Tag: Japan

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Berlin’s best spots for the Cherry Blossom-season

Cherry Blossom in Berlin

What the cherry blossom season in Berlin has to do with the Cold War, how Japan was involved in planting the trees, and where to find the best spots for the pink sea of blossoms – all of this I will tell you in the following blog post.

Every year between mid of April and the begging of May, Berlin blazes in a pink sea of cherry blossoms. The time mostly depends on the weather and how early in the year it is getting warm. In general, the trees bloom between two and three weeks.

💡 Information about cherry blossoms
Cherry blossoms (also Japanese cherry) or in Japanese called “sakura” (桜 ) is the white or pink flower of the ornamental cherry tree and of particular importance in Japan. The blossom of the tree is considered to be the national flower of the country. In Japan, it describes the attributes of beauty, departure, and caducity. In Japanese, it is combined in the non-translatable word “mono no aware” (物の哀れ) that describes the bittersweetness of a fading moment of transcendent beauty. The cherry blossom season in Japan markers the peak of the Japanese calendar and the beginning of spring.
The Japanese cherry is only used as an ornamental tree in contrast to cherry trees that are planted for the actual fruit.
A present from Japan

Germany received the cherry blossom trees in 1990 as a gift from Japan. East and West Germany celebrated their reunification on the 3rd of October. Therefore, the Japanese TV broadcast TV Asahi started fundraising for the planting of some cherry blossom trees. They received enough money for more than 9,000 trees, most of them were brought to Berlin.

Exchange of spies during the Cold War

The first trees were planted at the Glienicker Bridge in November 1990. The bridge links Potsdam (former East Germany) with (West) Berlin and was especially important during the Cold War since the USA and the Soviet Union used it to exchange their spies. Until today, the bridge is painted in two different shades of green and markers the borderline (nowadays it is just the borderline between two different federal states). The GDR (German Democratic Republic, East Germany), as well as the FDR (Federal Republic of Germany, West Germany), painted both around half of the bridge. The part of West Berlin is in a darker green shade. Not only because East Germany chose a slightly lighter green but also because West Germany started painting the bridge a few years earlier and therefore, the weather conditions stained the bridge.

The longest cherry blossom alley of Berlin

More than 1,000 trees seaming the TV-Asahi-Kirschblütenallee (cherry blossom alley) on the wall trail (Mauerweg) between former West-Berlin and the GDR (German Democratic Republic, East Germany). The alley is more than 100 metres (109 yards) long. Usually, there is also the Hanami Festival. Hanami (花見) is Japanese and means literally translated “flower viewing”. It describes the Japanese tradition of visiting the first cherry blossoms in spring and enjoying their beauty. In Berlin, the festival offers a picnic, Japanese food, and a cultural programme.

❗️ Cherry blossom ticker
The city of Teltow in Brandenburg has its own cherry blossom ticker (Kirschblütenticker) to check if the blossoms are already blooming at the TV-Asahi-Kirschblütenalle, the longest cherry blossom alley of Berlin. The ticker is in form of a photo gallery with a current photo of the bud of a flower, renewed every second day during the season. You can check out the ticker here (the homepage is in German).
Cherry blossom meets German history

The cherry blossom trees are mainly planted along the wall trail (the former location of the Berlin Wall) and also marker some H#historical places in Berlin. A lot of trees are under the bridge “Bösebrücke” which was the first open borderline between East and West Berlin on the 9th of November 1989, the day of the fall of the wall.

🚌 Where to find cherry blossom trees
📍 TV-Asahi-Kirschblütenallee (Borderline between Berlin-Lichterfelde and Teltow):
Take the S25 or S26 to the S-Bahn station Lichterfelde-Süd, from there you follow the Holtheimer Weg. After around 550 metres (601 yards) you should reach the cherry blossom trees.
📍 Under the bridge “Bösebrücke” at Bornholmer Straße (Prenzlauer Berg/Gesundbrunnen):
The Mauerweg with its cherry blossom trees runs directly under the bridge of the S-Bahn station Bornholmer Straße (S1, S2, S25, S26, S8, S85).
📍 Volkspark am Weinberg or also called Weinbergpark (Mitte):
You can reach the Weinbergpark in around 5 minutes by foot from the U-Bahn station Rosenthaler Platz (U8).
📍 Zionskirchstraße (Mitte):
The Zionskirchstraße is just another 5 minutes walk from the Weinbergpark. If you follow the street in the direction of the same-named church you will find an alley of cherry blossom in the middle of the city.
📍 Schwedter Straße at Mauerpark (Prenzlauer Berg):
The Schwedter Straße on the Mauerpark lays between the U-Bahn station Bernauer Straße (U8) and Eberswalder Straße (U2).
📍 Strausberger Platz (Friedrichshain):
The cherry blossom trees are directly at the U-Bahn station Strausberger Platz (U5).
📍 Gärten der Welt (Marzahn):
Gärten der Welt (literally translated Gardens of the World) offer 22 different garden installations. The park costs an entrance fee and is best reachable with the U5 to the U-Bahn station Kienberg – Gärten der Welt.
Click here to visit the official page and to get more information.
There are a few more spots in and around Berlin, especially at the Mauerweg (Wall Trial) where you can find more cherry blossom trees. These are the more famous spots.
The public transport of Berlin is called BVG, click here to find more train connections.

