The Portland-Sapporo Sister City Association is located in beautiful Portland, OR, home to a vibrant and thriving Japanese community. Our relationship with Sapporo started in 1959 and is Portland's longest running Sister City relationship. PSSCA is celebrating our 50th year and look forward to many more years of friendship and cooperation. Through our relationship with Sapporo, thousands of Portland children and adults are exposed to Japanese culture by group affiliations and special events.

Sapporo is located on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. Sapporo and Portland are similar in size, geography, and citizens' attitude toward open spaces and a clean environment. Also, check out the Touring Hokkaido video in the Photo Gallery section. Hokkaido has amazing variety and this video gives the viewer a quick look at all Hokkaido has to offer.

An active all-volunteer organization, PSSCA has been the recipient of many awards over the years. Some of the most recent are:

• Readers Digest Foundation Award for outstanding Sister City programs (6 times)
• Japan Foreign Minister's Commendation - 2004
• Portland Mayor's Spirit Award - 2004

Our 45th Anniversary celebration was huge success in both cities, with official delegations traveling to the Sister city for a week-long celebration. PSSCA hosted 84 Sapporo citizens in June, 2004 for a series of special events, visits with businesses and civic leaders, and a picnic attended by several hundred people. A delegation from Portland visited Sapporo in February, 2005 lead by Portland Mayor Tom Potter and wife Karin Hansen. Our delegation of 40+ enjoyed 5 days of special events, headlined by the opening ceremonies of the world famous Sapporo Snow Festival. Both groups had an excellent experience in their Sister city. We anticipate similar pleasant times in our special anniversary year.

Portland-Sapporo Sister City Association is an independent, non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation focused on promoting cross-cultural understanding and friendship between the citizens of Portland, OR and Sapporo, Japan. PSSCA has a volunteer Board of Directors and no paid staff. We depend on community support through sponsors, membership, donations, and volunteers for our funding.

Some of the activities we sponsor or participate in:

• Youth and Women's Education Exchange
• International Youth Fest Exchange
• Oregon Shizen Kyampu
• Portland State University Exchange Program
• Junior Goodwill Sports Exchange
• Sister City Concerts
• High School Educators' Exchange
• Sister Schools Exchange
• Coordinating affiliations between businesses, schools, service clubs and others
• Hosting Sapporo delegations throughout the year
• Events promoting trade with Sapporo and the country of Japan
• Coordinating with the Portland Mayor's Office of International Relations

More information about PSSCA is found on our Documents page.

We hope you spend some time looking around our site and learning more about this special relationship.