Tenth anniversary of 09/11/01

Today is the tenth anniversary of the simultaneous terror attacks on the US. These incidents had an effect on each us in different way and I thought I would share some memories from my perspective. And how my life was impacted, although I concede the effects were insignificant compared to others.

I was in New York City on a business trip several days before 9/11. At the time I was working for Disney and in NYC for contract negotiations with clients. One of my colleagues was experiencing his first trip to NYC and, after work on the final day, I thought he would enjoy the view from the top of the World Trade Center. Unfortunately, there was an late afternoon rainstorm and the traffic was terrible. Getting to lower Manhattan before sunset was going to be a problem. So I suggested we go to the Empire State Building instead. The weather had cleared by the time we opt to the observation deck and I recall looking to the south and seeing the WTC for the last time. I wish now I had taken a photo or two.

Shortly after midnight on September 12 (Japan time) I heard the phone ring and I awoke to answer the call. It was from one of my direct reports at Disney who was in Walt Disney World in Orlando with some other of our cast members. When he told me what was happened in the US, I was dumbfounded. I knew from his voice this was not a joke and I tried to get my mind around what was unfolding. I immediately went online (in 2001, broadband access was not all that common) and the CNN site's headlines screamed, "America Under Attack". I stayed up through the night with the television on and communicating with my team in the US by phone. For the next several days, with air travel brought to a halt, I struggled to find ways to get my team back to Japan.

The terrorist attacks and uncertainty of further incidents brought overseas travel to a halt for the Japanese almost immediately. In the ensuing months, Disney pulled back support for most international markets and eventually downsized most of the international offices. The opening of Tokyo Disney Sea on September 4, 2011 didn't help matters at all. A year later, my job was gone. I was one of millions of people who lost their jobs as a result of the effects of terrorism on travel. But, as I said earlier, it was a minor inconvenience, a learning opportunity and I rebounded.

Is the world safer now? Impossible to say. It is just different now. I think we live with less trust of each other, authority and different cultures. Airline travel has become very stressful for travelers and I hope technology will eventually change that. I recall a trip through Chicago several months after 9/11. I was in the security line and several rows of passengers converged at one point. I met up with a young man of apparent Middle Eastern descent. I motioned to him to go ahead of me. He looked at me with resignation and said, "You should go ahead of me. I am likely to be here for some time". Sad but true.

For all the people who gave their lives on September 11, we owe it to them to make the world better than before the attacks.