Kutchan ― St. Moritz (1964)

Hokkaido | Kutchan Town

City Partnerships

Thirty-seven years after a princely visit to Hokkaido, the very first sister cities alliance between Switzerland and Japan was signed. Find out how the two events are related!

A resort of imperial standard

Kutchan is a charming town of 15,000 inhabitants hidden at 50 km southwest of Sapporo, in a valley surrounded by the Niseko Annupuri and Mount Yotei. Thanks to its ski resort skiing area, fresh powder snow, and mouth-watering gousetsu-udon (made from potatoes), the town has long attracted foreign visitors from all over Asia and Japan - even the most prestigious ones.

In 1927, His Imperial Highness Prince Chichibu travelled to Hokkaido to see Japanese athletes prepare for the upcoming St. Moritz Olympics, and took this opportunity to ski on Mt. Niseko Annupuri and Mt. Chisenupuri. Journalists who followed him later reported his visit to the Kutchan area with the headline “The St. Moritz of the East”. The nickname did remain in the minds of Japanese mountains enthusiasts, and became a selling point to attract tourists to Kutchan.

Handkerchiefs as witnesses

Inspired by such flattering and fortunate coverage of his home region, Kutchan Mayor Seikichi Takahashi seized the occasion of an inspection trip to the Innsbruck Olympics to pay a short visit to St. Moritz in early 1964. Upon his arrival in the beautiful mountain resort on February 1, he quickly arranged a meeting with his counterpart Mayor Sartomo to submit the idea of a sister alliance on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of diplomatic relations between their two countries. His proposal was immediately met with enthusiasm, and both men signed an improvised gentlemen’s agreement on their handkerchiefs.

Kutchan’s official request was then rapidly sent to St. Moritz on March 19, and was officially accepted by the Swiss town on June 11. The two towns thus officially became the very first twinned Swiss and Japanese entities, right on time for the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games! Once again, St. Moritz had charmed one of its guests – like it always had over the past century.

Switzerland’s most fruitful wager

Hidden between peaks at an altitude of 1,856 meters in eastern Switzerland, St. Moritz is a small and charming town that enjoys over 300 days of sunshine a year. Once a popular destination for pilgrims seeking for therapeutic springs and mild climate, its rise to international fame as a premiere ski resort occurred thanks to a simple wager made by hotelier Johannes Badrutt and a few wealthy British summer tourists.

In September 1864, Badrutt promised four of his guests that if they came back in the winter, they would still be able to enjoy the mild Engadin sunshine on his terrace in their shirtsleeves. If not, he would pay their travel costs. Surely enough, the Britons came back at Christmas – and returned home only at Easter, tanned, relaxed, and happy. Thanks to word of mouth, the station gained a great popularity and practically launched European Alpine winter tourism. St. Moritz soon became a favorite excursion destination for celebrated and cultivated guests, including Charlie Chaplin, Brigitte Bardot, and even the Kennedy family!

Moreover, St. Moritz developed a remarkable pioneering spirit, being at the forefront of winter sports trends and establishing facilities and competitions (such as the "White Turf" international horse races in February) that today are considered a matter of course. Unsurprisingly, St. Moritz was chosen twice to host the Winter Olympic Games (in 1928 and 1948), and is nowadays almost synonym of winter sports in the collective imagination.

Half a century of exchanges

Ever since the agreement was signed, student exchanges, delegations visits and correspondences have flourished between St. Moritz and Kutchan. Manhole covers celebrating the partnership can be found in various places in Kutchan, and in December 2005, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the agreement, the Japanese town symbolically inaugurated its new “St. Moritz Bridge” - which undoubtedly offers one of the best view on Mt. Niseko Annupuri. In 2014, the double anniversary of the twinning and of the Swiss-Japanese diplomatic relations was dully celebrated in Hokkaido in presence of Mayor Fukushima Seiji, Mayor Sigi Asprion, and Urs Bucher, Ambassador of Switzerland to Japan. Try attending the next celebrations, and you are guaranteed to witness the truest expression of the long-lasting friendships that have connected Japanese and Swiss people ever since they first encountered.