City introduction
Japan's Wakayama Castle is located in Wakayama County (the equivalent of a provincial capital city in China). On January 14, 1983, Wakayama and Jinan established a friendly city relationship, which was the earliest Chinese international friendly city relationship.
Wakayama is on the southwest of the Japanese coast, conveniently close to the big cities of Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe. It covers 210 square kilometers and has a population of 374,000. The city has 400 years of history and was officially set up as a city in 1889.
Wakayama is developed in iron and steel, chemicals, foundries, knitting, printing and dyeing, leather making, machinery manufacturing and other industries, as well as agriculture and fishery.
Wakayama boasts a beautiful natural environment and a mild climate. The annual average temperature is 16 C, with annual rainfall of 1,454 millimeters. Wakayama Castle looks over the downtown from the top of a hill and has become the symbol of the city.
Transport is convenient in the city as trains run frequently to Osaka and Nara, and steamboats seem to go everywhere else. The city has a developed education system, with three universities, 17 high schools, 26 junior high schools and 58 primary schools.
Wakayama has three other sister cities:
* Backus Field, California, established July 14, 1961
* Richmond, Canada, established March 31, 1973
* Cheju-do, South Korea, established November 12, 1987
Wakayama and Jinan
Since the establishment of sister city relationships with Wakayama, friendly exchange visits with Jinan have been carried out smoothly. The Japanese send two friendly delegations to Jinan led by their president or vice-president or the mayor or vice-mayor every year. Our city sends one or two delegations to Wakayama every year. On these visits we exchange views and information on the economy, culture, education, social welfare and other fields. In October 2004, the mayor of Wakayama led a delegation to Jinan, and a month later Jiang Daming on behalf of the Jinan Municipal Party Committee visited Wakayama with an economic and trade delegation. In June 2006, the mayor Bao Zhiqiang led a Jinan City Government delegation to visit Wakayama. In June 2007, the then mayor Zhang Jianguo led a Jinan City Government delegation to Wakayama.
