City of Willoughby and Suginami Ward started their sister-city relationship in 1990. In 1992, Suginami started its student dispatch program, which sends its junior high school students to Willoughby for a short-term homestay and lets them experience life in Australia.
The dispatch program was ceased due to the outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MARS) and Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) but resumed in the current for about 10 years ago.
This year marks the 10th dispatch of students in the current form, after a two-year hiatus due to the coronavirus outbreak. For this year, 28 junior high school students from Suginami are visiting Willoughby.
Some students who participated in this program are now university students and working adults.
"We conducted a survey on how the participants are doing now. Some of them are using English at work or working overseas. They say the dispatch program was motivating and became a good start for their career in a way. We gave this result to the previous Willoughby mayor (Gail Giles-Gidney) and she was pleased with what we found," Ms Fumiko Ishikawa, one of the Suginami delegates and English Supervisor of Suginami Board of Education, said.
Delegates from Suginami Ward in Tokyo meet members of a Japanese dance group based in Chatswood, NSW. Credit: SBS
Willoughby mayor Tanya Taylor attended the exchange meeting between Suginami delegates and members of a community Japanese folk dance group which is run by MOSAIC Multicultural Centre in Willoughby.
Mayor Taylor said that the sister-city relationship plays an important role in terms of Willoughby's diverse community.
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