Last week JLGC staff, including Director Tanaka, visited Germany to promote the Tohoku region at Japan Week 2011, held 5-12 November in Frankfurt am Main. The city was the obvious choice for the week of Japan-themed events – over the past 20 years the Japanese community in Frankfurt has grown steadily, with 3,300 Japanese people now registered in the city. 211 Japanese businesses are based in Frankfurt – 133 of them in central Frankfurt, including the 115m tower of the Japan Centre, built by Jowa Corp. Ltd. of Tokyo, is one of the city’s most recognisable skyscrapers.
They also visited Potsdam University to discuss the centre’s longstanding research partnership, as well as the German Association of Cities. In Berlin they attended a JET event at the Embassy of Japan, while in Hanover visits were made to the Lower Saxony state government (who have a partnership link with Tokushima prefecture) and the Lower Saxony Association of Cities.
