Yesterday was the tenth anniversary of the terrible attacks on the World Trade Center, the sad event that, for me, was the official start of the decade of the 2000s. (Isn’t it odd how decades don’t really end and begin on time, perceptually?) As indicated by its name, the World Trade Center hosted many people from around the world, and 24 Japanese were included in the 372 foreign nationals who died in the attacks. As I wrote in my J-List update back then, it is the highest point of pride for a Japanese person to be chosen to work in New York City, and it would have made the career of any Japanese to represent their company in such a famous building — only working at NASA might possibly be more illustrious. It was an indescribably terrible time — I remember calling my kids into the room so they could see what was happening, as they were American too, even though they were only 5 and 4 at the time. Yesterday a ceremony was held in Tokyo marking the event, with the families of the Japanese bankers, stockbrokers, translators and others lost in the tragedy present.
Marking a very sad day for the U.S. and the whole world.
