Our Sister City has a presence in Central Park
1963. San Mateo forms a sister city relationship with Toyonaka, Japan.
Toyonaka is a city of about 400,000 people in the Osaka Prefecture in southern Japan.
The sister city relationship is reflected in Central Park in several ways:
- A five story, one ton, granite pagoda in the Japanese Garden was a gift to San Mateo from Toyonaka. It sits on the highest hill in the garden and arrived in 1966 in eight packing crates. In return, San Mateo gifted Toyonaka a bell from El Camino Real.
- In 1990, Toyonaka donated a shinden and, as its plaque states, it was given “in appreciation of our 27 years of friendship.”
- Starting in 1979 as one part of the cultural exchange, youth baseball players participate in games every 2 years. Location alternates between the 2 cities. Some San Mateo games are played at Fitzgerald field in Central Park.
- The Central Park entrance sign at Laurel Avenue is graced by two white rose bushes. These were a gift to San Mateo from Toyonaka.
1966. Installing the pagoda�The San Mateo Times