Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf skyline - Picture: duesseldorf.de

Interpack

There are only few weeks up to interpack. However, it is not only the biggest packaging trade fair of the world that brings visitors to Düsseldorf in May. At the same time the 56th Eurovision Song Contest will be taking place in the esprit arena.

56th ESC

After almost thirty years the ESC comes to Germany again, thanks to the excellent final victory of Lena Meyer-Landrut last year in Oslo. For the song contest in Düsseldorf (10th to 14th of May) high goals have been set not only by Lena and her mentor, Stefan Raab. In the first half of the month musical arrangements are planned all over town. 35,000 spectators will fill the sold out esprit arena on Saturday night, while worldwide 120 million people will be watching the show on TV.

Here in Germany, organizers and marketers hope at least on warm weather, lots of flags in black, red and gold and excitement as it was at the FIFA World Cup in 2006. If Lena had to defend her title, she really would kick off a "German early summer fairy tale" that would make a great template for the women's Football World Cup later this year.

The official motto of this year's Euro Vision Song Contest is: "Feel your heart beat!" The biggest entertainment show of the year will certainly make our hearts beat faster!

Japan in Düsseldorf

Japan is not to send any artist to win the title of the ESC. But the Japanese community in Düsseldorf for Lena could give a powerful vote for the native Hanoverian Lena. Within Düsseldorf's city limits there is the largest Japanese community in Germany, in fact more than 6500 people.

This city is an important location for the Japanese economy in Europe for over 50 years now. In 2008, 450 Japanese companies were located in the Düsseldorf area, providing more than 23,000 jobs and generating more than 33 billion €. Companies send numerous professionals from Japan to the capital of NRW. Family members often accompany them, to enrich the cultural diversity of the city. their children attend school here to study, at the local music school or art academy, for example.

In the end of 1951 the first Japanese businessman settled down in Düsseldorf. On December 2nd 1955, the Düsseldorf Trade Inspection registered an establishment of the Keiretsu Mitsubishi on Ratinger Strasse 49. Other enterprises followed what was, among others, the result of a specific economic support of the capital.

In the district of Düsseldorf city center there is a 30-acre heavily embossed Japanese site: around Berliner Allee, Klosterstrasse, Charlottenstrasse and Graf-Adolf-Strasse are numerous branches of Japanese companies. The German-Japanese Center in the Immermannstraße also houses the headquarters of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce, the Consulate General and the European headquarters of the Marubeni Group. In addition to Japanese trading companies, banks, insurance companies, transportation companies and advertising agencies operate numerous service providers, restaurateurs and retailers to fulfil the needs of their Japanese clients.

Im Füchschen

Whoever stays in Düsseldorf for at least one night should visit the ‘Altstadt’ which is also known as the " longest bar of the world “. More than 250 bars line up the streets. This incredible number provides at least something for every taste. People of all ages and population groups meet here.

The brewery ‘Im Füchschen’ is a traditional brewery giving name to his own dark beer, the ‘Füchschen Alt’. Four dark beer breweries are still located in Düsseldorf, ‘Füchschen’ is one of them.

Since 1640, the property Ratinger Strasse 28 on which today brewery and restaurant are located is known as "Im Füchschen". Since then, and probably at this point dark beer is brewed and sold in the adjoining restaurant. In 1848 the beer receives its name ‘Füchschen Alt’. The fox becomes the symbol of the beer and adorns not only its bottle, barrel and glass, but also the facade of the building at the exact place where other houses have got their numbers.

The management is in the family estate for four generations now. Beer and cuisine are known about the country's borders, and the ‘Füchschen is today, 370 years later, a fixture in Düsseldorf customs.

Köbogen and Medienhafen

Friends of modern urban planning will find interesting perspectives in Düsseldorf harbour which has been expanded and remodelled over the last few years.

The port was under-represented as a district for decades. But this changed in the nineties due to its ambitious reconstruction and the increased influx of the communications industry. Media and advertising, fashion and art, the European Media Institute and the Film Foundation NRW, the State Broadcasting Association and the NRW Chamber of Architects have settled here in about 1000 m distance to the Altstadt. In addition, a multiplex cinema, numerous high class restaurants, as well as clubs and lounges bring an active nightlife to the ‘media harbour’.

The architecture offers a highly successful contemporary mix: Steven Holl, David Chipperfield, Frank O. Gehry, Joe Coenen, Fuminiko Maki, Will Alsop and Claude Vasconi, among Düsseldorfers as Overdieck, Kahlen and Partners, Prof. Wolfgang Döring and Partner, Thomas Beucker with the office BHLM, Rohde, Kellermann, Wawrowski, Hentrich, Petschnigg and partners, as well as Till Sattler and Norbert Wansleben from Cologne and Walter Kohn and Michael Merrill from Frankfurt.

Likewise, the current restructuring of the KöBogen will change the “heart of the city” and offer, from 2015, with "attractive parks, green boulevards and new architectural landmarks”.

Citizens can check in a glass pavilion on the Schadowplatz. On several levels the entire project is documented - a cinematic animation shows how this part of town should look like in 2015. And anyone who likes to take a view from above can do so on the 12m high viewing platform of the Information Pavilion. One can also check out the whole view via webcam.

Enjoy your stay in Düsseldorf!

Discover more:
- City of Düsseldorf
- Eurovision Song Contest
- The Altstadt
- Medienhafen
- KöBogen