Cupertino-Toyokawa
Sister Cities Since 1978
Invitiation to the Community: Bell-ringing for World Peace, August 6th, 2024, 6pm.
CTSC will hold the fifth annual event to ring bells for World Peace and we would like the community to join us.
Please arrive a few minutes early for the prompt start of a short ceremony at 6PM on Tuesday, August 6th, 2024. You will be able to easily spot us from the parking lot on Alves Drive, behind the Quinlan Community Center. Please bring a small bell to ring, if you have one. Casual attire.
History behind the event: in addition to the well-known atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WWII, Toyokawa, Japan was also bombed as it was the location of Japan’s Naval Armory.
CTSC held the first Bell Ringing for Peace event on August 6th, 2020 with invited guests and members. Since then, the event has become a community event, and continues annually (2023 Video). The event aims to bring awareness to a 75 years of peace between the US and Japan.
The Cupertino Toyokawa Sister Cities (CTSC) organization promotes cultural awareness and friendship between the cities of Cupertino and Toyokawa, Japan. The relationship began in 1978 and in 2023, commemorated its 45th anniversary through a Virtual Ceremony.
event was held online and can be viewed here.
The friendship is built through the annual student exchange program, and also the quinquennial (every five years) adult exchange program.
The cultural awareness is promoted through the annual Cupertino Cherry Blossom Festival (CCBF) held every year on the last weekend in April.
If you have any questions or comments, please contact the Cupertino-Toyokawa Sister Cities organization.
Our Programs
Cupertino Cherry Blossom Festival
An annual community event in honor of our sister city, Toyokawa, typically held on the last weekend in April (Spring) at the Cupertino Memorial Park.
The 40th anniversary was held on the weekend of April 27th - 28th, 2024.
The upcoming, 41st, festival, will be held on Apil 26th & 27th, 2025.
Visit our festival website for more details:
Cherry Blossom Festival Website
To view past festival highlights, please visit our
Student Delegation Exchange
Also known as the Junior Goodwill Program, Cupertino and Toyokawa Student Delegation groups visit bilaterally every year.
Selected students from Cupertino and Toyokawa are introduced to cultural and educational activities while staying with their host families.
The exchange program was temporary halted due to the pandemic between 2019 to 2023. It finally resumed in 2024.
It is customary that the current year's student delegates will appear on stage during the opening ceremory of the Cherry Blossom Festival in April to receive their recognition and proclamation certificates from honored guests including representatives from the consul office of Japan in San Francisco, city, state and county government offices, school district board members, and others.
Adult Delegation Exchange
CTSC Adult Delegation visit bilaterally every five years.
The 40th year celebration included a visit from Toyokawa delegates to Cupertino in July 2018 and reversely, Cupertino delegates to Toyokawa, in November 2018.
Cupertino Delegation members were warmly welcomed in Toyokawa, November 16, 2018.
Farewell group photo for Toyokawa delegation with Mayor Darcy Paul and Mayor Minori Yamawaki at the Cupertino City Hall, July, 2018
Community and Volunteering
CTSC Board and Committee Members are actively involved in a variety of community and volunteering activities.
- We are a member of the Sister City International NorCal Board.
We are a member of the California-Japan Sister Cities Network (CJSCN).
We enacted the student internship program in 2020, where Cupertino students can participate in developing and maintaining CTSC functions and ventures.
We encourage intensive and quality youth volunteerism through our Presidential Service Award Program.
We actively participate in the City of Cupertino's community events. We have a booth at the Fall Festival and the Volunteers Fair.
We participate in the iNaturalist program.
June 15th, 2019 CTSC hosted the first CJSCN Silicon Valley and South Region meeting at the Cupertino City Hall.
Source: CJSCN Newsletter July 2019
Alysa Sakkas reflects on her journey to becoming the CTSC President as the winner of the 2018 City of Cupertino CREST Award.
April 26, 2019 CTSC received the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce's Organization of the Year STAR award.
Source: CJSCN Newsletter July 2019