Official website of the
City of Vancouver, Washington

Sister City - Joyo, Japan

The Vancouver Rotary and the Joyo Rotary Clubs initiated the idea of starting a sister city relationship. With a lot of hard work and strong

support from citizens of both cities, Joyo and Vancouver became official Sister Cities in October 1995. Since that time, Joyo and Vancouver have enjoyed many formal and informal social, cultural and political exchanges such as children's art exchanges, one-on-one exchanges and a six-month employee exchange between the City of Vancouver and the City of Joyo.

About Joyo

The City of Joyo is located between two ancient capitals of Japan: Kyoto and Nara. It is situated in the center of the Yamashiro Basin. The city extends 5.6 miles from east to west and 3.4 miles from north to south. The total size of the city is 12.64 square miles. As of March 2005, Joyo's population was 82,220.

Replica of Fort Vancouver in Joyo, Japan

Joyo has many beautiful public facilities, most notably Konosu-yama-undo-koen, their recreation zone which features a replica of Fort Vancouver, and Bunka Parc Joyo (Joyo Cultural Center) which features a banquet room, library, community center, folklore reference center and planetarium. The citizens of Joyo take part in various events such as a concerts or exhibition at the center.