reactions

Posted Thu. Sept. 13, 2001 9:35 pm Tokyo time

Entry updated 5:55 am Friday, also with Blatherchat quotes added


Some good news....Congratulations to Jeff and Gail Kesner, who had a baby girl on Tuesday!!!


Air Canada still hasn't returned Jeff's call from a few days ago. We do have a flight booked, but apparently Air Canada is only opening a limited international flight service, gradually ramping up (we've also heard a rumour that it's supposed to take -weeks- to get back to a normal flight schedule). We're still not confident our Sunday flight won't be cancelled and are wondering if we should (1) rebook for later in the week? (2) cancel completely and fly home via another airline? (3) give up the idea of flying home this week completely, cancel (rather than waiting around only to be told again our flight is cancelled) and go elsewhere for a while? There's no obvious solution, so we're waiting until tomorrow to see if there's more news.


[Update: We've decided to gamble on the Sunday flight (i.e. not try to change it). We talked to my dad last night, who talked to Nissin Travel.]


Jeff and I went to the Tokyo National Museum. Interesting exhibit, but our heart really isn't into sightseeing right now (all photos today were taken during our visit/walk). We're still pretty shaken by the events of the past 48 hours in the U.S. Some may think this overreacting; we're Canadian, not American, after all, and we're not even in North America right now.





For me, at least, it's hard to say exactly why I am reacting so emotionally. It's partly the devastating loss of life; I still have trouble watching that constantly-rerun clip of the planes crashing into the WTC towers, knowing that instant seals the fate of thousands of innocent civilians. It's partly the fact that I realize how naive I have been up to now...I would never have imagined that something like this could ever happen, that men armed with box cutters could hijack planes and successfully fly these planes into such high profile landmarks/symbols such as the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.


I can't help but think that anyone who has ever suddenly lost a loved one will be affected slightly differently by recent events than those who haven't. I was devastated when my brother and his wife were killed in a car accident; there was nothing that could have prepared me. I cannot -imagine- what it would be like to know that someone caused their deaths intentionally. And having to explain that to their children, if they had had any.





One of the most heartbreaking clips I saw on CNN today was very brief, of an interview with a woman who had lost her husband in the attack. She said that she explained to her young children that their father was in heaven. She said her children cried, but then asked if they could still call Daddy on his cellphone, obviously not yet able to truly understand the scope of what had happened.


Things I'm very angry about:


- Publicly available clips and photographs of the people jumping from the WTC towers. There has been at least one close-up of a man jumping from a window published in a newspaper. This absolutely and completely reprehensible for so many reasons I can't begin to list them all.


- Hearing that Muslim Americans and Canadians (including children) are being harassed. My dad told me that in Oakville, Ontario, a mosque was firebombed, and that Muslim young people were assaulted by their classmates. I saw a U.S. Muslim woman being interviewed; she was obviously trying not to cry, saying that she didn't understand, that she was American. WHAT IN GOD'S NAME IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE? Again, I feel incredibly naive...I had assumed that people were more enlightened in this age.


But most of all, I am deeply saddened by the knowledge that for many people, no matter what response to the attacks, the world has irrevocably changed for the worse, and that the resulting tally of damage of this incident is far from being final.


Dave Weingart's comment:



"Debbie, what you said. Double, redoubled and in spades.


I find it absolutely rephrehensible that ANYONE is blaming Muslims for this (my goodness! Should we blame all the Christians for Oklahoma City next?). A group of evil, twisted people perpetrated this horror, and they (and they alone) are the ones who should and do bear the blame."



Rick Hewett's comment:



"I've had friends and family close to past terrorist acts, most recently the Nairobi bomb and the London Baltic Exchange bomb. Neither on the same scale as Tuesday's events, but both much closer to home for me. I well remember the sick worry I felt until I knew they were all safe then, and the power of the grief I felt when my father died earlier this year is fresh in my mind. I've drawn on those memories to try to understand the reactions that're being reported, but it isn't always easy...


It seems to me that many will regret later what they're saying and doing now, but in the fire of fresh grief it can be real hard to think. It's easy to wish that another had died in place of your own; to throw blame at the nearest target; to react without thinking things through. I guess it's not much of a twist from there to hating a survivor, and the net makes it all too easy to lash out from your keyboard immediately.


