German Birgit Zorb-Serizawa has lived and worked on four continents in her career in special education, and she has spent many years providing opportunities and support for international families in Japan with special-needs children.
She has also amassed an impressive collection of books during the more than 35 years her career has taken her around the world. Today, she shares the books through a lending library in a western Tokyo community.
Zorb-Serizawa was born in 1954 and grew up in a small village north of Frankfurt, and her early love of reading and curiosity about people forged a lifelong passion for travel. She also credits her parents' open attitude toward people from other countries, which instilled a respect for other cultures in their daughter. "This was in an era when even East Germans were considered 'outsiders.' "