First written on Wednesday, May 12th, 2021, you have read the blog post Berlin’s best spots for the Cherry Blossom-season on My Travel Journal-Blog.

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Cuddling cats and dogs in Asian cafés

Cat in a cat café in Asia


How is it to visit an animal café in Asia? Are the animals well treated, what kind of animal cafés exist, and how does a visit work? I took a look and tested different cafés in South Korea and Japan.

💡 What is an animal café?
Animal cafés are especially famous and popular in Asia. It is basically what the name already tells: a café where you can enjoy some drinks as well as play and interact with different animals. The first café was with cats and was created in Taiwan in the late 1990s. Nowadays exist all kinds of animal cafés with dogs, racoons, hedgehogs, sheep, rabbits, birds, and reptiles. Animal cafés are booming in Asia and already grew far behind the usual pet variation. [Note: Usually, I do not put any opinion in the info box but this time I feel I have to make an exception: I want to underline that in my opinion wild animals shouldn’t be part of human amusement and being used as ‘pets’ in cafés.]
The idea behind the animal cafés is to give people the chance to spend some time with animals without actually having pets at home. Especially in bigger (Asian) cities, flats are often small and the living expenses are rather high. Plus Animal cafés basically only reveal the good sides of having a pet – spending time with it when you are in the mood, cuddling and playing with them, without actually being in charge.

Animal cafés are rather famous in Asia even though I know that the first cat and dog cafés did also open up in my home country Germany. I liked the idea of spending time with animals which is why I decided to visit some of the cafés in South Korea and Japan.
My visits were a few years ago and I think some things changed since then – me as well. This is also why it was important to me to write a conclusion at the end of the post and to reflect on the visits in the cafés.

8,000 residents per square kilometre

I can understand that animal cafés are especially famous in the capitals since both cities Tokyo and Seoul are on the top ten list of the biggest metropolitan areas in the world. Tokyo is with almost 40 million residents even the sole lead, Seoul is the 6th place with around 22 million. Eight countries on the top ten list are in Asia. The living expenses are quite high, the housing market overflowed, and therefore the flats are getting smaller. In Tokyo are living approx. 4,700 people per square kilometre. In Seoul, it is even more than 8,000. Either way, in most cases there is no space for nor money for extra pets.

Before entering the café…

Some cafés have an entrance fee, sometimes with a drink included or if the entrance is free the cost of the drinks is usually higher. Sometimes they also have some donation boxes where you could leave some small change for the food or the general costs of the animals.
In every café I visited, I got a quick introduction on how to treat the animals and the most important house rules. I always had to use disinfectant first to make sure my hands are clean before touching and cuddling with the animals (and this was before Corona). Some cafés had even certificates on their walls which showed a photo of every animal along with its name, and proof of vaccination.

Cat in a cat café in Asia
Cat Café

I visited two different kinds of cat cafés. The first one looked more like an actual café with normal chairs, and tables but of course also cat toys.
The second one was a really bright room with two floors as a duplex. They were connected with each other by a few ladders. All furniture, as well as the duplex itself and the ladders, were made out of wood. The room was inviting with low tables to sit on the ground. Therefore the basic lay-out could be also used by the cats. But of course, they also had their own equipment and furniture for climbing, playing, or sleeping.

I do not remember the exact amount of cats in the cafés but I would guess both times probably around eight. The atmosphere was rather calm and cosy. Both cafés had another wooden way for the cats above the heads of the guests which was not reachable by them. I think this is important for the animals because it gives them the chance to withdraw themselves.

