Wellington Sakai Association

ウェリントン堺協会

The Wellington Sakai Association is a group of Wellington residents who work alongside the City Council to foster social, cultural and sport relationships between the people of Wellington and Sakai City, Japan.

Wellington and Sakai have a wide variety of exchanges, including the Wellington Children’s Art Exhibition, and has also included the annual Marathon Exchange.

About us

The idea of the Sakai-Wellington sister city relationship was originally promoted by the Japanese Ambassador to New Zealand, Takeo Iguchi.

 In 1993, Fran Wilde, then Mayor of Wellington, visited Sakai and signed an agreement to set up a sister city relationship. On 4 February 1994 in Wellington the Mayor of Sakai, Hideo Hataya, and Mayor Wilde formally signed the sister city agreement.

The Wellington Sakai Association was set up in 1995. The mission of the association is to support the Council in the development of the sister city relationship with Sakai. There is also a Sakai Wellington Association in Japan. 

• Our committee 2024-2025

• Our projects

Meet Honeywa

HONEYWA is the "yuru-kyara", or mascot character, of the Wellington Sakai Association, representing the strong connection and relationship between the cities of Wellington and Sakai.

HONEYWA is a combination of a HANIWA, a traditional burial figure in Japan that is found in the burial mounds of Japan, especially in Sakai, and the Beehive here in Wellington! Because she's from the beehive, she's got HONEY! And the WA in her name is the Japanese word for PEACE! Of course, she's in the shape of a HANIWA, too!