Yamaguchi Prefecture’s international exchange initiatives

Outline of the prefecture’s inter-prefectural/provincial friendship and sister relationships

Yamaguchi Prefecture entered a friendship agreement with Shandong Province, China in 1982, and sister relationship agreements with South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea in 1987, and with Navarre Province, Spain in 2003.

Shandong Province, located in the lower reaches of the Yellow River in the coastal area in eastern China, is famous as the birthplace of important historical figures, including Confucius (Kongzi) and Mencius (Mengzi), and the heart of the Yellow River Civilization. Highly developed agriculture and manufacturing, along with abundant underground resources, have raised the province to be among the most economically successful provinces in China. Yamaguchi Prefecture implements exchange programs with Shandong Province in various fields, including economy, tourism, environmental conservation, and education.

South Gyeongsang Province, located at the southeast end of South Korea, faces the Korea Strait. The province boasts flourishing agriculture, fishery and manufacturing, and the most flourishing in particular are machine production, shipbuilding, and aircraft- and railway-related manufacturing. Yamaguchi Prefecture and South Gyeongsang Province are not only in a sister relationship, but also members of an eight-party wide-area alliance formed by four prefectures in Japan, and a city and three provinces in South Korea, which all face the Korea Strait. This alliance promotes mutual exchanges in a wide variety of fields, including tourism, economy and education.

Navarre Province is related to Yamaguchi Prefecture because the province is the birthplace of Saint Francis Xavier, who worked as a Jesuit missionary in Yamaguchi. The province, located in northern Spain, shares its northern border in the Pyrenees with France. While the province has long boasted flourished agriculture, tourism is also a representative industry of the province, blessed with an extensive historical heritage. Yamaguchi Prefecture mainly promotes cultural and educational exchanges with Navarre Province.

Networking with overseas migrants from Yamaguchi Prefecture

Yamaguchi Prefecture is the hometown for many overseas migrants, and they have established kenjinkai, associations of migrants from Yamaguchi Prefecture, in South American countries (Brazil, Peru, Argentina, etc.), Mexico, Hawaii, and the U.S. West Coast. The Yamaguchi prefectural government has strengthened their cooperative partnership with the kenjinkai associations, viewing them as our future-oriented exchange partners and overseas exchange bases. Since 2004 we have so far held four Yamaguchi Kenjinkai World Grand Meetings, where overseas Yamaguchi Kenjinkai associations unite with each other. Through this meeting, we strive to build a network of people from Yamaguchi Prefecture around the world.