In both cafés, the cats were allowed to move freely in the room. Some were curious and came to us and even sit on our lap to cuddle a bit. We enjoyed our time petting the animals and took really nice memories from the cafés.

  

Dog Café

Next, we visited a Puppy Café. We were first a bit confused by the name and actually really relieved to learn that the dogs were actually not really puppies but just smaller to medium-sized dogs. Because in the beginning, we were a bit afraid that it could be a café which gets new puppies every year and gets rid of them when they get too old (but as I said it is not). The system was a bit different from the cat café, here we had to pay an entrance fee, therefore, the drinks were cheaper in general.

The café did not really look like a café but more like an open, bright studio with only a few tables and a lot of free space. In the right corner were two flights of stairs, some carpets and small dog houses. The kitchen was somewhere in the corner left and not really open to the area which makes sense because of the animals. The feeling was more about getting comfy we got some slippers during our stay in the animal café.

With a dog in a dog café in Asia

The dogs were really open and curious. Most of them came to us when we entered the café to sniff and check us out. When we were sitting down we actually had to pay some attention to our drinks (they were in closed containers) because it did not take long until the first dog was sitting on top of our table. The atmosphere in the dog café was way more exciting and loud contrary to the cat café. We switched our seats to the stairs where the first dogs were sitting on our laps to cuddle and play with us. Other dogs were even more active and one tried to nibble my camera (as you can see in the video).

❗️ my conclusions
Like I wrote in my introduction, I like the idea of the concept of the animal cafés but obviously, the well-being of the animals should be the top priority. I have to admit that I never had any pets since my sister was super allergic to all kinds of animal hair when we were kids. Therefore I am really not an expert depending on the keeping of animals.
I think the types of animal cafés went way too far. Wild animals should not be part of human amusement either in cafés or somewhere else. With pets like cats and dogs, I feel a bit differently. I think the most important is obviously that the animals are held in a good as well as accurate health way and that the café is animal friendly. This means the animals have always water and have their toys and rooms or extra places to which they can escape when they feel uncomfortable, stressed, or just sleepy. The owners have to pay attention that the animals are well treated by the guests. I think it is also important that the animals can move freely and are not forced to interact with the customers. I love the idea of adopting animals from animal shelters or just from the street and giving them a new home and some love from animal friends. I can actually say that in all cases the owners actually seemed very caring for the animals.

You have read the blog post Cuddling cats and dogs in Asian cafés on My Travel Journal-Blog.

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222 Days of Asia – backpacking & culture shock in 13 countries

Cherry blossom trees in a king's palace in Korea

In 222 days I travelled to 13 different countries. It all started with my exchange semester in Seoul at the end of August 2016. Afterwards, I went from Beijing to Bali and ended with a stop-over in the United Arab Emirates. During my travels I learned a lot about backpacking, other cultures, living on a budget, and finding new friends.

Young woman sitting infront of a gate of a Korean palace

It all started in January 2016, when I applied to study abroad in South Korea and already half a year later, I was sitting on a plane to Seoul. I remember how I chose the country of the exchange programme: I wanted it to be one which would be completely different from every country I have ever been to. I basically wanted to get a culture shock – another language, language script, food, culture, architecture, and history. And when I arrived in Seoul it came with a lot of challenges but also with a lot of excitement. For example, at first, the food was way too spicy for me. I upset my stomach so much that I could only eat soft bread for a week. I also remember how my friend and I got kicked out (or actually we weren’t even allowed to enter) of a restaurant by an Ajumma (it is a Korean word to describe middle-aged women) because we couldn’t speak Korean fluently – but no worries I am pretty sure this was a unique experience. But still, it was love at first sight. I loved Korea from the first moment on. You can read more about my first impressions in my blog post University, Hangul & Samul Nori – My first week in Seoul.

The fear of travelling alone

But Korea was only the first part of my travels to Asia. Back in Berlin, I met a German couple at a party, Anni and Alex who were in Seoul themselves. They told me about their semester abroad and how they travelled Asia afterwards. The winter semester in Korea ends in mid of December, the summer semester in Germany starts in mid of April – this makes almost four months of free time in between. I was really hooked from this chance but also a bit worried. I felt a bit jealous that they had each other to explore all these adventures together. Would I really be brave enough to travel for four months on my own? – far from home, far from anyone I know, and without the language skills? Also travelling alone as a woman was part of my (self-)doubts. This was for sure a step outside of my comfort zone. But it didn’t take long until I realised that this was my chance to see a bit more of the world and that the excitement about this possibility was way bigger than any fear I ever felt.

