［December 2017］
26-Sister City Relations – A Year of Local Governments in Japan

On 8 December, I attended the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Sister Cities Australia (SCA) in Mildura, Victoria. I made a presentation about the role of CLAIR Sydney, sister-city trends and the importance of sister-city relationships. It was a great opportunity to promote Japan and sister city relationships.

CLAIR was also at the AGM of Sister Cities New Zealand (SCNZ) this May in Invercargill. So I would like to give a brief overview of sister-city relations between Japan and Australia/New Zealand.

We now have 108 sister-city relationships with Australia (this also includes 6 sister state-prefecture relationships) and 43 sister-city relationships with New Zealand. The most sister-city relationships Japan has is with the US, followed by China and South Korea with Australia coming in fourth and New Zealand in tenth.

On the other hand, the most sister-city relationships Australia has is with Japan followed by China and the US. In terms of the number of New Zealand’s sister-city relationships, the largest is also with Japan, followed by China and Australia.

I am very happy to communicate these results to you as this exemplifies the strong ties our countries share. We (Japan, Australia and New Zealand) make up almost all of the developed, liberal and truly democratic countries on the western rim of the Pacific Ocean. Moreover, we enjoy the different cultures and environments whenever we visit each other. As such, we are very proud to support sister-city activities in this way.

As I have previously said, the Japanese believe the New Year is about fresh starts and new beginnings. I sincerely wish 2018 is a prosperous and peaceful year for you and all in Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

YOI OTOSHI WO! (Have a wonderful new year!)

Katsunori Kamibo

Director