"Also, times have changed. It's not the same world as it was all that time ago. They're not as wealthy and they don't have the groups coming out here that we used to see," she said.
But Ms Main said the Wanganui District Council expressed interest in retaining the tea house which is part of the centre and the Nagaizumi said it would gift the tea house to Wanganui.
"It's the sort of thing that could be moved to Bason Botanic Gardens or Virginia Lake. But the cost of moving it has been put at about $30,000 and I don't think our council will have the will to do that."
However, she said local service clubs might be able to provide a solution and there were interested groups in Wanganui who might want to assist.
Ms Main said another key area of concern was the lack of commitment to the relationship. While contact was regular earlier, she was the first Wanganui mayor to visit Nagaizumi for at least 10 years.
"We've known that they felt that our commitment was not as it had been. I don't think a commitment requires large numbers of people on regular visits but it does mean visiting occasionally," she said.
She said it was time to say the relationship was not working for either city or find a way to make it work.
More importantly she said there had been no work done on developing any potential business opportunities from the connection.
"There's been no work that I could see in the last 10 years that looked at those opportunities."
She said the relationship was an important one because it provided the opportunity for development, both economically and artistically.
"They have a sculptural park and are interested in some of art exchange as well as a link with our museum.
"And every November they stage an international industrial fair but there's never been a Wanganui presence there as long as the sister city relationship has been going. In our talks Nagaizumi said they were interested in getting Wanganui products over for that fair.
"There's no reason why we couldn't be there in some form in November next year."
Council chief executive Kevin Ross accompanied Ms Main on the trip. Their return airfares cost about $4000 and came from the budget council allocates for its sister city relationships. All the accommodation for their week-long trip was arranged and paid for by Nagaizumi.