The city of Naruto, located 100 km southwest of Osaka on the island of Shikoku, is, unusually for Japan, laid out as a city park called Doitsumura-koen (German Park). In order to understand the special German friendliness of the city and its administration, it is important to remember that the German prisoner-of-war camp Bando was located here between 1917 and 1920. When Japan conquered the German leased territory of Kiautschou (Tsingtau) at the beginning of the First World War, around 3,900 German and Austrian soldiers were taken to Japan as prisoners of war, where they were housed in several camps. To commemorate the 85 Germans who died as prisoners of war, the German Consul General and the mayor of the town unveiled a memorial plaque together in November 1976.
A total of 953 prisoners of war were housed in Bando, who soon established friendly contacts with the Japanese population thanks to the humane camp management. Agriculture and animal husbandry in Shikoku received many fruitful suggestions from the camp inmates, just as the "German Bridge" built by them soon became a tourist attraction. It is here that Beethoven's 9th Symphony, now equally familiar to Germans and Japanese alike, is said to have been performed for the first time on Japanese soil. After their release, a number of Germans remained in Japan and, as in the case of Freundliebe, Juchheim, Ketel and Lohmeyer, laid the foundations for several well-known German-Japanese family businesses.
in 1972, the "German House" was established in Naruto as a further memorial to the German prisoners of war. in 1974, a sister city relationship was established with Lüneburg.
Source: Andreae