Travelling is not a race

On New Year’s Eve 2016, I started the second part of my journey. I took a flight to Beijing, from there I continued to Hong Kong, did a day trip to Macau and flew to Vietnam. In the beginning, I felt I had to see as much as possible. I had only two weeks in Vietnam. My days were packed with activities; I only stayed for one or two nights in each place and travelled on night buses to save the days (and the money). After Vietnam I realised, this is not how backpacking works and how you travel long-term. Being all day outside and exploring is great for a two weeks vacation but for another three months, this would be way too exhausting. This was the time I decided to slow down. This beginner’s mistake was also the main reason why I travelled to so many countries in such a short period of time. It was a combination of naivety, a lack of knowledge, and also the easiest reason: I just couldn’t decide which countries I should head to first. In the end, I had to learn on the road to pick a few destinations and rather take more time to explore them than to miss half of it in the rush.

On a budget – 10 $ a day

Besides that fast travelling is exhausting, it is also more expensive. First of all, you have a smaller time frame to find a suiting mode of transport and secondly, obviously, you spend more money on entrance fees if you want to squeeze everything into one day.  
I had a limited budget of 10 $ a day, including accommodation and food. It was (and is) definitely possible to travel on a budget through South East Asia. I always chose the cheapest dormitory rooms in hostels or did Couchsurfing, I ate a lot of street food, travelled by public transport, and asked the hostel staff for insider tips. But I also allowed myself to have one more expensive activity or trip in every country. I did kayaking between the 4,000 islands of Laos, went snorkelling and visited a Full Moon party in Thailand, went to the Forbidden City in Beijing, as well as the famous Angkor Wat temples in Cambodia, and the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. My travels ended after three months at Bali. From there I went back to Seoul and with a short stop-over in the United Arab Emirates, back to Berlin.   

During my semester abroad in Seoul, I travelled for four days to Tokyo, and also visited different places in South Korea as the borderline to North Korea, the island Jeju, the second biggest city Busan and an island in a river – Nami Island. On New Year’s Eve, I took a flight to Beijing and from there I started my travels through South East Asia – to Hong Kong, Macau, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and on my way back from Korea to the United Arab Emirates.                  

Alone but never lonely

In the beginning, one of my fears was that I would be alone and maybe even lonely on my travels. But anyone who already backpacked and stayed in dormitories knows you are never alone, especially if you do not want to. The backpacker community is huge. In every hostel, you meet new inspiring people from all over the world. I spent hours listing to travel stories, visited sights together, I even took a motorcycle ride with other backpackers, went to parties together, and learned a lot about different cultures. But not only the backpackers were open, but also all the local people I met during the time. I talked to the staff from my hostels and homestays, used hangouts to get in contact with locals who were interested in meeting, and Couchsurfing to get another chance to meet new people and learn more about other cultures. One of my favourite memories is, when I stayed with Ratha and his family in Siem Reap (read more here: Couchsurfing in Cambodia) or with Stella in Macau – she is like the sweetest even if she forced me to try my first chicken feet (I am not a fan, so sorry). Also how I met Lan in Hoi An, she worked in the homestay I slept for two nights. She was super lovely. One day, when I was still figuring out what to do, she brought me some of the food she had cooked for the staff. She had made rice with meat and vegetables. Especially the sauce was really tasty.
It was very inspiring to meet all these people during my travels, listen to their stories, their lives, their cultures, and their goals in life. Some of them were already since a few years on the move. Travelling is the opposite of being lonely; you will rather have a few more friends after your trip. 

For now, this is all I want to tell you about Asia. Everything else will come later – piece by piece. So hang on and read about all my crazy, funny and adventurous stories from Asia.

First written on Monday, May 22th, 2017, you have read the blog post 222 Days of Asia – backpacking & culture shock in 13 countries on My Travel Journal-Blog.

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Between mangas and sex-shops in Akihabara

Akihabara probably sums up what people imagine when they talk about modern and crazy Japanese pop culture. If I think back I remember dolls, toys, cosplay, lots of vending machines, sex-shops, video games, maid cafés, electronic goods, anime and of course mangas. This time I will bring you with me and show you this very unique neighbourhood in Tokyo.

