SCT Forum

Participating Countries Introduction

USA, Santa Cruz City：

The City of Santa Cruz has a very active citizenry engaging in a wide range of volunteer activities to enhance their community. In order to support the regional economy they encourage youth to operate local businesses and take individual responsibility for enhancing their local economy by supporting local business. The "Think Local First" campaign in Santa Cruz uses stickers to identify local businesses and encourage citizens to make it a priority to support them. In order to ensure safe and healthy food for future generations of local citizens the children of local organic farmers have created "Buy Fresh Buy Local" movement to encourage people to support the organic agriculture community.

'Santa Cruz Next' is another youth organization that puts on various events for the community including sports events, music events, and activities that cultivate and support the artistic community. 

As a result, the so-called 'Santa Cruz Uniqueness' defines the consciousness of the citizenry and is at the core of the city planning process where urban development is kept in check with the citizens seeking to create an autonomous and vibrant community with the goal of being more self-reliant.

Recently the 37 year old Shingu City/Santa Cruz sister city relationship has gone beyond just friendly interactions and fellowship. With the aim to restore the real value of community interaction, for the first time we have begun to attempt economic exchanges that benefit both communities. Due to these efforts and in partnership with Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz we have initiated the creation of an online learning center in Shingu City with the assistance of sister city associates in Santa Cruz.
Sri Lanka, Kandy City

As a sacred Buddhist city, Kandy, also known as the "Sacred City of Kandy", became a UNESCO WorldHeritage Site in 1988, 16 years before Kumano.

The people of Kandy continue to respect the old traditions and religious rituals and still adhere to a view of life and death backed by a deep faith. This is also reflected in the culture of mutual assistance and the extended family as the fundamental unit of society. 

 However, there has been a trend in Sri Lanka to move lower on the Gross National Happiness Index (GNI) as the educational levels and opportunity gap grows between urban and rural areas. This is tending to disturb the foundations of this ancient culture leading to the deterioration of the invisible connections that bond this community. With the government not having a clear strategic tourism policy and falling back on the old "Exotic Green Jem Island: Ceylon" present tourist policy is still geared towards Western tourists. However, this has suffered considerably due to the civil war in Sri Lanka and tourism income has, as a result, dropped considerably.

Comparing Kumano and Kandy we see a lot of commonalities. Kumano is known as a "Sacred Pilgrimage Site" and Kandy is also known as the "Sacred City of Kandy". Both are World Heritage Sites because of their long spiritual and religious history based on their identity as sacred power spots. They also share traditions of Theravada Buddhism and the tradition of bringing together Buddhism and indigenous divine entities as in the Shinto tradition in Japan. Both regions have abundant natural, cultural, and historical resources that can be the foundation of a new form of tourism that focuses on the people, communities, and the heritage of sustainability. Kumano as an ancient pilgrimage destination and Kandy as a sacred and ancient capital of the Sinhalese Dynasty are both naturally attractive destinations for people wanting to experience and learn from traditions that still honor the family, nature, and community. 

While Shingu and and the Kumano region as a whole is experiencing an aging population and depopulation of rural areas, Kandy is grappling with low levels of education and poverty.