Ginowan is located in the central part of Okinawa, Japan, about 12 kilometers from Naha, the prefectural capital of Okinawa. It is the transportation hub between the central and northern parts of the island. It covers an area of 19.69 square kilometers and has a population of about 90,000 people.
With a subtropical monsoon climate and an average annual temperature of 22.4 C, Ginowan is a famous tourist destination in Japan.
In November 1985, Ginowan and Xiamen began conducting friendly exchange activities centering around sports. Since then, their relationship has been strengthened continuously. The two cities signed an agreement on the establishment of friendly exchange relations in November 1995.
Ginowan attaches great importance to its friendship with Xiamen. Since the agreement was signed, the two sides have held friendly exchanges in areas like government administration, education, shipping, and firefighting.
Delegations from Ginowan led by the city's government officials have participated in the China International Fair for Investment and Trade, which is hosted annually in Xiamen from Sept 8 to 11.
Taking the 40th anniversary of the founding of Ginowan as an opportunity, the city has also selected one student from its citizens every year to study Chinese at Xiamen University of Technology since 2002.
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the friendly relations, government leaders of Ginowan, along with 25 officials and citizens, visited Xiamen in Nov 2005.
In May 2007, a delegation from Xiamen, headed by Wang Xingyu, then deputy director of the Standing Committee of the Xiamen People's Congress, visited Ginowan, and was presented with a traditional three-stringed musical instrument of Okinawa.
Ginowan was the first city among Xiamen's international friends to present a musical instrument, in response to the initiative to collect music instruments for establishing a special museum on Gulangyu Island.