💡 Information about Akihabara
Akihabara (秋葉原) is a famous area around the same-named station of Japan’s capital Tokyo. It is known for its major shopping centres full of electronic goods but also video games, mangas, and animes. Therefore, it is the perfect place for Otaku – which is Japanese and describes people who love consuming anime and mangas. After World War II Akihabara gained the nickname Electric Town.

When I first arrived in Akihabara I was both totally overwhelmed and fascinated. This colourful, glowing, crazy, and flashing district in the middle of Tokyo with skyscrapers wrapped in advertisements. Akihabara (and Shibuya with the stuffed streets – but this is another topic) describes exactly how I expected modern Japan to be.

Vending machines full of food, figures, and toys

In Akihabara, shops exist only filled with different types of vending machines. There are rows over rows with machines. Some are for food, and drinks – basically everything you can imagine. From soft drinks over juice boxes, and canned coffee to cake in boxes, sweets, canned food (apparently even hot soup) and Japanese snacks (we even found some insects for grazing right away). Vending machines without food usually include all kind of (soft) toys, key chains, sweets, stickers and figures to collect. They also have these typical claw cranes where you have to grab a (soft) toy with a gripper. Another type of automats is Gashapon (ガシャポン), themed vending machines filled with capsules that have surprise toys inside. These actually remind me of my childhood memories and gumball machines.

Over 18 only

Some shops just had display cases filled with all kind of figures and dolls you can buy. Clearly, not all of the figures were made to play with (depending on the people inside the store I would say even less – some are just for collecting and surprisingly expensive). In the corners in the back of the stores were sections for “over 18 only” hidden in curtains. These areas are guarded to make sure that minors do not enter them. There were lightly dressed or naked female figures in sexual poses with partial utopic body parts. The shop keepers were smart and covered the genital area with the price labels. But I am seriously asking myself what kind of image these sexist figures mirror and how it affects the society.

Akihabara at night
Pachinko – the amusement halls of Japan

There were also amusement halls called Pachinko (パチンコ) filled with gaming consoles most of them anime-themed, arcade games (these games were especially popular in the USA in the 1970/80ties, it is a gaming machine with a joystick and two to three buttons) and gambling devices. The rooms are filled with flashing screens that are lined up in a row. It was so loud because of the sounds, and music from the games that we had to scream at each other. I really can not imagine staying in these kinds of amusements halls for a few hours. Since gambling for cash is illegal in Japan the gamers actually play to win non-cash prizes.

Manga stores and the 18+ section with Ecchi and Hentai

We also went to some of the shopping centres which were filled with a lot of different themed stores. Again plenty of vending machines, but also a lot of shops for all kinds of technical and electrical devices, animes, Cosplay articles – and of course mangas.

We visited two huge floors just filled with thousands of mangas. We browsed through the shelves – and even I recognised some mangas from animes which also aired in Germany. Similar to the shops with display cases they also had an adult 18+ section. My friend and I wanted to take a look inside. We were the only women in the section – no wonder, the magazines were clearly made for men. These kinds of mangas are called Ecchi or Hentai – Ecchi is the softer version that plays with sexual innuendos but has actually backstories and characters. While Hentai is basically porn as a comic version. Some of the magazines allowed a sneak peek inside. I was surprised that some of the mangas actually hid the genital parts with the help of bars – basically censored porn. Most magazines were welded in plastic but I guess the covers already revealed enough about the inside.

Create your own doll

Another two floors were filled with dolls of all sizes, made of different materials as plastic or with porcelain-faces, Barbie-like, in Manga-style, or just plain dolls you could basically build by yourself. – As far as I could see, all of them were female. Mostly with typical doll eyes, long hair, in short skirts – innocent and cute looking. I am not sure who is actually the main customer target here similar to the figures I guess most of them were not made for children to play with. And of course, every doll also had tons of accessories, clothes, hair colours, furniture, and other equipment. There were also doll sets where you could pick all kind of body parts from the eye colour and hair until the size of the breast. At least this time there was also a male version.

Sex-stores and forbidden floors

With a visit to an “adult amusement park”, we ended up in a sex shop – or more accurate a sex department store. These stores were huge – the one we were in had five floors, two for women, three for men. Hence the variety is big. But I would say mostly similar to the sex shops I know from Germany. Though there were actually three floors which were for men only – and two of them were not allowed for women to enter. They even guarded the elevator to prohibit women from sneaking in. Since we were only a group of women in Tokyo we never figured out what they sold in these storeys. Of course, we started guessing a lot because all of us thought it is super weird that we were actually not allowed to enter that particular part of the store.

