The Japanese Cultural Institute in Krakow, designed by Arata Isozaki, on the Vistula River, is just opposite the Wawel castle, a national symbol and the most important castle in Poland. While the artist was staying in Krakow, the cultural institute put on an exhibition about Japanese mangas and animations. Many of these fairy-tale-like illustrated stories had close correspondences with the Polish castle and its legends. This provided the point of departure for the project Wawel. The main picture was supplemented by interviews with three residents of the city. A Japanese woman living in Krakow speaks Polish, and two young Polish women talk in German and English. In the interviews, they reflect on their own positions and talk about the cultural, ideological and national value of the Wawel castle.