55th Anniversary Lyon

©marie_perrin, Lyon Tourism and Conventions

The year 2014 marks the 55th anniversary of the conclusion in 1959 of sister-city relations between the cities of Yokohama and Lyon, France.

From its opening until WWII, the port of Yokohama was one of the major points of export of raw silk in Japan. Exports of raw silk from Yokohama soon became very important to the silk goods industry of Europe, with Lyon at its center. It is with this historical bond through silk as background that the cities established friendly relations.

Both cities concentrated efforts toward economic, cultural, and civic exchanges in deepening their cooperative relation. On the occasion of this 55th anniversary, the cities would like to look back on the history and outcomes of these many exchanges, to further deepen the cooperation and connection between people in fields such as business, culture and tourism, and to link the endeavors to future growth for both cities.

To promote commemorative events and spark interest throughout the city, Yokohama came up with a commemorative logo. This logo can be used freely until December 31st, 2014 (under certain rules) by event operators to link up their event as a celebration of the 55th anniversary.

The official logo can be downloaded on this Japanese page created for this commemoration.

Many activities will be held in Yokohama throughout the year to celebrate this 55th anniversary. A fine example of this is the opening of the Month of France in Yokohama. “Institut français du Japon – Yokohama” (IF) holds a series of event every year under the banner of “Month of France.” As this year coincides with the important anniversary for Lyon and Yokohama, IF has decided to join efforts for certain events that have to do with the relationship between the 2 cities.

For example, an artist from Lyon will be featured for the concert of June 1st marking the opening of the 47-day festival. In addition, on June 12th will be held a conference and debate on the use of decommissioned or disused sites toward urban revitalization ends. Both events are free, and although knowledge of French or Japanese is necessary to participate to the conference, the concert is definitely an event that can be enjoyed by any music or art lover regardless of language!

Please see below for links to IF’s webpage (French and Japanese) for more details. And check out the Japanese site as links to more and more events will be added as they come.

From Industrial Wasteland to Artist Residence（外部サイト）

(Cette page en français)

Note: The events on this page have concluded in 2014.