Maid Cafés
A flyer from my travel journal

Maid Cafés are a big deal in Japan – and as I heard were invented in Akihabara. The staff in the themed cafés wears Cosplay costumes and serve cute or special looking food – for example, shaped like animals. The most common ones are the maid cafés where the waitresses dressed as elegant French maids. The male equivalent is butler cafés but I think they are less frequent.

I saw a lot of girls dressed up like maids on the streets of Akihabara who tried to attract the people around with flyers and their costumes to visit the cafés. The competition is high and most of the entrances hidden on one of the higher floors of the many skyscrapers.

🚌 How to reach Akihabara
If you want to visit the area of Akihabara you can take the metro to stop H16 of the Hibiya Line. Another opportunity is the JR-Line. You can choose between the Yamanote-Line, Keihin-Tohoku-Line or Sobu-Line. The station is called Akihabara. When you reach the station follow the exit signs in the direction “Electric Town Gate”.
❗️ One last comment
I wrote this blog post mainly because I got to know Akihabara as a very lively, exciting and for me also unusual district of the metropolis of Tokyo. Originally, I did not want to include the sexual representation of women – primarily because I only “know” roughly about the role of sexuality and the image of women in Japan, secondly because I was only a few days in Tokyo. But to ignore the whole topic was also difficult because it is very present in Akihabara. I can only speak for myself when I say that I did not feel personally attacked by the figures, dolls, and mangas – even if they are certainly controversial – because at this point I could completely distance myself from the way they were portrayed. Since I am Western European and do not want to judge Japan or its people, and culture – especially since I am simply not qualified for this and also watching two documentaries and reading three professional articles won’t change much – I decided not to go any deeper into the representation of women (especially with a sexual context). The blog post is completely subjective and reflects my own feelings at the moment of my visit.
However, if you are Japanese or feel approached in any other way please use the commentary section to leave a message or write to me privately.

You have read the blog post Between mangas and sex-shops in Akihabara on My Travel Journal-Blog.

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Japanese Christmas Market in Berlin

Japanese Christmasmarket

In Japan live about 2 per cent of Christians. For sure, it would not be the first country you would associate with Christmas. But this fact doesn’t keep Berlin from organising a Japanese Christmas market. What you can find there? Please scroll down …

DSCN5545

At the weekend of the second advent, I visited the Japanese Christmas market together with my flatmates (sometimes we’re Asia nerds). The market was in a big hall in Alt-Treptow in Berlin. The first look wasn’t really Christmassy (neither the second). There were a lot of different booths with typical Japanese stuff like soft toys, pictures, little action figures and accessories. We did also find hand-made kimonos and self-made art. The vendors were different people from Germany or Japan, who came to the market to present and sell special things.

Japanese food at a Christmas Market in Berlin

And of course, there were many different booths with Japanese food. Berlin is also really famous for offering a lot of Vegetarian and Vegan food, so there were also a lot of possibilities to have dishes without animal products. Of course, they had a lot of meals with rice like Japanese Curry or Thuna Don. The last one is a rice bowl with marinated tuna Sashimi. Other little things were Yakitori (chicken) or different crepes with Salmond-Teriyaki, Kimchi-Cheese or Matcha-Atzuki. They also sell all kinds of Hot Dogs with specific dishes like Kimchi, Wasabi and Teriyaki. Okonomiyaki reminded me of a big pancake, I think you could compare it with each other. Of course, you could eat typical food like Sushi and Japanese soup. They also sell Zenzai. It’s a sweet red bean soup. 

DSCN5559
My Gyoza

It was really hard to choose only one dish from the big offer. I decided to try Gyoza. It’s thinly rolled pieces of pastry filled with meat (pork) or vegetables (vegetarian). If you know the German “Maulentaschen” you will know, what I mean. You eat it with soy sauce. It was really delicious, but I waited for one hour to get them because the food needed a lot of time and many people wanted to eat them. But I was lucky because the seller gave me one Gyoza more. Thanks to the hospitable Japanese.

Click here to find more blog posts about different Christmas markets in Berlin

First written on Monday, December 14th, 2015, you have read the blog post Japanese Christmas Market in Berlin on My Travel Journal-Blog.