Japan Day in Littel Tokyo on the Rhine

Düsseldorf, the North Rhine-Westphalian state capital is getting ready for Japan Day 2005, the big German-Japanese folk festival celebrated every year in May between the old town and the Rhine embankment.

Düsseldorf is a traditional Japanese stronghold in Europe. As last year and the year before, the city expects many hundreds of thousands of visitors from near and far, including, of course, approx. 6500 Japanese citizens who live and work in their adopted home town Düsseldorf.

The uncontested highlight of the day, starting around 22.30 hrs, is a fireworks display created especially for this day by Japanese pyrotechnicians. With their expert guidance, the individual components of the colourful show at Düsseldorf's Rhine embankment are installed and ignited opposite the skyline of the Altstadt, the old town.

For a whole day before this magic night-time spectacle, ?'Little Tokyo', as Düsseldorf is sometimes called, is effectively transferred into a piece of Japan on German soil. At the fringe of the old town, stalls serving specialities such as Sushi, Sashimi or Tempura cater for the most discerning tastes, Samurai (from Düsseldorf) present splendid Japanese armours and weapons, numerous far-eastern arts such as Origami or Shodô, the art of writing, are taught by Japanese experts to untrained German fingers.

Learn how to wear a kimono, try your hand at Ikebana or see Manga presentations - in short get an insight into Nippon's everyday culture.

Other demonstrations well worth seeing are Japanese sport skills. The presentations of Judô, Karate, Okinawa-Kobudô, Kendô or Aikidô are big attractions every year. The electrifying sound of the Tentekko drums is one of the day's musical highlights.
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