Celebrating Japan Day in Düsseldorf

The thought of celebrating Japan Day in Dusseldorf has always fascinated me. I am from Tokyo, but don’t have any relatives or acquaintances in Germany’s leading city Dusseldorf. But, the city with its strong Japanese community has been luring me no ends. I wanted to see and experience how it feels like being Japanese in a foreign land among its own expatriate natives. I wanted to see whether the Japanese community has been influenced with the German culture and manners. This year, Japan Day is being held in May 2013 in Dusseldorf, the traditional stronghold of Japanese business in Europe. I have already booked my flight tickets in advance and got great flight deals as well. Booking airline tickets much in advance is always advisable as you are at an advantage in booking cheap flights. I will be taking Lufthansa flights to Dusseldorf from Tokyo to participate in Japan Day.

Dusseldorf is home to around 7,000 Japanese nationals. The city is expecting several hundreds of thousands of visitors from worldwide to participate in Japan Day. Massive preparations for the festival are already underway with the active participation and input from Dusseldorf’s Japanese community. The city is being decked up at a frenetic pace. I am just imagining how Dusseldorf will be transformed for the day into “Japan on the Rhine”. The day will culminate in a magical display of fireworks at night. It will be simply incredible to immerse myself in the festivity when I arrive in Dusseldorf for the event. 

Japan Day is being regularly celebrated in Dusseldorf in either May or June since 2002. This has developed into one of the most popular events in the city. The festival brings native Germans and Japanese together. This is one of the great moments for the Japanese community residing in Dusseldorf to take advantage and showcase the culture of Japan to millions of German and international visitors. The regular highlights of the event include Kimono fittings, calligraphy, samurai warriors and musical groups. A pyrotechnician specially travels from Japan to Dusseldorf for the grand finale, which traditionally ends with the huge Japanese fireworks display.

I am just waiting for the grand day when I take my flights to Dusseldorf so that I may gorge on the Japanese delicacies here, such as sushi,  or tempura. For now, I can only fancy how the feeling of being at home will dawn upon me while being among my Japanese people in Dusseldorf.