Basel Chapter #227, Genève Chapter #143 and Zürich Chapter #214

Invited by the Japanese Information and Cultural Centre (JICC) and the Japanese Embassy in Bern, 28 members of all 3 Ikebana International Chapters in Switzerland met on 9 June 2023 in Bern at the headquarters of the JICC.

The organizing committee was made up of members from all three Swiss chapters, Ursina Früh, Monika Nussberger, Regula Maier, Kyoko Ulrich and Terue Jirgal who, together with Mr. Jentsch of the JICC, planned and organized the 3-day event. The extensive preparatory work for this event went very swiftly and well, thanks to a lot of experience of all those involved.

The exhibition opened on Friday at 6 p.m. In addition to the exhibitors, numerous guests gathered for the vernissage. The weather was lovely and so Ambassador Fujiyama was able to address those gathered in the garden of the JICC. He expressed his pleasure at how well and fruitfully the cooperation between Ikebana International and the Japanese Embassy has been working for years. Thanks to events like this, the cultural exchange between Switzerland and Japan has been satisfactory and has made an important contribution to mutual understanding. Ursina Früh, President of Basel, thanked the Japanese Embassy for its hospitality and the organising committee and exhibitors for their active support. After these speeches, the rich aperitif was served. On Saturday and Sunday the exhibition was open to visitors from 10:00 – 17:00 and on both days there were 2 demonstrations, which attracted a lot of interest and were well attended. The demonstrators belonged to Ikenobo, Misho, Ohara and Kaden-ryu school.