TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) on Monday signed a friendship city agreement with Japan’s Nobeoka Mayor Miura Hisatomo, making it Tainan’s 62nd international partner.

According to the Tainan City Government, Huang said the two cities already work well together through industry links, including Asahi Kasei’s investment in Tainan’s Guantian District. He said Tainan will name a new road “Nobeoka Road” to mark the agreement and deepen ties.

Huang also cited long-running school exchanges between Nobeoka Technical High School and the National Cheng Kung University Affiliated Tainan Industrial Senior High School. He said student visits will be expanded to help young people broaden their horizons.

Miura said Japan and Taiwan are close “like family.” He said Nobeoka wants to learn from Tainan’s strengths in semiconductors, the digital industry, and smart cities.

Miura said students from Tainan visited Nobeoka in May, and Nobeoka schools plan to visit Tainan next year. He added that talks are underway to expand exchanges in sports, education, and culture.

Nobeoka is in northern Miyazaki Prefecture on Kyushu and has about 114,000 residents. It is an industrial city and home to Asahi Kasei Corp., which also has a subsidiary in Tainan.