A delegation from Tono, Japan, will be visiting Chattanooga to celebrate the formation of a new Chattanooga sister city with Tono.
Tono Mayor Toshiaki Honda and the delegation will be visiting Chattanooga Jan. 11-13. During this visit, there will be a sister city welcome celebration, dedication of a sister city tree at Coolidge Park and tours of the city.
There will also be Tono send-off party with a Chattanooga music showcase at the Edney on the fifth floor on Jan. 12 at 7 p.m.
Tono was announced as Chattanooga's newest sister city in September.
The two cities began cultivating their relationship 26 years ago through an exchange student program at the Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences and the Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts. Since then, hundreds of middle and high school students from Chattanooga and Japan have participated in the exchange.
The Chattanooga-Tono sister city mission is to share cultures and to foster friendships, encourage business relations and promote innovation and collaboration between the cities and country.
Chattanooga has seven other sister cities, including Hamm, Germany; Wolfsburg, Germany; Wuxi, China; Givatayim, Israel; Nizhnii Tagil, Russia; Gangneung, China and Manfredonia, Italy.