The Secretariat of the Headquarters for the Promotion of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games has announced on April 27 that Oita City is officially teaming up with Switzerland for the 2020 Host Town Initiative. The announcement was made via a newly-updated list of host towns. The Ambassador of Switzerland to Japan, Mr. Jean-François Paroz will consequently travel to Oita, located in the northeast of Kyushu, next month to greet local officials and start planning events between local residents and the visiting Swiss Olympians.

Among them, wheelchair racers will be the most eagerly awaited, as the city has hosted the Oita International Wheelchair Marathon on a yearly basis since 1981. Swiss athletes such as Olympic medalists Heinz Frei or Marcel Hug won first place in 20 of the 37 editions of the competition.

The Host Town Initiative was designed by the Japanese government to promote educational and sports exchanges between the population, foreign countries and visiting Olympic teams before and during the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. Showcases, lectures and workshops will be held all across Japan, providing athletes, Japanese people living outside Tokyo and foreigners in general with the opportunity to create and cultivate friendship ties that will outlast 2020.

In June and December 2016, the Secretariat also respectively announced that Oyamazaki Town and Fukushima City would host Switzerland towards 2020.