News from the Lord Mayor's Office, 2 October 2025
By Wollongong Lord Mayor Councillor Tania Brown
Late last year, I welcomed a delegation of leaders from Kawaski City who had travelled from Japan to learn more about our city.
They were keen to have a deeper understanding of the steps we’re taking to make Wollongong more sustainable through emissions reduction, and to learn from our urban planning and environmental management knowledge and experiences.
We’ve had a long-standing connection with Kawasaki City since a Sister City Relationship was established in 1988.
Over the years, educational and cultural exchanges have been the focus of our relationship.
Read: From the Lord Mayor's Office: Valuing the Kawasaki Connection
Next week, in response to an invitation to mark Kawasaki’s 100th anniversary in 2024, I will make a whirlwind visit to Japan. Over four busy days I’ll attend a number of civic events, including meetings with the Mayor of Kawasaki City and Chairperson of the Kawasaki City Council as well as representatives from Kawasaki Shinkin Bank. The Bank has supported the Kawasaki Junior Cultural Art and Essay Prize for 29 years.
I’ll meet with city leaders to learn more about how they’re supporting their community with diverse housing, their construction, maintenance and planning of community facilities and how they’re supporting the cruise industry.
These are important conversations as, like Wollongong, Kawasaki is a port city. It’s also an important hub for maritime transportation and logistics, and is closely connected to the industrial areas of greater Tokyo.
With a number of Japanese businesses that have close connections and interest in Port Kembla, there is much we can learn from one another.
I’m looking forward to my time in Kawasaki on this relationship-building and fact-finding mission.
I’ll be looking for opportunities to build on Council’s existing relationship with Kawasaki and find opportunities to co-operate, share ideas and encourage business investment and economic activity in our respective cities.
It’s an exciting time for Wollongong and I’ll be certain to report back to our community my experiences and learnings upon my return.