Wednesday, October 15, 2025–10:05 a.m.
-David Crowder, WRGA News-
A small delegation from Rome recently visited Kumamoto City to celebrate 30 years of being sister cities.
Rome City Commissioner Jamie Doss was part of the delegation, and he called the short trip a success.
“We met with all of the Kumamoto officials, including the mayor,” he said. “The big news is, they made a commitment to send a delegation to Rome next year. We don’t really know the size of the delegation, but even the mayor of Kumamoto stated that he would like to come to Rome.”
The delegation gave out prints of Rome’s Clocktower to Kumamoto City officials.
“We have a clock tower, and Kumamoto has a castle,” Doss said. “It has a great history. Another similar fact about Kumamoto and Rome—both our cities were devastated during our civil wars. They had a civil war after our civil war, and just like the South in America, the South in Japan also lost the war. They are very proud of their history, just like we are, but it’s just another similar fact about Rome and Kumamoto.”
Perhaps the one difference between Kumamoto City and Rome is size, as Kumamoto City has a population of over 700,000.
“Our original sister city relationship was with a city called Ueki Town,” Doss said. “Ueki Town is now a part of Kumamoto. The population of Ueki Town is similar to Rome in the 40,000 range. Now, we are celebrating with Kumamoto, and really, for us, it’s a step up.”
In years past, the relationship has included students and elected officials from Rome visiting Kumamoto, and vice versa.
Doss was a guest on Wednesday’s First News with Doug Walker on WRGA.