Munich – City of Liberty
A Far-Eastern perspective on the world metropolis with a heart
„With the passage of time I made a discovery that occupied my thoughts more and more. As the contours of my new home came into sharper focus, those of my former home became less distinct. Yet it’s not as if I had lost my old home, rather its horizons had expanded to make space for the new language and culture. I became more and more aware of the details of Munich, my new home and microcosm, until finally it became an attitude of mind.”
A remarkable declaration of love for the „metropolis with a heart”.
„Was I just lucky? Certainly, and in fact quite extraordinarily so. But why Munich of all places? If it had been another town entirely would everything have turned out differently?” she asks herself as she looks back over 30 years living in Munich, on her experiences with its inhabitants, their lovable traits as well as the Bavarians’ peculiarities that are at times hard to understand and scarcely acceptable.
The author takes us on a walk around Munich, which she sees from her own perspective, one that differs from a European’s perception in many ways. Based on her very personal relationship with these locations, she describes well-known tourist sites such as the Deutsche Museum as well as more unlikely places of interest such as the unique Bavarian State Collection of Zoology, which is only open to the public one day a year. Her book offers fascinating glimpses into well-known and hidden corners of „Athens on the Isar”; what makes it especially fascinating is the Japanese perspective, which casts a new light on many old favourites.
Miki Sakamoto was born in 1950 in Koshima, Japan, into a distinguished family from the province of Satsuma. She studied classical Japanese and Chinese literature in Tokyo and cultural anthropology at Munich University. She wrote for various newspapers in Japan. In 2005 her collection of poems „Precious Moments” was published; more poems were published in the Munich literary magazine „Akzente”. She has been living in Munich since 1974.
„With the passage of time I made a discovery that occupied my thoughts more and more. As the contours of my new home came into sharper focus, those of my former home became less distinct. Yet it’s not as if I had lost my old home, rather its horizons had expanded to make space for the new language and culture. I became more and more aware of the details of Munich, my new home and microcosm, until finally it became an attitude of mind.”
A remarkable declaration of love for the „metropolis with a heart”.
„Was I just lucky? Certainly, and in fact quite extraordinarily so. But why Munich of all places? If it had been another town entirely would everything have turned out differently?” she asks herself as she looks back over 30 years living in Munich, on her experiences with its inhabitants, their lovable traits as well as the Bavarians’ peculiarities that are at times hard to understand and scarcely acceptable.
The author takes us on a walk around Munich, which she sees from her own perspective, one that differs from a European’s perception in many ways. Based on her very personal relationship with these locations, she describes well-known tourist sites such as the Deutsche Museum as well as more unlikely places of interest such as the unique Bavarian State Collection of Zoology, which is only open to the public one day a year. Her book offers fascinating glimpses into well-known and hidden corners of „Athens on the Isar”; what makes it especially fascinating is the Japanese perspective, which casts a new light on many old favourites.
Miki Sakamoto was born in 1950 in Koshima, Japan, into a distinguished family from the province of Satsuma. She studied classical Japanese and Chinese literature in Tokyo and cultural anthropology at Munich University. She wrote for various newspapers in Japan. In 2005 her collection of poems „Precious Moments” was published; more poems were published in the Munich literary magazine „Akzente”. She has been living in Munich since 1974.
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