Dusseldorf is the capital city of Nordline Westfalen which is in northwest Germany. It’s a business city and there are a lot of Japanese companies there. Around 6000 Japanese people live there which is the largest concentration in Germany. | ||
[Sightseeing] | ||
1. Altstadt (old town) This is a view of Altstadt (old town) from Oberkasseler Bridge. There are a lot of events held in the square in front of the city office building. There is a park standing a lot of clocks. |
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2. NordPark There is a cherry tree beside a children's park in NordPark. It’s a little bit a shame to open our box lunches under the tree, so we ate them in the Japanese garden. NordPark is the best place to see cherry blossoms. There are two cherry trees in the Japanese garden. The cherry trees in the Zoo Park are also very good. |
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3.Christmas Markt There are a lot of street shops in the Christmas season. The Gluewine (Hot wine) is tasty. |
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4. Carnival The Carnival starts at 11:11a.m. on November 11th and lasts until the beginning of February. There is a parade of festival cars. We masqueraded and went to downtown. There is a women’s carnival day a couple of days before the finale. Women can do anything they want and can even cut the ties of men they don't know. You should be careful if you have a business trip at this time of year. |
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5. Kegel Kegel is the origin of bowling. The Sticks (Kegel) are representatives of devils and monks hit by a ball. It’s popular in temples. The room is like this. The lane is narrow and sinks into the center of lane. So it’s difficult to take out the edge pins. You need to make the ball spin to make it curve. It’s unique that the pins are hanging by ropes. The ball is smaller than the ones used in conventional bowling. There are no holes in the balls either. There are a lot of game patterns. We usually did played a game like normal bowling. |
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6. Japanese year in Germany There was a Japanese year in Germany from January 1999 through September 2000 to introduce Japanese culture and tradition. I carried a Mikoshi with friends in Dusseldorf at the finale event of the Japanese year. Usually women cannot get on the Mikoshi but my wife could get on it. |
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7. Koji Matsushita, a professional table tennis player We had dinner parties with Koji Matsushita who is a professional table tennis player in the German league. We often saw his play and had a dinner with him in Dusseldorf. |
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[Apartment] | ||
This is our apartment where we lived for three years from 1998 to 2001. Pictures(1,2,3,4、5,6) |