On the 9 September, the South West Japan Festival was held in Bunbury, Western Australia.
The event was first held in 2018 to celebrate the sister city relationship between Bunbury and Setagaya, Tokyo, and is considered one of the largest Japan-related events in south Perth.
With many visitors, there were stalls selling Japan-related goods and snacks, as well as a bonsai exhibition at the venue.
The CLAIR Sydney staff members promoted Japan’s various destinations by distributing tourism brochures and through giveaways, both provided in advance by Japanese local governments that have a sister city relation with a local council in Western Australia.
The event started with radio-taisou (a Japanese style warm-up stretch), followed by Japanese drum and sanshin performances. It was impressive to see local people, themselves, spreading Japansese culture.
In addition, a local resident who visited our booth said, “We have been hosting Japanese students as host families for many years, and we still keep in touch with some of them.”
It was a valuable opportunity for us as CLAIR to experience grassroots exchange between Australia and Japan.
We will continue to promote Japan to people in Australia and support local exchanges.
From the 3rd to the 13th of December, eight selected swimmers from the Fukuoka Swimming Association visited NSW, where they participated in joint training sessions with a local school and competed in the 2024-25 Speedo NSW Senior State Age Championships.
