When I visited Germany this September, I was looking forward to get a nutcracker in the shape of a Buckingham Palace guard, but we were too busy. I saw some nutcrackers at a souvenir shop in Cologne, and I thought that I saw the one I had been looking for. But I didn't even have time for checking. After I came back to Japan, C's sister kindly bought one for me and sent it to Japan! I was soo happy to get this, I thought I had missed my chance. I don't feel anything about Japanese kokeshi dolls, so C and his sister are probably not excited about nutcrackers.

I told C and a German friend that this nutcracker didn't seem big enough to crack walnuts and that it might be just for decoration. They said that hazelnuts would probably fit. Hazelnuts? I thought it would be strange to use it for hazelnuts because the word "nutcracker" is translated into Japanese as "walnutcracker". I hadn't noticed this wrong translation, who translated this?! Now I feel free to crack any nuts with it. Maybe I'll try with ginkgo nuts next time.

While I was writing this entry, I realised that this nutcracker is not the Buckingham Guard I wanted! It is the Danish Royal Guard! Now I remember our friend from Denmark was saying something about this nutcracker... oh well.