Miyama-so　

The Former Swiss Legation (Miyama-so)

 

“In the early years of the Showa era (1926-1989), Eijiro Maeda, a Tokyo entrepreneur, bought land in the Mikasa area of Karuizawa to establish Maeda-go, a village of summer rental cottages. Maeda-go Honkan, the main building of Maeda-go, was a log house made of polished Japanese larch trees indigenous to Karuizawa. In 1933, Maeda built a couple of dozen cottages around this main building. The biggest building in the village was built in 1942, the year after the onset of the Pacific War. This building, named Miyama-so, had a three-story tower.

In May 1944, Karuizawa was designated as an evacuation area for foreign diplomats under Japanese government guidelines, with Hakone and Lake Kawaguchi being the other designated areas. Miyama-so became the evacuation office of the Swiss Legation.

Diplomatic corps evacuated to Karuizawa came from 13 nations – Switzerland (at Miyama-so), Afghanistan, Argentina, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, the Republic of China (Taiwan), Rumania, Spain, Sweden, and Turkey- and the International Committee of the Red Cross. As of June 1, 1945, the number of diplomats and family members there was about 250, according to historical records at the Diplomatic Record Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Swiss Legation, headed by Minister Camille Gorgé, led the foreign diplomatic corps in Karuizawa.

The foreign ministry opened a branch office in Karuizawa in April 1945 at the closed Mikasa Hotel to cater to the needs of these diplomatic corps. Toshitaka Okubo, a former Japanese envoy to Hungary, was appointed office director and envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary. At a time when food was scare, the Karuizawa office did its utmost to feed so many foreign diplomats. The large influx of evacuees caused housing shortage, prompting Maeda to allow Swiss diplomats and other foreign residents (another 2,000 of whom had evacuated to Karuizawa) to stay in his rental cottages.

Despite food shortages and military police surveillance, none of these foreign evacuees fell victim to air rids. Karuizawa residents, who were accustomed to foreign visitors from prewar times, are said to have extended their friendship to the evacuees. Switzerland and Japan have been on good terms since the conclusion of a Treaty of Amity and Trade in 1864. Miyama-so and the Mikasa Hotel can be said to be symbols of this friendship that lasted through those difficult times of war”

 

Source: Institute of Education of Karuizawa, Dec. 2010