President's message

It was 1609 in the Edo Era when Tokugawa Ieyasu issued a shogunal license for foreign trade to begin commerce between Japan and the Netherlands. The Netherlands was the only European country which continued relations with Japan through the time of national isolation. Japan and the Netherlands have in fact have carried on friendly relations for over 400 years, with the brief exception of a period during the Second World War, maintaining unusually good cordiality between our two countries.

With the arrival of modernization in the Meiji Era, good relations with the Netherlands grew apace in the Kansai region, with the knowledge received from Dutch people like Dr. Gratama, the founder of the Seimikyoku (Japan's first chemical laboratory), Dr. Bauduin, who led Japan's learning of western medicine, and the civil engineer de Rijke.

The Japan-Netherlands Society of the Kansai continues grassroots-level exchange activities between Japan and the Netherlands through the support of the Netherlands Consul General, under the wish to be a place where people who like the Netherlands, who are interested in the Netherlands, or who have connections with the Netherlands through their work or study can gather freely together, centering on the Kansai region. We will continue work to meet the expectations you place in use, and hope for your support and cooperation, and participation in our activities.