And somehow, in any situation, there always seems to be somebody who can see it completely backwards, upside-down and inside-out..."



From Steve Brinich:



"One of my mailing lists mentions a first-hand account from a survivor who made it out from the 89th floor of WTC 1. It was briefly posted on the Web. Now, in its place is a message explaining that the author had it taken down because she was getting hate messages from people angry that she had made it out alive.


As Sam Adams said in another context, "May posterity forget that ye were our countrymen". I wish to hell that I could...."



On a more positive note, it's been wonderful to see so many people united in their support of the U.S., offering support to the victims.


Here's a Blatherchat posting from Janet that also gives me hope:



"It's good to see some reports about people pulling together. Here's one on our wonderful neighbors to the north who had to cope with our diverted planes.. Thank you Canada -- we don't appreciate you enough! I also heard that Oklahoma passengers stranded in Dallas were putting together carpools of perfect strangers to get back home. Our student newspaper here is full of calls to treat our Islamic students right, and remember they may have lost friends or family in these attacks, too."



And finally, I'd like to share a poem written by Seanan (thanks to Seanan for the permission to reprint her poem here):


Triolets - by Seanan McGuire



Join hands across a continent

And dream a dream of home

And all the things it represents...

Join hands across a continent.

With this small comfort, be content:

You never stand alone.

Join hands across a continent

And dream a dream of home.


Take some small comfort, if you can,

In knowing we are near

With open hearts and loving hands.

Take some small comfort, if you can

In knowing someone understands

And we are always here.

Take some small comfort, if you can,

In knowing we are near.




Today's Poll:



Have recent events affected your attitude towards future air travel use? (i.e. will you be more hesitant about air travel)

more updates

Posted Thu. Sept. 13, 2001 7:45 am Tokyo time


Many, many thanks to my dad and Nissin Travel (a Japanese travel agency near the Toronto airport). Together, they were able to get Jeff and me on a flight that should leave on Sunday, September 16th at 7:15 pm, assuming Air Canada and the Toronto airport are functioning normally then. Flights before then were all booked up.


I had a chance to ICQ briefly with Dave Weingart and Seanan yesterday, which was great...funny how isolated Jeff and I suddenly feel here in Japan. I'm mightily grateful for my Internet access (thanks again to Ryo and Alison!!!).





Yesterday, Jeff and I visited the Canadian embassy in Tokyo to see if they had any additional information. Jeff also spent several hours trying to get through to Air Canada, trying to rebook our cancelled flights. The computers were all down each time he did manage to get through, however, and the operators either advised us to try again later, or promised to call back (no one has called back yet). If Nissin Travel hadn't been able to get through to Air Canada very soon after the computeres were back up, Jeff and I would likely not have been able to get our flight back home until later next week.





Thanks to Steve Brinich for reporting in Blatherchat that the D.C. crowd of filkers seem to be all ok. Steve:

"This morning, I could still see and smell the smoke from the Pentagon from the corner in front of my building....".

Dave Weingart posted for the first time in Blatherchat:

"Checking in, finally. So far, all of our friends and family are OK. My cousin didn't go to her office (104th floor of 2 WTC) and it turns out that a friend was in 1 WTC when the first plane hit, but he got out safely and is home with his wife and son). NY fandom and filkdom seems to be OK."

Merav was the first New Yorker to post in Blatherchat:

"I seem to be the first New Yorker to check in.


So far as I know we are all safe and sound.


We're still waiting to hear from Eyal Moses.


If you live in or around the New York/Washington/Pittsburgh area, for all of our sanity, please check in at http://www.filknet.org/cgi-bin/status.cgi so that when one of us wakes up in the middle of the night and says "Is okay?" we can look at the page and know that things are as they should be, for at least our little sector of the world.


Thank you everyone for the hugs and support on #filkhaven. We're still here today if you need some hugs, some handholding, or just a few friendly voices."

Today's Blatherpics:


- Rice bowls for sale during one of our walks in Tokyo last week.


