The city partnership agreement was signed in 1976 first between Sanada Town and Davos. Since the restructuring of cities in 2006, Sanada Town was merged to Ueda and the sister relationship has been taken over since then by Ueda city. This year marks the 40th anniversary, which is one of the oldest relationships between Switzerland and Japan.
The anniversary was the occasion to highlight and strengthen the existing ties between the two cities. Davos, known for its scenic wintery imagery such as sledging on the snow-covered mountains of the Engadin region, is also famous for hosting the World Economic Forum Annual meeting, which brings together political and business leaders from all around the world.
Sugadaira, located in Nagano prefecture, holds a similar mountain landscape. It is one of the earliest ski resorts in Japan and some of its ski slopes and hills are named “Davos” in honour of the two cities partnership. Since 2008, the bond grew even stronger when the Sugadaira Trail Run was launched inspired by the Davos Swissalpine Marathon; a sister relationship between the two races was born.