History of the Sister City Program
In
early 1983, a delegation from Toyokawa, Japan, visited the city of Cupertino to
present a gift of 200 cherry trees. John Gatto, Mayor of Cupertino at that time,
and Toyokawa Mayor Yoshi Yamamoto, assisted by the city, planted those trees in
Cupertino’s Memorial Park. The ceremony commemorated the fifth anniversary of
the Cupertino-Toyokawa Sister City
program.
Student
Exchange Program
Yoshio
Yamamoto had a dream. As Mayor of Toyokawa during World War II, he began to look
beyond the ruin and devastation to a peaceful future for his people, a future of
international understanding. He saw as the key to this vision, the education of
the children. From this dream has grown the student exchange program.
Each
autumn, Toyokawa middle school students travel to Cupertino with their
chaperones. They are guests of Cupertino and the Cupertino Union School
District. Each spring, Cupertino seventh and eighth-grade students are chosen to
visit Toyokawa, with their chaperones, in a similar exchange.
Student applications are made through district middle schools, with final selection by the Cupertino-Toyokawa Sister City Committee.
CREST Award