Japan in Lederhosen

Adriane Richter

When I found out that I was going work in Moriya, a city in Southwest Ibaraki, I first was reminded of "Lord of the Rings" (the dwarf mines, you know) and then thought of the green Kanto plain and a typical Japanese suburb. I certainly did not expect a real German restaurant and a street called "Mainburgweg", complete with German-style houses and shrubbery. But when you come to Moriya you are bound to find out very soon that somehow there must be a relationship with a German city.

Actually, Moriya has two sister Cities, Mainburg in Germany and Greeley in Colorado, yet the city hall just employs one German CIR (Coordinator of International Relations), who is responsible for the correspondence with both sister cities. With Greeley there has been a very active exchange of school groups for the last couple of years and the CIR always helps organizing those trips. But since I can` t represent American Culture in general, I am naturally more involved in the Japanese-German exchange.

The main reason for the partnership between Moriya and Mainburg was, of course, beer. Moriya has a large Asahi Brewery - actually, the biggest in Japan- and this brewery imports hops from a German region called Hallertau (the biggest hops growing area in the world, mind you!) Mainburg lies right in the middle of that region, about 80km in the north of Munich, the capital of the "Bundesland" Bavaria which is roughly comparable to a Japanese "ken" or prefecture. Bavaria is responsible for most of the German stereotypes, i.e. beer, Lederhosen, Polka and "Cinderella's Castle". Hence, it is a heaven for Japanese tourists. Whenever I am invited to dinner in Moriya, my hosts most certainly will show me pictures of themselves in Lederhosen or a "Heidi" costume plus dozens of tokens from their last visit to Germany ? beer mugs, photobooks, emblems, etc. Often this is rather annoying because I never can get rid of my omiyage (souvenirs) - they already have everything!

Me (Adriane), Hans from Mainburg, one of his friends, and my predecessor (Sarah)

This August, a few days before I came to Japan, I was invited to visit Mainburg and arrived just in time to witness the tearful farewell party for the Japanese school group that had stayed in Mainburg for about one week. There I also had the opportunity to talk to many Mainburg residents who enthusiastically told me how nice all the people in Moriya were and how lucky I was to be able to work there. Three of those people I met just a few weeks later here in Moriya during the Tsukuba Express Opening. For that event Moriya had invited

Opening of the Tsukuba Express

representatives from Greeley and Mainburg and my predecessor and I had to interpret 24 hours a day. That way I early got a good insight into the various cultural exchange activities and individual relationships between citizens of Moriya and Mainburg. My favorite German visitor was Hans, an elderly gentleman from Mainburg who can't speak a word in Japanese or English. Still, he has already visited Moriya four times since the beginning of the city partnership in 1990 and has become best friends with a lot of people here. During his visit he ended up doing four homestays in 5 days and was even allowed to open the official Sayonara Party with a "kanpai". Hans and his friends keep in touch via letters which I translate for them. And of course there is also a massive exchange of gifts. Translating something like "I have sent you a Morisken figurine whose characteristic design was invented by the medieval artist xyz . . ." certainly is not my favorite part of the job, but otherwise the letters are really sweet and it is nice to know that I can help them to communicate.

In October, the "Moriya Bunka Kyoukai", the Culture Association of Moriya, visited Mainburg and exhibited pieces of local artists in the Museum of Local History. In return they were invited to take part in Mainburg's "Beer-Festival". The whole event was largely covered in the "Hallertau Newspaper" which I had to translate and hand over to the Bunka Kyoukai-members who were delighted to read about themselves in the foreign press.

The CIR in Moriya is not only responsible for the typical tasks of that job like school visits, presentations and translating official correspondence. I also run a German language class, a very popular Cooking Course, which was founded by my predecessor, and translate private letters from Moriya citizens to their friends in Mainburg or Greeley. Sometimes I even turn into a mini travel agency when people need help with booking hotel rooms or are just looking for general information about trips to Germany. The people here are so interested in the exchange with their sister cities that my work never gets boring.

And by the way, whenever you want to eat real German sausages you do not have to travel as far as Tōkyō, just come to Moriya!