Takatsuki's Mishima High School marks 10th study tour visit from Japan
Published on 25 July 2025
Twenty-four students and a teacher from Mishima High School in Takatsuki, Japan today (Friday, July 25, 2025) were welcomed to Toowoomba City Hall at a Mayoral reception marking the tenth study exchange between the Sister Cities.
Toowoomba Region Mayor Cr Geoff McDonald and Councillors welcomed the students, aged from 15 to 18, along with Mishima High School teacher, Mr Tatsuki, and tour group representative Mr Kenji Baba, who are visiting on a study exchange until August 1.
The tours are coordinated by the Australia Japan Study Programme, which was represented at the reception by Tour Coordinator Susan Dodt, Shuko Ince and Satomi Thomsen. The group is being hosted by Centenary Heights State High School.
“On behalf of Council and our Region’s residents, I welcome you to Australia’s Garden City and our wider Region,” Mayor McDonald said.
“I’m pleased to acknowledge this milestone as we mark the tenth visit to Toowoomba by Mishima High School from our Sister City, Takatsuki, since the exchange program started in 2012.
“Your visit continues to strengthen the Sister City relationship, first established in November 1991, through mutually beneficial exchanges in education, culture, sport, and commerce.
“Your study tour takes the number of students who have joined one of the study tours to 263 participants.
“There is no better way to enhance your language and cultural studies than by escaping the classroom and experiencing life with Australian students and their families.”
Mayor McDonald expressed his thanks to the delegation’s host school, Centenary Heights State High School, with additional support from the Australia Japan Study Programme.
“The success of these visits lies is in the personal exchanges between the students and staff from Centenary Heights State High School and the host families with the visiting delegation,” Mayor McDonald said.
“Our Region enjoys a strong relationship with Takatsuki and Japan. It is a friendship that we value deeply and one we celebrate again today.”
Study Toowoomba chair Peter Homan welcomed the visiting student group saying: “I hope you enjoy everything about our beautiful town and Region”.
The Mishima High School delegation will take part in daily school activities with designated students and additional English as a Second Language activities covering agriculture, art, Indigenous studies, Australian culture and food.
Takatsuki, with a population of 355,000 people, is located halfway between Osaka and Kyoto in the southern section of the Honshu Island of Japan.
Caption: Mishima High School students Ayane Morita (second from left) and Shunsuke Hori at today’s reception for the Takatsuki study tour group with Cr Trevor Manteufel (left), Toowoomba Region Mayor Cr Geoff McDonald and Cr Carol Taylor.