- Jeff talking to a woman at the Canadian Embassy.


- A headline from today's Japan News.


- Photo from one of our garden walks.




Today's Poll:



Were you or anyone you know personally directly affected by the recent terrorist attacks on the U.S.?

stranded in Japan

Update 11:15 am, Wednesday Sept. 12, Tokyo time


Jeff and I are at the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo right now. They said that according to information they received from Narita Airport, evening flights (including ours) have NOT been cancelled so far. However, there is a high probability that they will be cancelled later this afternoon. Advice is to call Air Canada and rebook our flight as soon as possible - I'm sure many others are also rebooking flights as I type. Jeff hasn't been able to get through yet, but is now trying an Osaka Air Canada number that my father e-mailed us (thanks, Dad!). Fingers crossed.

---

Posted Wednesday, 10 amish


We've been in a bit of a daze since hearing the news, stunned and deeply saddened by the loss of innocent lives lost so far as well as those that will be lost in the future because of this. It breaks my heart to think of what the families of those lost are going through, especially those who don't have a confirmation yet.


I can't imagine trying to explain to a young child how this could have happened, how people could be so evil.


Jeff and I were lazing about at Alison's, just about to go to sleep. Alison tends to make a few business calls around 9 or 10 pm, since that's morning in New York. She found out about the first plane crashing into the World Trade Center when she called her New York office about 15 minutes after it happened.


We tuned into the English-speaking news channel just in time to watch the second plane crash as it was filmed live by CNN. My own reaction was a sense of shock and disbelief; I couldn't believe it was happening.


My second reaction was to move physically closer to Jeff, to hold his hand, lean against his shoulder. I can sympathize with what Lyanne posted in Blatherchat:



"I heard about it right at the beginning of my 10:30 class today, but it really didn't hit home until my 11:30 lecture was cancelled. It's really hard not knowing anyone around here very well, when stuff like this happens. Every TV in the school is surrounded by crowds, understandably. I ended up searching out the people I do know here, and we've just been sticking together."



In bad times like this, I think there is a natural need to be close to family and friends. When we heard about the World Trade Center attack, we immediately thought of the friends we know in New York, wondering if they're okay. Jeff and I are immensely grateful to Alison for putting us up for a little while longer.


At this point, there's no word about when Air Canada plans to resume operations. Jeff's been trying to reach various Air Canada numbers for information (they don't have our contact info here so would have no way of reaching us if they needed to) but has not been able to get through. Even when Air Canada resumes operations, I suspect flights are going to be backed up for a while.


Neither Jeff nor I feel like doing much sightseeing even though we have extra time in Japan.


I'm not particularly keen on flying at all right now, but Jeff and I both want to get home very much.


Thanks to those who have been posting updates and support in Blatherchat, especially Seanan who let us all know that Merav, Batya, Dave, Ellen, Matt, Rachel and family are okay. We've also heard from our friends Harry and Jean, who are okay. To Jodi and Allison: I can't wait to get back soon, too!!!! I really miss you guys. :-(


And thank you, Amanda, for your Blatherchat posting:



"My mom called to see if we were watching the news. I was in bed with ZoϬand heard Scott say 'Oh dear God.' I came out to see what happened. All I can think was that as the towers were collapsing I was trying to quiet the baby. When the planes crashed I was trying to get ZoϬto stop fussing so I could get another hour's sleep. Suddenly today my post partum depression is not so bad and all those thought of "Maybe this was a bad idea" are gone. And all I can do is hold her and hope."



typhoon, yikes!!

Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001 5:25 pm, Tokyo time


Okay, so maybe I was premature in saying that the typhoon had passed us by.


This morning I picked up e-mail from my father, saying that he had heard on NHK radio that the worst of Typhoon 15 (Typhoon Dana) was going to be hitting Tokyo within an hour or so, and suggested that Jeff and I might want to stay inside until things had calmed down somewhat. When we looked outside, however, everything looked okay. Sort of grey and drizzly, but better than yesterday. We decided to go out anyway.





