History of the St. Marys Awaji City Sister City Program
| 1985 | The Sister City Resolution was passed by St. Marys City Council and Hokudan-Cho, Japan. |
| 1986 | The first official adult visit of 20 individuals from Hokudan-Cho, Japan visited St. Marys, Ohio |
| 1987 | First official adult visit from St. Marys to Hokudan-Cho, Japan, along with a Reverse Investment Trade Mission to visit companies in Japan. Contacts were made with Tachi-S and Hitachi Metals. Company Officials from Hitachi Metals and Tachi-S visited St. Marys to look for a possible site for new industry. Both chose St. Marys and construction began for AAP St. Marys Corporation and Setex, Inc. |
| 1988 | The Annual Youth Exchange Program began. |
| 1991 | St. Marys hosted the Keidanren CBCC during their mission to the Midwest USA |
| 1992 | First Teacher and Health Professional Exchange. A teacher and health professional from St. Marys worked in the clinics and schools of Hokudan-Cho during June; a teacher from Hokudan-Cho was in the St. Marys School System during the month of September. |
| 1995 | Hokudan-Cho was devastated by the Great Hanshin Earthquake. St. Marys residential raised $25,000.00 for aid to our Sister City. |
| 1996 | Two carpenters from St. Marys traveled to Hokudan-Cho to assist in the earthquake relief efforts. Ohio materials were used to construct 2 American style homes in Hokudan-Cho. One home is used for their medical clinic. Midmark Corp., Versailles, Ohio, donated a medical examining table and sterilizer for use in the clinic. The City of St. Marys was presented with an award from Sister Cities International for the Best Overall Sister City Program for communities under 50,000 population. |
| 1998 | An adult delegation from St. Marys traveled to Japan for the Grand Opening of the Akashi Bridge, which connects Awaji Island to the main island of Honshu. This bridge is the longest suspension bridge in the world between two pillars and took over 10 years to build. |
| 1999 | Mrs. Hope Taft, First Lady of Ohio, visited St. Marys to learn more about the Japanese lifestyle before she visited Japan in February 2000. |
| 2003 | Mrs. Etsuko Araki traveled to St. Marys for 3 months, where she instructed a eight week class in the Japanese language. |
| 2004 | An Adult delegation from Awaji City visited St. Marys to celebrate our 20th Anniversary as Sister Cities. |
| 2005 | Hokudan-Cho merged with four other communities on Awaji Island to form a new city known as Awaji City. St. Marys and Awaji city entered into a new friendship agreement to continue our Sister City relationship already in existence. |
| 2009 | First Skype telecommunication between Awaji City and St. Marys. |