Aug. 7 - As the son of a Swiss mother, I can remember that when I was a small boy, my mother would often talk about events and customs from her homeland. My mother frequently received letters from my Swiss grandfather, and my Swiss aunts and uncles. When this happened, my father, my sisters and I would all sit around the dining table as my mother would translate these letters from German to English so we could understand. My Swiss grandfather knew that I collected stamps so he would always find unusual and colorful stamps to put on the letters and postcards for me to enjoy. My sisters and I especially relished the boxes of Swiss chocolate that sometimes appeared in our mailbox.

Each August 1, my father would hang a large Swiss flag outside our house in Southern California to commemorate the anniversary of the formation of the Swiss Confederation in 1291. My mother would prepare us something special for dinner that day. Because of these childhood memories, I was delighted to accept the invitation from Ambassador Paul Fivat to celebrate this year’s anniversary of Swiss independence.

As Ann and I arrived at the Swiss Embassy last week, we were greeted with the rich sounds of three alpenhorns, a distinctively Swiss instrument. The players sounded so good that I was surprised to learn they were Japanese, not Swiss. They told me that they had carved the instruments themselves out of Japanese "hinoki" wood here in Japan. Two of them had travelled to Switzerland to practice playing this challenging instrument with Swiss instructors. Although I am an American, I am also very proud of my Swiss heritage so I was delighted to meet Japanese musicians who were also interested in Swiss culture.

Until next time,

Jim