Chichibu – Antioch’s Japanese Sister City

NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR THE 2025 DELEGATION VISIT TO CHICHIBU JAPAN

The delegation will visit Japan from July 16-31, 2025. Applications are due March 20, 2025.

Click here for a student delegate packet/ application

Click here for an adult delegate packet/ application

GET INVOLVED!

The Antioch-Chichibu Sister City Organization meets on the 2^nd Wednesday of every month at 7:00 p.m. at the Antioch Community Center.

In partnership with the City of Antioch, the Antioch/Chichibu Sister City organization is a volunteer, Non-Profit organization comprised of interested citizens in both cities. The purpose of the organization is to give citizens of Antioch and Chichibu the opportunity to experience each other’s country and culture. The benefits of our program include the making of many friends between the two cities. Our sister-city relationship is special among other sister-city organizations because the visits between the two cities are “home-stay”; that is, visiting delegates stay in the homes of host families. We believe this allows the delegates to experience life in the visited country more directly than when staying in hotels. In addition, delegations include both students and adults. Usually, the delegations are between 10 and 12 in number, varying according to the availability of host families and the interest in the visiting city.

The Organization works on fundraising, learning the Japanese language and culture, and preparing for the annual delegation visits (Antioch to Chichibu in odd-numbered years, Chichibu to Antioch in even-numbered years). These visits usually occur in the summer, to coincide with summer vacation in Antioch and the Chichibu Festival in Chichibu. For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/AntiochChichibu/ or email antiochchichibusco@gmail.com.

HISTORY OF THE ANTIOCH – CHICHIBU SISTER CITY PROGRAM

In 1956, President Eisenhower initiated a new program called Sister City International or the People-to-People Program. The purpose of this program was to promote cultural and economic exchange between the US and other countries by establishing relationships between cities of similar size and economic base.

In the mid 1960’s Verne and Emogene Roberts of Antioch traveled with the League of California Cities to six countries to investigate the possibility of establishing a Sister City relationship. Although the city of Chichibu was not one of the cities visited, the last ten days were in Japan. After returning, the Roberts explained to interested citizens of Antioch how we could have a Sister City in a foreign country. An informal committee was formed to discuss the possibilities and advantages.

At the same time in Japan, Chichibu City was seeking a sister city in California. The two cities were likely candidates to be each other’s sister city as each city had manufacturing plants, were situated near a river, had a mountain in the vicinity, and were at the edge of the economic sphere of a large metropolitan area (San Francisco and Tokyo). The Sister City relationship between Chichibu Japan and Antioch California was proposed by the Sister City International Organization. This proposal was approved by the sister city organizations in each city, and after many letters back and forth between cities, an agreement was reached and approved by the Sister City International Organization in Washington, D.C.

In 1967, the Antioch City Council approved a resolution accepting Chichibu as our sister city. In December, 1969 The Roberts’ went to Chichibu to formally initiate our now longstanding friendship. They were greeted by Mayor Bunjuro Kuki and the 45 members of their City Council as the first Sister City delegation from Antioch. Antioch started the first exchange in 1971 when David and Sally Massey chaperoned students Nola Anderson and Jerry Freeman to Chichibu for one month.

With the exception of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami and 2021-22 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sister City Organizations have sent a delegation from Antioch to Chichibu, or from Chichibu to Antioch, every year.