Kakegawa youth delegation arrives March 27

from the Office of the City Manager, Eugene

A youth delegation from Eugene’s sister city of Kakegawa, Japan, arrived Thursday, March 27, for a four-day visit to Eugene.

The delegation visit, coordinated by the Eugene Kakegawa Sister City Committee, will consist of seven high-school-aged youth from Kakegawa, joined by two adult chaperones.

Mayor Kaarin Knudson formally received the delegation at Eugene City Hall on Thursday, March 27, and will tour Eugene and surrounding areas with their host families over the following days.

The Sister Cities program has been part of the City of Eugene since 1961, when Jinju, South Korea, became Eugene’s first sister city, followed by Kathmandu, Nepal, Kakegawa, Japan, and Irkutsk, Russia (1988). The Eugene City Council suspended its sister city relationship with the “Paris of Siberia,” Irkutsk, in 2022.

The city established the programs to promote peace, greater understanding, friendship and appreciation between cities and countries.

From 2006 to 2019, Kakegawa sent a delegation of high school students to Eugene every year, with the objective of building goodwill and cultural exchange. This year’s visit formally resumes this important youth exchange.

The Eugene Kakegawa Sister City Committee is a non-profit entity that receives funding from the City of Eugene to provide direction and support to the sister city relationship with Kakegawa. The Committee is comprised of community volunteers who coordinate cultural, educational and information activities. Learn more about the sister city program on the city’s website.

Kakegawa is a city on the eastern side of the island of Honshu, around 120 miles southwest of Tokyo with a population of around 115,000. Kakegawa has a mixed economy with green tea production and processing as a leading industry. Other major products manufactured in Kakegawa include telecommunications equipment and electronics, cosmetics, automotive components and musical instruments. The Kakegawa area has been a regional commercial center and developed as a castle town. Kakegawa Castle was built in the late 1400s.

The sister cities movement supports cooperative agreements between cities in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties. There are over 500 sister city programs throughout the United States linked with over 140 countries around the world. Most programs (including the programs in Eugene), are members of Sister Cities International, the national membership organization for sister cities established by President Eisenhower in 1956.

Image courtesy city of Eugene: Mayor Kaarin Knudson meets with the Kakegawa delegation March 27, 2025 outside Eugene City Hall.