The
original-sized Marksburg is the main
attraction of the German Culture Village on Miyakojima, Japan
(For more Japan photos, click here: 2006, 2006 (Shikoku 88-Temple Pilgrimage), February / March 2009, April 2009, May 2009, June 2009)
“Where are
you from? Oh, from Germany? - Ich habe
Deutsch gelernt!“ , the bus driver blurts out when we enter the rare local bus
to the village of Ueno. The grey-haired man with the friendly smile definitely
does not have many opportunities to practice his language skills on the
Okinawan Island of Miyakojima, about 1000 km south of mainland Japan. About an
hour later he drops us near the Ueno German Culture Village, where we find
ourselves in front of a huge grey stone slab at the roadside. „Gerhard-Schroeder-Staße“
is engraved in huge white sanserif letters, commemorating the visit of the former
German chancellor on the occasion of the G8 summit in Okinawa. Crossed German and
Japanese flags are depicted underneath. The Gerhard Schroeder Road runs all the
way from Miyakojima’s small airport to the German Culture Village. We trot along the sugar cane fields and around
a knoll, when suddenly a European-style mediaeval fortress complete with tower
and battlements appears before the glittering blue ocean. The original-sized
German Marksburg is the main attraction of the Germany-themed park.
“No, I have
never been to Germany. But I would pretty much like to go…” Ota-san, the park’s
manager, answers our questions over a cup of coffee in the museum shop on the
castle’s ground floor. The culture park
opened in 1997 aiming to enhance German-Japanese relations in general. „The
concept we had in mind was fraternity” Ota-san states somewhat pompously. The
ties between Germany and Ueno go back a long time: In a storm in 1873 the
German merchant ship Robertson, sailing from Fuzhou to Australia, shipwrecked
off the coast of Miyakojima. The Ueno inhabitants rescued the stranded sailors
and gave them shelter and food until they were able to return to China and
finally to Germany. In 1937, Japan’s Ministry of Education introduced this
story of altruistic help in the national elementary schoolbooks, and the people
of Miyakojima earned some modest fame nationwide.
Today Hänsel
and Gretel, the local goose couple, waddle lazily between the half-timbered
houses. On a Wednesday outside the main tourist season, the Ueno German Culture
Village is deserted. One of the park’s tour guides, Iwasa-san, shows us around
the exhibition rooms in the castle. She is proudly wearing a burgundy-coloured
dirndl designed by the Japanese staff. In the Medieval room a Roman legionnaire
has mysteriously joined the armoured knights. Plastic samples of sausages, Sauerkraut
and square white bread are intended to inform the Japanese visitors about
German eating culture, and a wedding chapel in distinctly Japanese taste awaits
happy couples. Finally we march over the courtyard to the backdrop of a Bavarian
brass orchestra from the sound system to the other exhibition building. The “Children’s
House” combines a shop with a huge collection of Diddle Mouse merchandises, a Märklin
train model, a small library of children’s books in various languages, and two
slabs of the original Berlin wall together with some explanation on the divided
Germany and grizzly photos of soldiers and barbed wire. “Japanese visitors also
think this is an odd mix,” Iwasa-san admits without even trying to suggest a
concept behind the jumble of vague “German-ness” in the park.
Back in the
small capital of Miyakojima we visit the "Philanthropy Monument,” a stele that
German Emperor Wilhelm I sent in 1876 to be set up here. “We, Wilhelm, by the
grace of god German Emperor…,” he expresses his gratitude for the rescue of his
subjects, starting Miyakojima’s German boom. A family from Chiba, a small town
near Tokyo, is less impressed. “We have a German village in Chiba, too. I think
it’s more authentic!“ We will consider Chiba for a day out from Tokyo.
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