Exchanges with Cities Overseas

更新日:2023年03月01日

ページID: 8250

The City of Tsukuba promotes mutual understanding with its sister cities and friendship city through exchange in various areas. Tsukuba has sister city relationships with the City of Cambridge and the City of Irvine in the United States of America, and the City of Grenoble in the Republic of France; and a friendship city relationship with the City of Shenzhen in the People's Republic of China.
On November 25, 2019, a Partnership Agreement was signed with the City of Bochum in the Federal Republic of Germany.
In addition to this, Tsukuba makes contacts with Daejeon Metropolitan City in the Republic of Korea and other cities around the world to enhance internationality of the city.

City of Grenoble (Sister City)

川に架かる橋と川沿いの家とその奥に見える雪の積もった山脈の紫がかった写真

The City of Grenoble is located in the southeastern part of the Republic of France with an area of about 18 square kilometers and a population of about 160,000 (as of 2019). It is home to the prefectural government of the Department of Isère. Located at the foot of the Alps, it is known as the "Capital of the Alps".
Its history goes back more than 2,000 years when Grenoble was a small village. Grenoble has long been a garrison town on the border of the Kingdom of France, then grew rapidly in the export of glove products between the 18th and the 19th century, and further developed in the hydro-power industry in the subsequent World War.
The city is also famous for the 1968 Winter Olympics, and it is also part of the Tour de France's climb stage in the Alps.
At present, Grenoble hosts public research institutions and higher education institutions, such as European Molecular Biology Laboratory, CEA-LETI (Laboratoire d'électronique des technologies de l'information), The University of Grenoble, positioning itself as the main research and development hub in France.
Recently, MINATEC, a micro/nanotechnology base, has been founded and has established a strong position as one of the leading-edge science and technology centers in Europe.
Furthermore, Grenoble's uniqueness and competitiveness are recognized internationally not only in science and technology but also in education, culture and sports, and is ranked 5th in the 2013 World's Most Inventive Cities Ranking in America's Forbes magazine.
Mutual exchanges between research institutions and universities in Grenoble and Tsukuba led to the sister city agreement. The signing ceremony took place concurrently at the 50-year Tsukuba Science City commemorative ceremony on November 12, 2013.

The City of Irvine (Sister City)

白い壁の高層ビルとその前に立つヤシの木の写真

The City of Irvine contacted the Village of Sakura in 1987 to propose a sister city relationship. The same year, the village was merged to the City of Tsukuba so the partnership was finally established between the two cities in 1989.
Irvine is located in southern California, approximately 53 kilometers southeast of Los Angeles. The city is rich in universities, high-tech companies and research institutes. Its population has grown rapidly since the opening of the University of California, Irvine (UCI) in 1965, and is currently resided by approximately 280,000 people (as of 2019).
The business zone called IBC (Irvine Business Complex) is lively with many high-tech companies. It is attracting attention as the most urbanized area in the United States.
In this way, Irvine and Tsukuba share the common objective of being a cutting-edge smart city with their policy centered on education, science and high-tech industries. In addition, Irvine also focuses on improving the living environment such as housing, shopping centers, hospitals, hotels, etc. taking advantage of the topography of California. The city has plentiful green space, is kept clean, safe and has a wonderful living environment. There is a Disneyland nearby and is blessed with tourism attractions such as beaches and museums.

The City of Cambridge (Sister City)

中心が塔になった左右対称のレンガ造りの建物と芝生の庭の全体を写した引きの写真

The sister city tie-up with Cambridge was signed in 1984 with the Town of Yatabe, and later succeeded by Tsukuba given the merger. On November 18, 2019, while inheriting the purpose of the sister city declaration, Cambridge and Tsukuba have renewed the sister city agreement as a way to achieve more effective collaboration. We have newly identified specific areas of cooperation such as promotion of startups in the business field, education, science, innovation, and industry.
Cambridge is located in eastern Massachusetts, northeast of the United States. It is a city that stretches down the Charles River and is bordered by Boston, with its latitude same as that of Hokkaido in Japan. As one of the earliest colonies in America, it was founded in 1630 and became a city in 1846. The population is about 120,000 (as of July 1, 2018) with the area of about 17 square kilometers.
It has world-renowned research and leading educational institutions such as Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. With approximately 32% of its population engaged in professional and technical jobs and 23% in education-related jobs, it is one of the well-known research cities in the United States.

