Dallas-Sendai International Friendship Cities
Two cities. One friendship. A world of possibility. Dallas and Sendai became International Friendship Cities in August 1997, when Mayor Ron Kirk and Mayor Hajimu Fujii signed a formal agreement in Sendai. Since then, the Japan-America Society has supported exchange activities for high school students, athletes, and members of the general public. Thanks to these citizen ambassadors, the relationship between our two cities grows stronger each year.
History
1992 — Mayor Steve Bartlett leads first Dallas delegation to Sendai.
1996 — First Dallas team participates in Sendai International Half Marathon.
1996 — Sendai sends a 100-person delegation to the Sun & Star 1996 Festival in Dallas. The visitors display 40 Tanabata decorations and hold a cultural fair at NorthPark Center.
1997 — Mayor Ron Kirk and Mayor Hajimu Fujii sign International Friendship Cities Agreement in Sendai on August 29.
1998 — Nine Dallas students visit Sendai, becoming the first Dallas-Sendai Young Ambassadors.
2007 — The City of Dallas, Japan-America Society of Dallas/Fort Worth, and the Crow Collection of Asian Art present Texas Serenade, a sculpture by Eliseo Garcia, to the City of Sendai on August 29 in honor of ten years of international friendship. Photos
2011 — After the Great East Japan Earthquake, the Japan-America Society of Dallas/Fort Worth collected over $187,000 from hundreds of generous donors for the Sendai Relief Fund. These funds were donated to Lions Club International for rebuilding the Mori no Sato nursing facility.
2013 — A grant from the TOMODACHI Initiative, the NAJAS-TOMODACHI Grassroots Exchange Program, revived the Dallas-Sendai Young Ambassadors program, suspended in 2011 following the earthquake and tsunami. Photos
2015-16 — The Japan-America Society donates a cherry tree – the “Dallas-Sendai Friendship Tree” – and stone monument to commemorate the reopening of Mori no Sato. Photos
