Station 4 | Nara – Bern Symposium on Elderly Societies

May 7-12, 2019

Kansai | Nara Prefecture

On Tour!

Owing to their partnership established in 2015, Nara Prefecture and the Canton of Bern have exchanged on best practices in the field of aging societies during a recent visit to Nara.

The partnership between Nara Prefecture and Canton of Bern is only five years old, but it has already produced concrete results. In addition to the existing successful cooperation in the fields of forestry and youth exchanges, a possible cooperation in the field of aging societies is in preparation.

In this context, a delegation of the Canton of Bern visited Nara and met with Governor Shogo Arai on May 9, 2019, as part of a study tour of several Japanese institutions in the Prefecture that included the Nara Institute of Science and Technology and the Nara Prefecture General Medical Center. Elderly care policies and the use of technology in elderly care were at the center of the visits and discussions. The delegation from Bern was headed by Prof. Dr. Herbert Binggeli, President of the Bern University of Applied Sciences, and included Dr. Thomas Moser, Head of the Office for External Relations of Canton Bern, as well as several experts in public policies and technology innovation for elderly care.

The Ambassador of Switzerland to Japan, Jean-François Paroz, joined the delegation for the gala evening with Governor Arai, marking the fourth station of the Grand Tour of Switzerland in Japan.