The City of Shenzhen (Friendship City)

車の走る大通りと紫や水色の高層ビル群の写真

Tsukuba established a friendship city relationship with the City of Shenzhen in June 2004. This is the first friendship (= sister) city agreement signed by Tsukuba after the merger.
Shenzhen belongs to Guangdong Province, the People's Republic of China, and is located north of Hong Kong. In 1980, it was designated as the first special economic zone in China, and since then it has made remarkable progress as an emerging city in a short period of time. Today, it is one of the most modern cities in China with high-rise buildings.
As of the end of 2018, its nighttime population is over 13 million and its total area is 1,997.47 square kilometers. China's largest events such as the International Cultural Industry Fair in May and the Hi-Tech Fair in November are held every year in Shenzhen. (See Shenzhen City's official website.)
Shenzhen and Tsukuba have a point in common in that they were both developed systematically under national projects. In recent years, Shenzhen has been focusing especially on the high-tech industry among development of information technology / consulting, financial, transportation, and logistics industries.

The City of Bochum (Partnership Agreement)

緑溢れる自然豊かな街の上空写真

The City of Bochum, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany, is located in the east of the Rhine, with an area of approximately 145 square kilometers and a population of approximately 371,000. It is the 16th most populous city in Germany and was established as a city in 1321. With the coal mine opening in 1841, it used to be an industrial city representing the Ruhr industrial area. All coal mines were closed in the mid-1970s, but nine higher education institutions, including Rhur University Bochum, are leading academic promotion and urban development with cutting-edge technology since then. In 2009, Healthcare Campus Bochum was established that houses universities, research institutes, public administration and companies in the health care sector. Bochum now is engaged in town development that makes full use of healthcare, cyber security and so on. Bochum also focuses on urban development using the Opel automobile plant site that was closed in 2014.
Furthermore, Cyberdyne Co., Ltd. of Tsukuba established Cyberdyne Care Robotics, Inc. in the City of Bochum in 2013. It was founded for the purpose of functional improvement treatment for patients with cranial neuromuscular diseases including spinal cord injury and cerebral stroke. It functions as their hub for the European market, not only being representative of both cities.
Rhur University Bochum and the University of Tsukuba have collaborated in various fields such as urban development, health care, and plasma science. They have signed an agreement for academic exchanges and cooperation in 2007 at the department level, and then it was renewed in 2016 to cover the entire universities. The Cities of Bochum and Tsukuba have concluded a partnership agreement on November 25, 2019 to support the collaborative projects initiated by both universities, and to develop collaboration between the two cities such as solving social issues and industrial development through social implementation of science and technology and sustainable development.

Daejeon Metropolitan City (Letter of Intent for Exchange and Cooperation)

紅葉した木々の中心に大きな池とアジア風の東屋とその奥に高層ビル群が見えている上空写真

Daejeon Metropolitan City is in the central west of the Republic of Korea and is located in a strategic point where major domestic highways intersect. This fifth largest city in Korea has a population of 1.47 million (as of 2019) and an area of 539.64 square kilometers, which is about twice that of Tsukuba.
The two cities signed the Letter of Intent for exchange and cooperation on October 16, 1999, which is meant for both cities to cooperate in exchanges between their private sectors (= international exchange associations). Since then, exchanges are conducted mainly between youths through soccer tournaments and home stays.

Information on receiving visits from overseas administrative agencies

Thank you for your interest in the municipal administration of the City of Tsukuba.
In recent years, the number of visit requests to Tsukuba has increased rapidly. Therefore, if you wish to conduct administrative visits to the City's projects, please read through the following instruction before applying and help us receive visits smoothly.

【English】Administrative visit application form for the City of Tsukuba(Excelファイル:82KB)

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Global City Promotion Division

1-1-1 Kenkyu-Gakuen, Tsukuba 305-8555

Phone: +81-29-883-1111 Fax: +81-29-828-6204

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