The Swiss in Japan

Around 1,400 Swiss nationals live in Japan and are connected through the Swiss Club Tokyo and the Swiss Society of the Kansai.

Swiss Club Tokyo

The origins of the Swiss Club Tokyo date back to 1974, when employees of the former Swiss embassy invited the local Swiss community to a garden party at the old embassy. The aim was to bring Swiss nationals together, establish contacts with new arrivals, make friends and exchange experiences. The event was a great success and laid the foundation for the establishment of the Swiss Club Tokyo. Today, the club has around 200 members aged between 1 and 85 and is a central meeting place for the Swiss community in the Greater Tokyo area.

Swiss Society of the Kansai

The Swiss Society of the Kansai was founded in 1979 with the aim of cultivating Swiss traditions and culture and promoting exchange and mutual understanding among Swiss people in the Kansai region. It is a non-political and non-profit organisation. A particular concern is to strengthen its members’ connection to their homeland Switzerland – especially through the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad (OSA) – and to deepen the friendship and promote cultural exchanges with Japan.

Around 1,300–1,400 Swiss nationals currently live in Japan. Around 60% of these have settled in the Greater Tokyo Area, including Kanagawa, while around 20% live in the Kansai region, including Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe. The remaining 20% are spread across other parts of the country.

There are two active associations for the Swiss community: the Swiss Club Tokyo for the Kanto region and the Swiss Society of the Kansai in the Osaka–Kobe–Kyoto area. Both organise a Swiss National Day celebration for their region. The Swiss Club Tokyo also offers a monthly get-together, a family picnic, a year-end party together with the Swiss Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan, and spontaneous activities such as hikes and urban walks. In December, the community also comes together for a Christmas event for families in the garden of the Swiss residence. The club also maintains close ties with the Swiss representation in Tokyo and is involved in activities such as the Swiss Young Professionals Networking meetings.

The Swiss Society of the Kansai has a similarly good relationship with the Swissnex Consulate in Osaka and regularly organises barbecues in spring and autumn, as well as a cosy Christmas raclette celebration with Santa Claus.

In Japan, Swiss people usually encounter a small number of persistent but largely positive clichés:

Heidi, the Alps and the idyllic mountain world – for many Japanese, Switzerland is a picture-book country with green meadows, cows with bells and lots of snow. Heidi plays a special role in this: in Japan, she is an extremely popular cartoon character and is almost considered a cultural icon.
Punctuality and precision – Swiss people are considered reliable, precise and well organised. Trains run on time, clocks keep good time too – and spontaneous improvisation tends to be the exception.
Watches, banks and prosperity – Switzerland is associated with luxury watches, banks and the quiet assumption that all Swiss people are somehow rich.
Neutrality and calm – Swiss people come across as peaceful, reserved, diplomatic and trustworthy – rarely loud, rarely given to drama.
Cleanliness and order – Everything is clean, safe and perfectly organised. This includes world-class waste separation.

In short: Heidi meets Rolex, framed by mountains, punctuality and cultivated reserve – an image that is perfectly acceptable in Japan.