German-Japanese Society

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German-Japanese Societies (DJG) endeavor to promote and deepen German - Japanese relations and cultural ties. Most of them are organized as associations in Germany; the three largest are based in Munich , Berlin and Frankfurt am Main . A large part of the societies is organized in the Association of German-Japanese Societies (VDJG).

history

The first society - the Wa-Doku-Kai (Japanese-German Society) - was founded in Berlin in 1888 at the Seminar for Oriental Languages for Japanese students and teachers and soon took on German members. The association organized regular lectures, visits and German-Japanese festivals, and from 1902 published an association magazine. The company dissolved in 1912 and was only re-established as the German-Japanese working group in 1928 and renamed the German-Japanese company again in 1929 .

The roots of the society in Frankfurt can be traced back to 1911, when the local association for oriental languages ​​started with courses to introduce the Japanese script and language and with lectures on cultural topics. The company does not pursue any economic goals; it has been registered in the register of associations since 1981 and recognized as a non-profit organization. The DJG Frankfurt is the platform for the German-Japanese exchange in language, economy and culture and offers access to Japan-related events in the Rhine-Main area. This DJG is active both locally and regionally.

DJG Bayern, based in Munich , was founded in 1961 in the vicinity of the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich . The society has now grown to over 800 members and is thus the German-Japanese society with the largest number of members. Over 80 Japan-related events are offered every year: lectures from culture, politics and business; Japanese films and theater; Concerts, exhibitions, workshops (e.g. haiku group, Japanese discussion group), social events and excursions. One of the highlights is the "Japanfest", which has been held every Sunday in mid-July since 1996 and regularly attracts several thousand visitors to the English Garden behind the House of Art .

Two companies in the association are active throughout Germany and are increasingly aimed at younger people. Including the German-Japanese Youth Society founded in 2006. V. (DJJG) based in Berlin and Animexx e. V based in Munich. The DJJG pursues youth welfare and international understanding between young people from both countries, whereby it realizes these projects mainly through the annually changing exchange programs Hello Germany and Hello Japan as well as local round tables. The Animexx e. V., on the other hand, mainly promotes Japanese popular culture, manga and anime and organizes smaller regional meetings, but also large anime conventions with many 1000 visitors.

53 DJGs are organized in the Association of German-Japanese Societies (VDJG), which was founded in 1964 and has a total of around 7,000 members; The president of the association is Volker Stanzel . The association is based in Berlin, with its office in Düsseldorf . In Japan there is a counterpart Japanese-German Societies (JDGen) with the Association of Japanese-German Societies (VJDG) as the umbrella organization.

literature

  • Günther Haasch (Ed.): The German-Japanese Societies from 1888 to 1996. Colloquium, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-89166-192-4 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rolf-Harald Wippich, review of the book The German-Japanese Societies from 1888–1996. (PDF; 274 kB).
  2. https://www.djg-muenchen.de/
  3. http://www.djjg.org