Main focus of cooperation
Exchange of experiences and workshops on the following subjects:
- Environment (regular exchange on the part of the Environmental Protection and Health Promotion departments)
- Transportation
- Administrative reform
- Youth crime prevention
- Domestic violence against women
- Senior citizens
Youth and teacher exchange:
- Teachers’ visits to both cities
- Annual youth exchange organized by Heidelberg’s association of youth organizations, alternating between Heidelberg and Kumamoto, since 1993
- Participation since 1997 by young people from Kumamoto in the International Summer Science School Heidelberg (ISH), an annual international exchange program organized by the City of Heidelberg to encourage young scientists and international exchange
Exchange between citizens, associations and institutions:
- Visits by groups of citizens
- Annual medical exchange between Heidelberg University Hospital and Kumamoto Municipal Hospital
- International sports symposia with Heidelberg’s twin cities organized by Sportkreis Heidelberg in conjunction with the City of Heidelberg and Heidelberg University since 1999
- Exchange between the societies of deaf people in Heidelberg and Kumamoto
- In 2008, through the contacts of Sportkreis Heidelberg the German Olympic swimming team was able to prepare for the Beijing Olympic Games in a training camp in Kumamoto
Cultural exchange:
- Heidelberg Week in Kumamoto in 1980, 2002 and 2006 as a focal point of Germany Year in Japan
- Japan Week in Heidelberg in 1986 and the Kumamoto Week of Encounters in Heidelberg within the framework of Japan Year in Germany in 2000, with “Yabusame” (horseback archery) on the Neckar meadows, a Kumamoto exhibition in the lobby of the city hall, a Samurai exhibition at the museum of ethnology, etc.
- Numerous concerts in Heidelberg and Kumamoto, some of them organized by the Heidelberg-Kumamoto friendship society
- Numerous exhibitions
