 East in 2022, instantly becoming a symbol for the city. Its design has inspired T-shirts, flags and all sorts of other merchandise.

The whale had become “such an icon,” making it the perfect gift idea, Nikola said.

“(It) was the first idea out of the gate,” she said. “There was never anything else we were thinking about.”

From there, the city contacted Stephen Kesler and Mike Murdock, the same local artists behind the original sculpture, and explained their idea. Both were eager to recreate their work on a smaller scale, completing the small sculpture in time for October’s trip.

The whale finds a second home

The Department of Economic Development video shows some of the behind-the-scenes journey, which included flights and train rides. Mendenhall handed the sculpture to Gaun in a ceremony outside of the 430-year-old Matsumoto Castle.

“It’s giant, and it is beloved by Salt Lakers,” she said during the ceremony, as both city leaders held the tiny replica.

Gaun chuckled and appeared to nod in agreement as Mendenhall explained, through the help of a translator, that the sculpture’s name comes from an expression of something surprising. Salt Lake City included a translated message explaining the sculpture’s history and its importance for any Matsumoto resident curious about the design.

The trip turned out to be a “fulfilling” experience, Nikola said. Leaders of both cities now know more about the lives and experiences of each other’s cities, and they’re now linked together by the 9th and 9th whale.

“It’s like a little piece of Salt Lake City now lives in Matsumoto,” she said. “That was the intent with the little sculpture and we’re happy with how it turned out.”