Aside from each being situated along The Ring of Fire, there’s more to meets the eye when it comes to the relationship between New Westminster and Japan.

On Aug. 10, New West’s Mayor Patrick Johnstone played host to Kohei Maruyama, the relatively new Consul-General of Japan. Maruyama, who is based in Vancouver, visited City Hall and spent time getting to know Mayor Johnstone—as well as the city. Moriguchi—a little less than 10 kilometres from Osaka in Japan—has a Sister City relationship with New Westminster.

“We had a great conversation about current affairs in Canada and Japan, the Sister City relationship between Moriguchi and [New West], and the different challenges our nations are facing with housing, climate, and re-building after COVID,” Johnstone explained over Twitter/X.

What is a Sister City?

According to Sister Cities International, a Sister City relationship is a broad-based, long-term partnership between two communities in two countries.

“A relationship is officially recognized after the highest elected or appointed official from both communities sign off on an agreement to become sister cities,” the site explains. The relationship can stem from an assortment of relationships, whether it stems from preexisting mayoral relationships, trade relationships, historical connections, ancestral/demographic connections, and expatriate communities—to name a few.

New Westminster has three Sister Cities: along with Moriguchi in Japan, there is also Quezon City in the Philippines, and Lijiang in China. Our relationship with Moriguchi came about in 1963—it’s the longest Friendship City relationship we have. Quezon City’s Friendship City agreement with New West was established in 1991, while Lijiang and New West strengthened its ties with China in 2002.

New West also has two Friendship Cities; Friendship Cities are considered less formal. Our city’s Friendship Cities are with Zhenjiang and YunFu City, which are both in China.

How is New West’s relationship with Moriguchi?

According to the Consul General’s website, the last time there was a formal visit to City Hall in New Westminster was November 1, 2016. Then-Consul General Asako Okai stopped by to visit then-New West Mayor Jonathan Cote.

This 2016 also happened to take place when councillors from New West happened to be in Moriguchi to celebrate the opening of its new City Hall building.

“Both cities have maintained an active and long-term friendship over the years,” says the statement from the Consul General. It went on to explain that the topics discussed at the New Westminster City Hall visit included promoting economic relationships, cooperation in disaster management, and educational exchange.

Along with Johnstone and Maruyama talking about some of those aforementioned topics, Johnstone wanted to draw attention to the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program, or JET. The point of JET is to promote international exchange, with a focus on young people.

“Participants are invited to Japan as representatives of their countries,” explains an entry on the JET site. “As such, they are expected to be responsible in all their activities, especially those concerning the promotion of mutual understanding between nations.”

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