Our first stop was the Prince Hotel (where Alison first met us) so we could check out the airport bus schedule for tomorrow. A few minutes after we got inside, Jeff happened to glance out the glass windows and noticed that the trees were being buffeted around by a tremendous wind. Huge sheets of rain drenched everything, and we could see people running for the hotel, heads bent down and struggling to hold onto their umbrellas.


Of course I immediately wanted go out in the storm to experience a genuine Japanese typhoon (and get some pictures for Blatherings, of course!!), but Jeff wisely advised that we stay inside until the worst was over. Probably a good thing, since the high winds were probably knocking things around quite a bit (in the news, we later found out that one of the things being knocked about was people (!)).





We spent a few hours in the lobby of the Prince Hotel. Apparently all the subway lines were closed during the worst of the storm, which meant we couldn't go anywhere anyway. We had breakfast in the coffee shop (we avoided another restaurant in the hotel where the coffee cost CAN$14 for a single cup (!!!)), then sat in the lobby for a while; I snoozed on Jeff's shoulder while Jeff read a magazine. There were a group of North American foreigners obviously waiting for their airport bus. One of them mentioned that there had been another small earthquake this morning. Darnitall, I keep sleeping through all the excitement. Some great people-watching during this wait, by the way. There was a female hotel staff waiting by the front doors with a basket of rolled up towels; she handed a towel to each person as they came in so they could dry themselves off a bit.


One of the highlights of our time in the hotel was finding a Solitudes display in the souvenir/magazine shop. There was even a bio of our friend, Dan Gibson! All iin Japanese, of course, but we both thought this was VERY cool. :-)





When the storm had died a bit, we set off in the rain. I had brought a cheapo umbrella that kept turning inside out; I had to hold onto it with both hands to keep from losing it from the gusts. We took the subway (which was running except for the Maunouchi line) to Ikebukuro, which the Frommer's Guide to Tokyo describes as "the working man's Tokyo, less refined and a bit rougher around the edges."


Right outside the station, we saw the two rival department stores, Seibu and Tobu. I checked out Seibu for a travel reading light AND FOUND ONE. This time, I had drawn an elaborate picture of what I wanted, with pictures of a plane, a person reading on a plane, a light on a book, as well as including the Japanese characters for "travel", "small", "lamp", "portable". After talking to several department store staff, I was sent to a shelf with a selection of book reading lights, woohoo!





Some shinkansen trains, subway trains, and flights were cancelled. I hope things clear up by tomorrow, when we fly back! Good thing that Jeff and I didn't take the train to Nagano yesterday, as we had originally planned...we might have been stuck there until today since some of the trains had been cancelled since yesterday.


By the time we got out of Seibu, the Maunouchi line had re-opened (when we passed areas in the subway related to that line earlier, there were handwritten signs in Japanese all over the entry gates..I assume this was an announcement of the closure). I kept thinking of how confusing it would be for a foreigner who wasn't aware of what was happening during a crisis like this, or worse (e.g. earthquake).





Our visits today included the Toyota display in the Amlux building, and the Tokyo Transportation Museum. The first was more interesting than I expected, and the second was less interesting. We had also wanted to check out the Tokyo Metropolitan Artspace, but unfortunately it was closed. :-(





By the time we got back to the apartment, the rain had pretty much stopped. The Japanese television news is currently full of typhoon coverage. The other big news is the discovery of a case of mad cow disease.


Apologies for the incoherence of this Blathering; Jeff has the tv on while I'm typing (listening to typhoon news), so I'm focussing on two things at once. :-)


We're taking Alison out for sushi tonight!


p.s. REALLY hoping that our flight isn't cancelled or delayed too much tomorrow. Please keep your fingers crossed for us, thanks. :-)


Today's Blatherpics:


- I took this picture out the front window of the Prince Hotel. I found pictures didn't do nearly enough justice to the storm; you can't see very much of the tremendous wind and rain in this photo, for instance.


- Jeff looking out the Prince Hotel coffee shop window at the storm.


- Part of the Solitudes display we found in the souvenir/magazine shop in the Prince Hotel.


- Noise-maker thingy in the Prince Hotel women's washroom. Apparently some Japanese women are self-conscious about their toilet noises, and press the button on this gizmo (in each stall) to create the sound of a toilet flushing. The five lights at the top illuminate in succession to show how much time the noise will last. I had to try it, of course, though it was difficult not giggling while I listened to the electronic flush go on and on and on...


