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CLAIR was established as a joint organization of local governments in 1988. Our headquarters is located in Tokyo, and we have 67 branches across Japan as well as 7 overseas offices (New York, London, Paris, Singapore, Seoul, Sydney and Beijing) where we are constantly striving to promote internationalization.

Internationalization takes many forms, but the first step is for people of different nationalities to learn about and understand one another. Currently, 899 local governments in Japan (nearly half the total number) have 1,818 sister-city relationships with overseas local governments from 74 different countries and territories. They foster mutual understanding in many fields including government and youth exchange. These grassroot relationships are the bedrock of international friendship and CLAIR supports local governments in Japan that organize and engage in these exchange activities.

There are currently over 3 million international residents from 195 countries and territories in Japan. Internalization is all about people from many different cultural backgrounds who are able to live together as members of society.. CLAIR supports local governments' efforts to create comfortable environments where residents of Japan of all nationalities can respect and support each other.

Another essential component for effective internationalization is access to foreign language education and promotion of international exchange initiatives at a local level. CLAIR administers the JET Program in cooperation with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The JET Program is one of the world's biggest and most successful exchange initiatives and it brings young people to Japan from overseas to teach English in elementary, junior high, and high schools, or work towards regional internationalization in a local government. At the moment there are 5,831 JETs from 50 countries working in Japan, and over 77,000 JET Program alumni from 78 countries acting as bridges between Japan and their home countries.

As economic exchange with foreign countries continues to flourish, local governments will have to work harder to attract overseas tourists, promote regional produce abroad and strive to make economic connections with overseas governments and businesses. It is CLAIR's mission to support them in these efforts.