The Naruto German House — Attraction in Naruto

Bottom line- if you're interested in history and in the area, you will enjoy it. If you don't care much for history, just want to see European architecture, or will be disappointed by a lack of English information, skip it.

•Exhibits- The animatronic musical performance was nice, if not a little kitschy. The music is kind of interesting because there were no women in the choir, you can hear Beethoven's 9th Symphony with only male voices. There were interesting photos and models throughout.

•Languages- All displays have Japanese, most have German, and some randomly have English. The animatronic performance and accompanying video are narrated in Japanese with German subtitles. Because of this, I was hungry for more information, and decided to try to look more up later; there was a bit to be learned from the English available, but some important pieces were missing.

•History that I could make out, whether through English information or my broken Japanese- the German soldiers were captured in China in WWI and were brought here; this camp was heralded throughout the world as being a humane POW camp; the soldiers seemed to live in the town almost as regular citizens (?); most of the soldiers captured knew some other trade or skill, so they taught them to the local Japanese residents in exchange for the locals' trades; the prisoners performed Beethoven's 9th Symphony for the first time in Japan.

•Gift shop- mostly German imports: chocolate, snacks, pickles, sauerkraut, salad dressing, beer, etc. They had Easter chocolates when I went in March. There is a cafe just outside of the grounds that has some Japanese-German and...

The lack of an acutal testimony from a then-prisoner-of-war, excessive uses of words like "wonderful", exaggerated and comical acting in the holograms depicting daily lives at the prison as well as a in a supposed dialogue between the chief manging offcer and his subordinate etc, bring questions about its authenticy and the level of seriousness of the museum. They fail to provide visitors with a proof of objectivity, neither with explanation about how and how many prisoners died during the period that lasted longer than 4 years. (There is a monument nearby for...

It’s a fun visit if you’re interested in historical Japan and it’s foreign relations with Germany during and right after the war.

There were a few areas that had English descriptions but most of the exhibits only had Japanese and German.

There’s a little cafe outside that serves food. I recommend trying it out too.

PS: Photography is not...