Keita Morimoto
1 Why am I studying Swiss history?
・ The modern history of Switzerland
・ Beginning of studying
・ Encouragement by a professor
・ Ambition
・ Reading one book
・ Stereotyped images in Japan
2. My graduation thesis
・ “The Swiss neutral policy in the Restoration (1814-1830)”
・ Permanent neutrality
・ Actual situation of the neutral policy
3. My master’s thesis
・“The Formation of Federalism in Switzerland during the Regeneration (1830-1848)”
・ Principle of unity instead of centralized nation-state
・ Diversity in Switzerland (language, religion, canton)
・ The Swiss Confederation created in 1848
・ Why united? (argument about economic factor)
・ Nationalism in Switzerland
・ Confrontation between liberalism and conservatism
・ A civil war in 1847
・ Ignaz Paul Vital Troxler (1780-1866)
・ Emphasis on a common memory since William Tell
4. Present theme
・ Realizing the limitations of my research
・ From political history to tourism history
・ Tourism in Switzerland
・ Approach to tourism history
・ Tourism policy in the first half of the twentieth century
Questions and Answers
Q: Since when does the problem of French minority in Switzerland exist?
A: Certainly, Switzerland has some French regions. In 1814 these regions joined to the Swiss Confederation that was a military alliance. As Geneva was independent, French people in Switzerland didn’t consider them as a minority, even if their population was smaller than German’s.
The friction about language in Switzerland has not been a big issue. Of course, in the constitution, it is regarded as a politic issue, but not an actual problem.
Q: But I have read in a newspaper that opinions of French people are not reflected on the national policy. Is it wrong?
A: Certainly. French population is small, so… for example about Swiss attitude to EU, French part wants to support it, but German part which locates in countryside doesn’t. So there is a problem caused by an unbalance of population. In comparison with… for example Belgium, however, it’s not so big.
Q: How did Tourism as a Swiss national policy work on?
A: In the early 20th century, Switzerland didn’t have any central tourist office, and there was not a unified policy. But some hotels created a union which started working on statistics of tourist.
Q: What is the uniqueness of Swiss tourism?
A: I’m studying about it now…well, the government established the national tourist bureau in 1917 and particularly national railway leads tourism in Switzerland. They established offices in London, Prague, Berlin, etc to attract more tourists to Switzerland.
Q: Does Swiss do more advertisements than other countries?
A: Ah… now I’m researching on it…