The Tacoma-Kitakyushu Sister City Committee has successfully partnered a student exchange project with Tobata High School in Kitakyushu, Japan since 2000. The exchange is for one year and a local student from Tacoma and a Japanese student attend school in the opposite country. Students have the opportunity to attend school and homestay. This exchange allows the both students to improve their foreign language skills and experience school and family life in another culture. The student exchange project was a biennial exchange program in 2006.