Yamato Takada City

“The efforts of the two cities willcontribute to the peace of the wholeworld.” ― from the pledge from thesister city agreement
Background and Reason for the ProjectIn 1952, shortly after World War II, Father Paul
Glynn from Lismore was appointed to Yamato
Takada Catholic Church in Yamato-Takada City,Nara.
Father Paul Glynn, who felt the city still underreconstruction needed a kindergarten, raised
funds in Australia and New Zealand, wherecitizens still had anti-Japanese feelings due tothe Japanese invasion, and established Takada
Catholic Kindergarten. To find land for thekindergarten, Father Glynn wrote a letter toSenzo Nagura, the city mayor at that time, inEnglish because the father was still notfamiliar with Japanese. Fortunately, since themayor had experience in studying overseas
and was fluent in English, they met each otherdirectly and it did not take so long for them todeepen their relationship. This relationshipprompted Mayor Nagura to make an offer tothe mayor of Lismore, Clyde Campbell, tomake a sister city agreement, which was thefirst sister city agreement attempt between
Australia and Japan. On 7 August, 1963, Mayor
Nagura visited Lismore and concluded the firstsister city agreement between the twocountries.

Project Aims
(1) Deepen mutual friendship and cooperation
between the citizens of both cities.
(2) Contribute to goodwill between Japan andAustralia(3) Contribute to the peace of the world by theefforts between the two cities
Project Outline
The Sister Cities Relationship Project is
outsourced to the Yamato Takada Lismore
Sister City Association, and the following
projects are undertaken in collaboration withthe city.
1. Mutual student exchange between the twocities (Dispatch/ accept students to/ fromLismore City with the aim of showing theappeal of Yamato Takada City to its sistercity Lismore through interactions with hostfamilies and local high school students, help
students understand the differences in thelifestyle and culture between Japan andAustralia,
anddevelop
students’1international
outlook,includingcontributions to goodwill between the twocountries and global peace.)
2. Mayors, city council members and citizens
visit each other every five years.
3. Hold ceremonies for anniversary of thesigning of the sister city agreement bylinking the cities through the Internet withattendance of the city mayors and citizens.
4. Issue an English-language newspaper,“Bamboo Shoots” (English Version andJapanese Version), to deliver information
on Yamato Takada City to citizens of Lismore
City and Yamato Takada City and the sistercity association members.
5. Provide a host family program andopportunity for interactions at the citizenlevel.
6. Run a booth at events in the city, sell
Australian lamington cakes and introduce
the relationship between the sister cities topublicize Lismore and the Yamato Takada
Lismore Sister City Association.
7. One kindergarten, one primary school andone high school in each city have signed
sister school agreements.
8. Distribute “Lismore wo Manabu (Learnabout Lismore)” to the third-grade students
in the city every year to introduce Lismore
and the history of the signing of the sistercity agreement.
9. Association members provide Bamboo
English, a class for mainly primary school
students to enjoy English, and have them
participate in sister city exchange events.
10.
Create a DVD to publicize the sistercity relationship and have it available to belent out

Features and Innovations
Lismore City and Yamato Takada City have amutual student exchange. (Yamato Takada City
has dispatched 194 high school students up
until 2019 (33 times) and accepted 178
students from Lismore (27 times)). Since thebeginning, students from both cities havestayed with local host families in each city.
Both cities have found it effective thatstudents have deepened their understandingof the culture and attractions of each city andhave expanded the extent of the exchange.
Also, every five years on the anniversary of thesigning of the sister city relationship, themayor, city council members and citizens inboth cities visit each other, deepening therelationship further by participating in city
tours and events and having opportunities towidely associate with citizens, which arebecoming important opportunities to confirm
each other’s willingness to continue the sistercity relationship.
As stated in the pledge between the two cities“The horizons of this contract, this friendship,
are not just the two Cities, but also themotherlands, Australia and Japan. Moreover,
it is our firm belief that our efforts willcontribute to the peace of the whole world”. It
is significant that the agreement referred to2

understanding and cooperation for the sistercity relationship.

global peace as these were the first cities thatsigned a sister city agreement between
Australia and Japan, and therefore the sistercity relationship is thought to be unique .
In recent years, citizens in both cities havespoken out to try to raise funds for typhoonand flood victims in both cities to express
sympathy.

Issues, Problems and Responses
In conjunction with the project outsourcee,
the Yamato Takada Lismore Sister City
Association, the city wishes to consider
providing exchange opportunities in line withthe times which encourages citizens from bothcities to understand and become interested in
the sister city relationship.
Future Developments (expected effects andproject vision and issues)
The city wishes to expand the wave ofexchange at the citizen level, engaging
primarily in student exchange projects andexplore opportunities to expand into industry
and tourism.

Results of the Project
Dispatched students keep in touch with eachother, re-visit the cities or go again for study
after the dispatch programs and continue
developing relationships at the citizen level.
Also, the Yamato Takada Lismore Sister City
Association consists of individuals andbusinesses including Yamato Takada citizens.
By the association taking the initiative to run
the project, citizens are improving their

Reference URL
https://www.city.yamatotakada.nara.jp/city/gaiyo/kokusai/
http://www.city.yamatotakada.nara.jp/lismore/Contact
Division in charge: Project Planning andPublic Relations
Phone: +81-745-22-1101
E-mail: takadasi@city.yamatotakada.nara.jp

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