On Nov. 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall came down. The East German nation, for 28 years hidden from the world's eyes behind almost impassable walls, suddenly opened up.
Tens of thousands of Germans rushed to the borders to see the unbelievable for themselves, and I was among them. Born and raised in communist East Germany, I now live and work in Tokyo, physically and culturally far away from my native land. In 1989, however, I was a fresher in law studies at Humboldt University in East Berlin, and Japan was not part of my vocabulary.
On the other side of the globe, Akira Ichikawa, then — as now — a professor at Osaka University, watched the events unfold on TV. He had a keen interest in East Germany, having lived in East Berlin for 18 months from 1979 to 1981 while studying theater at Humboldt and researching the life and works of Bertolt Brecht.