Japantag 013 Düsseldorf Part 1 (Friday 24th)

From May 24th until May 26th I have been to Düsseldorf with my boyfriend and friends cause of the Japan-day (Japantag) which takes place every year. In Düsseldorf there live more than 3000 Japanese people and there are a lot of Japanese stores, too ♥

We also went to the Japantag last year but this time we arrived in Düsseldorf already on Friday to see more from the city and can go shopping without much stress. The Japantag event itself took place on Saturday =)


With the InterCity train it took approximately 3 hours and so we arrived around 15 pm in Düsseldorf. During the train ride we also passed Cologne and I made a few pics from the train´s window of the Kölner Dom (Cologne Cathedral):

really huge =D

After we stored the luggage in our hotelroom and I dressed into Kimono we went to the famous Immermannstraße where all Japanese stores and restaurants are located. Since we were both very hungry our first stop was the Maruyasu - Japanese gourmet food store:

great masks =D

The women who worked in the shop were super friendly and they loved my Kimono very much =D One asked me if I dressed all by myself, I said "Yes" and she was impressed ~ They always react like that *laughs*

many delicous food *o*

I also liked their interior design ♥

 I bought Onigiri with plum flavour and Temaki sushi ♥ Very good ~ I would go to this store again.

 Following this, we went to several shops and this is my haul of the first day:

ramune and some sweets (mainly with grape flavour) ♥

two hashioki (chopstick rest)

and two cute rice bowls ♥

For 18:30 pm my friends reserved a table for us all in the restaurant Okinii - Japanese all you can eat, which is very well known!

me in front of Okinii wearing Kimono ♥

me again :P

I really ate a lot, it was super delicous. Here you can see everything I had this evening:

Itadakimasu ♥

tamago and unagi are one of my favs ♥

gyoza *q*

fried Tofu with Teriyaki-sauce ♥

edamame, shake, temaki and tako >_< ♥

futomaki ♥

mango icecream *3*

Me in the restaurant:

silly face, sorry xD

 Some of the food my boyfriend had:

onomnomnom xD

After the food marathon, we all went to the Nikko hotel - they have a karaoke bar =D *party time*

choosing a song ♫

They had not only Japanese songs, but we also tried to sing in Japanese. It was so much fun xD

my friend Laura and my boyfriend singing together ^_^/

*yay* ♫

In the end we all had a hoarse voice but it was worth it. Would do it again *haha*

JAPANWEEK part 3: Third and final event day

Hey guys!

I am sorry that it took a while to write this last entry about the Japanweek but I was busy. However, hope you like it ^_^/

May 5th programm

- Calligraphy course
- Cooking course


Around 12 pm the Calligraphy course started ~

First they talked about the history of Calligraphy and then they showed us the basic techniques - not easy! After this we had to try writing the following Kanji which means 'kome' (米 - rice):

me, on the left, trying to write kome

Then we had to choose a Kanji we like the most - I took botan - peony, my favourite flower.

Calligraphy utensils

left: original - right: my first try =D *fail*

and the final result written on ricepaper:

needs more practice, I know ;-)

I think for my first try it went pretty well (*coughs*). But to be very good you have to train for years *haha* It was really a nice experience though =3


LUNCHTIME - Off to the Maid Café

Menu of the day at the maid café was Yakisoba (I adore noodles *laughs*)

totemo oishikatta desu - was very delicious ♥

15 pm - time for the Cooking course!

our working places ~

We were seperated into 2 groups - the course instructor first talked about the history of rice. I always thought that rice came originally from China but I was wrong, it has its origin in Korea *haha*

Further they showed us the many many rice varieties, rice products and meals cooked with rice:

onigiri ♥

cute bentos and onigiri ♥

furikake and a traditional Japanese meal ♥

Then we learned how to wash rice correctly:

After this we went to another room where we all cooked chicken teriyaki together. I am a big fan of teriyaki-sauce ♥ The taste is just awesome!

ingredients for 2 groups

the ingredients for the sauce

You need sugar, a lil bit sake, soy sauce, mirin, water and potato starch solved in water.

making the teriyaki sauce

done! *o*

Then we roasted the chicken meat and added the sauce in the end:

oishisou desu ne - looks delicious, right?

Back in the first room, we all made miso soup together but first they told us about the different types of miso:

right: Mamemiso is very salty and has a harsh taste

right: white and red miso

I didn´t know that there are so many miso sorts in Japan (^~^)"

For our miso soup we used white and red miso paste:

left: nori (seaweed) and right: red miso

left: chopped leek - right: adding miso paste

our selfmade miso soup *o*

And here you can see the final result of the cooking course - itadakimasu ♥

right: with tofu was also super delicious ^ _ ^)/

I´m sure you are all hungry now! Thanks for reading, would be nice if you leave a comment ♥