''Not only can I relate to both cultures, I still live them every day''

Interview with Yuta Maruyama

Yuta Maruyama is a magician and stage presenter. He was born in Tokyo. A job offer at the beginning of the 1980s gave his father the choice of managing a branch in New York or Düsseldorf for a guitar manufacturer. The decision was made in favor of the state capital on the Rhine. The Maruyama family moved to Düsseldorf via Karlsruhe when Yuta was just eight months old. In the interview, he talks about his first contact with the city's Japanese offerings and 'karaoke converts'. He also tells how he secretly pored over 'magic books' from the city library and how a fateful party encounter in the Japanese community ultimately gave him the motivating impetus on the springboard to his career as a magician.

Where do you feel Japanese culture is strongest in Düsseldorf?

There are definitely lots of places in Düsseldorf that trigger the 'Japanese in me': starting with simple things like the supermarkets here. I think I speak for all Japanese people when I say that they are really authentic. So something as mundane and casual as a quick shop sometimes becomes a moment where you feel 'at home' for the Japanese here. I mean addresses in the city center, like Shochiku, Hanaro or Dae-Yang.
If I could wish for one more thing for the Düsseldorf store landscape, it would definitely be the Konbini stores from Japan. 'Konbini' is basically the abbreviated, Japanese pronounced version of 'convenience'. In konbini stores, you can get the essentials for everyday life 24/7, hot and cold dishes, sometimes even clothes and office supplies. In some German supermarket branches, you can now see small Japanese corners being set up where you can take away freshly prepared cold dishes such as sushi, soba noodles, karaage chicken or salads. In principle, the only thing missing is the 'entrance melody' at the door, which I remember as an earworm from my vacation as a child in Tokyo from all the konbinis.

Do you have any tips on where to experience a special kind of exuberant 'Japanese' evening?

What's really cool in Düsseldorf is that you can go and sing Japanese karaoke really well, especially at Lime Light, downstairs in the Clayton Hotel. If you haven't tried it yet, you should definitely do so. What some people might not know: Karaoke is actually a Japanese word and also comes from Japan. It is a compound word - 'kara' means 'empty', 'oke' is the abbreviation of 'orchestra'. So it combines the 'empty orchestra'. Similar to the word 'karate'.

Is Japanese karaoke so different from traditional karaoke?

In any case: traditionally in Japan, you are given a private room for your own group at a karaoke evening, where you can order drinks etc. This has a completely different atmosphere and energy to sitting in a crowded pub and singing in front of people. Of course, this has a completely different atmosphere and energy than sitting in a crowded pub and having to sing away in front of complete strangers. I have 'converted' many of my friends who were previously not karaoke fans at all. At the end of an evening in a Japanese karaoke bar, they were singing themselves hoarse and totally enthusiastic - quite a few of them immediately asked for the next karaoke evening!

How did you perceive the Japanese community in Düsseldorf in your childhood and youth?

My older sister and I grew up in a Japanese household - but we only came into contact with Japanese friends and stores when we were teenagers. My sister met Japanese people on a weekend on Immermannstraße and at some point started taking me with her - I was 16 years old at the time.

I look back on countless, incredibly fun evenings in the Japanese quarter around Immermannstraße. I highly recommend the many authentic Japanese pubs in Düsseldorf, the so-called izakayas, where you can order various hot snacks and dishes, especially from the grill, as well as sake wine and Japanese beer brands until late at night.

How did you get into magic?

I came to magic in a roundabout way: We didn't have much money, certainly not enough for video game consoles... So when we were kids, we used to play cards with the family at home all the time. So before I knew about magic with playing cards, I always had a deck of cards in my hand. When a friend showed me a simple magic trick with my deck at school, I was totally amazed. I immediately went to the public library and borrowed lots of books on magic - the internet didn't exist back then. At home, I then spent months and years diligently memorizing and practicing without my friends even knowing about it! Later, at a friend's Japanese birthday party, I happened to meet someone who had probably been practising the whole thing for a while: Yuki performed some spectacular tricks for the guests that evening. I was familiar with some of his show elements, but only from performers on TV, so it was incredibly cool to experience it live! It was a completely different level compared to my interludes - but I still showed him a few of my rehearsed numbers later that evening and he gave me lots of valuable tips and aha moments. That was a key moment for me, when I realized what is actually possible with magic in front of an audience. Yuki, now a good friend of many years, came from a very similar background to me: we both grew up in Germany with Japanese parents and were both enthusiastic about breakdancing, video games, manga and anime and magic.

You are still a big anime & manga fan and have already hosted some of the biggest events on the subject in Düsseldorf and Germany. How important do you see the role of anime & manga in relation to Japanese pop culture?

So manga and anime are still an incredibly common door opener to Japanese culture for many people. I even know people, some of whom didn't even know it came from Japan. When friends and acquaintances had their first contact with the language and culture through manga and anime, quite a few of them became fascinated and started to learn Japanese. Some of them even began studying the subject and some of them worked in Japan. Of course, manga and anime only represent a specific part of Japanese culture, but events such as the annual Japan Day attract a huge number of people who flock to the city mainly because of their enthusiasm for manga and anime. Of course, the event offers much more authentic Japanese offerings beyond that.

Cover picture: Düsseldorf Tourismus

Cover picture and article are funded by REACT-EU.