- English translation typo in the Transportation Museum.


- Giant train set in the Transportation Museum.


- During our walk after the worst of the typhoon had passed, we saw many fallen bicycles and motorbikes, branches, signs, all tipped over by the wind. Other evidence of the storm we saw included leaking roofs in buildings (lots of pails, escalators covered in plastic and being repaired).


Today's Poll:



Have you ever experienced a typhoon?

last day

Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001 6:50 am, Tokyo time


Last day in Japan! The typhoon seems to have missed Tokyo (all we got was a ton of rain and wind). Elsewhere in Japan, unfortunately, the effects were bad enough that four people were killed in mudslides. Jeff and I spent most of yesterday indoors hiding from the downpour, shopping for souvenirs in the Oriental Bazaar, having tonkatsu for lunch, browing Harujuku.





Part of me wishes we could stay a lot longer, but the other part is ready to go back home (besides, it's time to let our friend Alison have her apartment back). We've done and seen so many wonderful things during this trip, and I'd definitely like to come back to both Japan and the Wickaninnish Inn someday.


Here are just a few highlights of this trip for me, in random order:


- Morning beachcombing at the Wickaninnish Inn in B.C., especially the morning I spend an hour at a single tidal pool.


- Hanging out with our pal, Alison George. Alison is one of the most positive, energetic, generous, motivated and brave people I know, and I'm very proud to be able to call her a friend. My admiration for her has grown during this trip, watching her interacting with the locals with comfort, continuing to seek out new experiences. I thought it was difficult being in Philadelphia for six months without Jeff, but at least I was able to make frequent trips home. Alison's here in Japan, five months' pregnant, working extremely hard in a senior position, speaking a foreign language all day, only able to see her husband in person twice during her entire stay. Her apartment is basically just one room, yet she opens it up to Jeff and me for twelve days, letting us sleep on her bed and borrowing a cot for herself. THANK YOU, ALISON.





- The fish market in Tokyo. This is still the highlight of my Japan experience.


- On our way to our ryokan, passing an intersection and seeing four women in full kimono dress, sweeping up leaves with a twig broom.


- The first time Jeff and I went to a Japanese restaurant without Alison. As the main "communications" person, I was terrified, especially when I realized that no one in the restaurant spoke any English. I remember how delighted I was when, through sign language and broken English/Japanese, the waiter and I actually did manage to communicate enough to get us the set dinner and something to drink. From that moment on, the language barrier became an exciting (and fun!) challenge to overcome.


- Meeting Bill the Fossil Guy in B.C. and then getting e-mail from him later.


- Conveyor belt sushi.


- Checking out all the different things they have in Japanese grocery stores that they don't have back in Canada.


- Seeing Japanese people's reaction to Jeff; sometimes I'll even purposely walk behind him or distance myself so I can observe reactions better. I'm used to being the only non-Caucasian in a room or town; seeing Jeff be the unusual one is an entertaining change. :-) There are other obvious gaijin in Japan, of course, but Jeff still gets stared at by both men and women of all ages. Sometimes schoolgirls will gawk and then whisper behind their hands, giggling. I told Jeff that this probably means that they think he's cute but he's pretty sure it's because they think he "looks like a freak". He doesn't mind, though. Some Japanese also seem fascinated by the fact that Jeff and I are a couple.





- Visiting Meiji Shrine in Tokyo (an experience I didn't get to Blather about; will have to do that when I get back home).


- Japanese office supply stores.


- Rosemary and mint shampoo at the Wickaninnish Inn, as well as the other Aveda amenities supplied in our room. I had never tried bath salts before (though was curious because Lissa had mentioned she likes bath salts more than bubbles); quite liked them.


- Bento boxes. Not just from ekiben stands, but the astonishing variety you can get. Most are relatively inexpensive; I could eat these all the time.


- Seeing the huge, mottled back of a gray whale slowly arch through the water about ten feet from our boat while on the way to Hot Cove Springs one drizzly afternoon in B.C. MAJOR thrill; I had never seen a whale in the wild before. The boat ride over to the Springs was also pretty exciting, especialy freefalling over crests of 5-6 foot waves.


