2025 marks the 70th anniversary of the sister-city relationship between St. Paul and Nagasaki, Japan. This was the first relationship of its kind between U.S. and Japanese (or any Asian) cities. This affiliation posited a model for similar future relationships. with the goal of promoting international peace and understanding.
Among over 2,000 sister-city relationships involving U.S. cities, the St. Paul-Nagasaki relationship is one of the most enduring and consistently active. To make the relationship official, the Saint Paul City Council passed a resolution on Dec. 7, 1955, the 14th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack, declaring this “town affiliation” (as it was known at the time). It is indeed a model, not only for sister-city relationships, but also for peacebuilding and reconciliation.
Sister cities are rarely a subject of academic analysis. Even in the vibrant field of study of city diplomacy, they are largely ignored. Sister-city relationships are usually not focused on addressing specific issues; they are very broad in scope. Some relationships are driven by local business and trade interests. Others focus on cultural exchange or student exchange. What unites them is a general sense, or what I like to call a hope, of peace in a long run.
The sister-city relationship between St. Paul and Nagasaki has also been driven by this hope. The relationship has involved a wide range of individuals, business leaders and activities that have concrete personal and collective purposes. In its early years, the St. Paul-Nagasaki Sister City Committee, a civic organization dedicated to promoting the sister city relationship in St. Paul, delivered donations to atomic bomb survivors in Nagasaki and sponsored educational opportunities for children from Nagasaki. Mayors and delegations of citizens from the two cities have regularly visited each other. A highway in St. Paul was named “Nagasaki Road” in 1962. In response, a street in Nagasaki was named “St. Paul Street” in 1975.
The relationship has inspired other cultural exchanges and connections between the two cities. The Rotary Clubs of the two cities became sister clubs in 1975. The two cities’ civic symphony orchestras became sister orchestras in 1996 and have occasionally performed together. And since 2007, the St. Paul-Nagasaki Sister City Committee has co-sponsored the annual commemoration of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in the Twin Cities with local peace groups.
The two cities have also exchanged significant gifts that have had a long-lasting impact on the civic life of the two cities. In the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, the city of Nagasaki sent a landscape architect to St. Paul to help the city design and develop a Japanese garden in Como Park. In 1992, the City of St. Paul commissioned and donated the first U.S. sculpture, “Constellation Earth,” to the Nagasaki Peace Park.
With each visit, event and gift, specific individuals gave their time, effort and other resources to create new friendships and renew old ones.
Fostering these ties has been no small feat given the troubled history of the U.S. and Japan. Anti-Japanese sentiment in the U.S. in the 1920s, the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II disrupted the many interpersonal and business relationships that once existed between the U.S. and Japan. There was also a trade war between the two countries in the 1980s. Loss, sacrifice and pain are not easily forgotten. It takes time for the wounds to heal.
I grew up in Tokyo, and I have lived in the U.S. since 1997, completely unaware of this long-standing relationship and the dedication of the residents of these two cities to the trans-Pacific relationship. Since 2016, I have visited Nagasaki more than 30 times. Since 2023, I have visited St. Paul seven times. I now have close friends in both cities, and I have come to understand why this sister-city relationship — one that is not simply defined by business interests or clear policy goals — matters: It demonstrates the power of bonds based on repeated encounters. I have learned that this will to continually invest time and effort in relationships affords opportunities to learn a little more about each other each time. This deceptively mundane work nevertheless always yields something magical. It is the true locus of peace.
The relationship between St. Paul and Nagasaki, and the long and enduring relationship that residents of the two cities have worked hard to maintain, serve as a reminder of the only possible path to peace and reconciliation — people-to-people encounters firmly grounded in the memory of the past, yet resolutely focused on working side by side in the present, across differences of all kinds and despite painful memories. These relationships can withstand turbulent times, and can be rebuilt even if they are momentarily disrupted. Persistent relational work makes hope spring eternal.
Hirokazu Miyazaki is Kay Davis Professor and professor of Anthropology at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL. He has published extensively on exchange, hope, and peace, and is currently researching the role of cities and local governments in global affairs, particularly nuclear security. Learn more at https://mappingnuclearlegacies.com.
