Lodi Sister City Committee

Meetings

  • JACL Hall
  • 210 E Elm Street
  • Lodi, CA 95240

Agendas and Minutes

For information regarding meetings, please contact Pam Farris, Assistant City Clerk, at 209-333-6702, or by e-mail.

View Most Recent Agendas and Minutes

Committee Information

The Lodi Sister City Committee was established in 1961. Although a brief school scrapbook exchange took place with Lodi, Italy, in 1958 on the occasion of the Italian city’s 800th year, a more active relationship with Kofu, Japan, began in 1964, when Lodi representatives went to Kofu for the city’s 75th anniversary.

Since then, gifts of Tokay grapevines to Kofu; of a miniature shrine and a granite marker and cherry trees for Lodi’s Kofu Park; a student art exchange with Lodi, Italy; and visits and letters to and from both cities have marked over 40 years of the California Lodi’s sister city relationships.

The purpose of the Lodi Sister City Committee is to promote the ideals of offering exciting opportunities for involvement in international relations through exchanges of persons, products, and ideals through cultural, educational, technical, professional, municipal, youth, and sports activities. Lodi’s sister cities are Kofu, Japan and Lodi, Italy. 

Brochure about Lodi's Sister City Committee

Kofu, Japan

Kofu, the capital of Yamanashi Prefecture, is located in the Kofu basin surrounded by mountains, including the Japanese Alps and Mt. Fuji. It can be reached from Tokyo in two hours by rail and three hours by car.

The Kofu basin is located in the midst of hot springs, grapevines, and many temples and historic sites. The scenic gorge of Shosenkyo and the five lakes around Mt. Fuji provide beautiful areas for sightseeing.

The city itself has shown amazing growth, is the center of politics, economy, culture, and transportation in Yamanashi Prefecture, and is known for its manufacture of jewelry made of crystal, natural stones, and pearls; purses, belts, and wallets made of specially tanned buckskin; and wines made from vines, which include some grafted with Tokay vines sent from Lodi, CA.

The dianthus is the flower of Kofu; the oak, the tree; and the kingfisher, the bird.

After the Age of Civil Wars, during which Kofu was ruled by the famous warlord Shingen Takeda, the city was brought under direct rule by the Tokugawa Shogunate. Born in 1521, Warlord Shingen is still honored with an annual festival in Kofu. In 2019, Kofu will celebrate the 500th anniversary of its establishment.

Lodi, Italy

Lodi is a city of 52,000 people, located on the Plains of Lombardy in Northern Italy, an area known as the Lodigiano throughout its history. It is 43 kms. southeast of Milan, home of grand opera’s famed La Scala and one of several notable universities in the area.

Situated as it is among four rivers, Lodi has been valuable for its lush farming throughout the 150 years it has been known as Lodi. A Roman village, large enough to rate a cathedral, was recorded as Laos Pompeia in the fourth century A.D.

In its early life, Lodi underwent raids and battles, one of which was the famous battle at the bridge spanning the Adda River, a victory against Austria. (This event purportedly gave Lodi, CA, its name.)

Ceramic manufacture has been an important industry since the first century A.D., and there are cheese factories, laboratories, and other kinds of industry.

Central old Lodi is a network of narrow streets and open squares based on an ancient network of roads. It is known for its wrought ironwork and for several fine churches and the Cathedral of the Annunciation, begun in 1160.

The city boasts a museum, a civic library, a theater, and facilities for several kinds of sports.