- Aloe vera and white grape juice.


- The shinkansen. Incredibly fast, efficient, comfortable, clean. Sure wish trains at home could be more like this.





- Aloe vera yogurt.


- Sacred Sea Thalassotherapy treatment at the Wickaninnish Inn.


- Being able to visit my mother's childhood city.


- Getting sucked into the Japanese soap opera (can't recall the name, sorry) that Alison sometimes watches in the morning for language practice. It seemed to me that almost everyone overacted, the plot (designed to end in a cliffhanger at the end of each 15-minute episode) was contrived, yet I found my attenion glued to the screen, wondering desperately if the old guy would finally get up the nerve to propose to his secret childhood love, if the unhappy and cynical young artist woman would ever find true love, if the hopefuly young musician guy would ever propose to his girlfriend. Alison has promised to send me plot updates after Jeff and I go back home.


- Red bean icecream on a stick in Tokyo.


- Sitting in a thick terrycloth bathrobe by the fire, reading a book and listening to the ocean waves outside our room at the Wickaninnish Inn. Our time at the Inn was incredibly relaxing, with lots of quiet time. The timing was perfect; by the end of our stay at the Inn, we were well-rested and ready for the excitement and adventure of our Japan trip.


- Getting interviewed by the school girls at the Golden Temple in Kyoto.





- Our stay at Yoshi Ima, the ryokan in Kyoto (thanks to Alison and JeffL for recommending this place). It was more than we had hoped for. Wonderfully "old Japanese" scenery, amazing food, friendly staff, and we thoroughly enjoyed trying an old-fashioned Japanese bath and taking part in a tea ceremony.


- Hearing live koto music while wandering around a park in Kyoto.


- Watching the sunset on Long Beach, near Tofino, B.C.


- People-watching in Japan. LOVED this, and want to come back for a chance to do more of it. So many different fashion styles, even more so than back home. It's quite the experience to be walking through downtown Tokyo and see a woman in full kimono dress striding through a busy intersection, passing a teenager in her black and white Goth maid outfit.


- Strawberry shaved ice in Kyoto.


- Having Internet access during our travels. Many, many thanks to our friends Ryo and Alison for enabling this during our Tokyo stay! Thanks also to my dad for giving us Japan phone cards, which certainly made our arrival in Tokyo go much more smoothly. Imagine us arriving in Tokyo station, totally brain-fried from the long flight, needing to call our friend Alison but having no change, and unable to read the instructions on the different-coloured public phones. The phone card enabled us to call her pretty easily. Thanks also to those of you who posted messages to me in Blatherchat during our stay. :-)





More Japan/B.C. highlights and photos will be scattered through future Blatherings.


Meanwhile, Jeff and I will be doing some more Tokyo wandering tomorrow (Wednesday), but then we have a 12-hour flight back to Toronto. I still haven't been able to find a book light, augh. Since I had a non-working book light on my Air Canada flight to Vancouver AND from Vancouver to Tokyo, I'm somewhat paranoid. Don't think I'd be able to survive a 12-hour flight without being able to read. Wish me luck. :-)


In a few days, Jeff and I are off the cottage with my sister and her family.


Today's Blatherpics:


- Our friend Alison talking to her husband back in Toronto; they call each other every night. Photo taken in the ramen restaurant I really like.


- Toronto, Canada t-shirt. Not especially interesting in itself, until you consider the fact that Jeff and I found saw it in a trendy youth clothing shop in Harujuku, downtown Tokyo.


- Wall graffiti near Harajuku.


- Teenage girl dressed in the "Goth Maid" fashion that seems popular with some right now.


- Yummy-looking pastries. Sadly, Jeff and I had just had lunch and weren't hungry enough to even share one. Maybe tomorrow...


- Two Japanese girlfriends going shopping.


- This "bunched-up sock" look seems to be very popular with many schoolgirls.


Today's Poll:



Do you consider yourself to be an adventurous person? (choose YES for adventurous, NO if you tend to prefer the safe and familiar)