Japan Swiss Society

Kanto | Tokyo, Ota Ward (Secretariat)

Clubs & Associations

Sixty years and counting: the first society between Switzerland and Japan remains a reference and counts members of the highest rank.

Founded in April 1955, more eighty years after the establishment of diplomatic relations between Switzerland and Japan, the Japan Swiss Society is the first institution ever created for the purpose of associating Swiss and Japanese people and fostering friendship and exchanges of culture between them. Shared ideals, such as the ones of Henri Dunant (Swiss founder of the International Committee of the Red Cross), are also an important driver and a frequent topic of discussion.

Today, the Japan Swiss Society is comprised of a large number of individual members and corporate members of both nationalities, who through their active participation have promoted the Society into a leading member of the international community in Japan. Its independent counterpart in Switzerland operates under the name of Swiss Japanese Society. Each year the Japan Swiss Society sponsors a certain number of projects related to Swiss culture, as well as social events -such as the prestigious Japan-Swiss Spring Ball in collaboration with the Embassy of Switzerland in Japan and the Swiss Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan (SCCIJ).

The Japan Swiss Society is guided by a Board of Directors made up of Japanese and Swiss members. Its President, Tadateru Konoe, devoted his whole life to date to the activities of the Red Cross, both locally in Japan as the President of the Japanese Red Cross Society and also on the global scale as the President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies for two consecutive terms from 2010 to 2017. On May 8, 2018, His Imperial Majesty the Emperor personally awarded him with the "Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun", the highest degree of honor in Japan, in recognition of his remarkable contribution.