story223.xml

story223.xml

born-digital

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2002-03-11

I was about to travel from Tokyo to Nagano to give a speech, when a typhoon interrupted. I had to spend the night of the 11th (middle of the night here in the US) in a hotel near the train station, and the TV had no English speaking news. I awoke very early to catch the first train up to Nagano, and turned on the TV to see if I could understand the weather report. I kept seeing this strange sight - looking like a replay of a bad movie - but still no English. It was only 5 AM in Tokyo (4PM in New York) and I finally figured out that this was real and that disaster of some sort had occurred.

For the next two days I was in Nagano, where everyone was very concerned and sorrowful, but I desperately needed to be with other Americans. Finally I went back to Tokyo to await a plane to return to Atlanta, and went to a Hilton. Suddenly I had many other Americans to grieve with, to hang around the two computers to check on airlines, and even to go to the American Embassy.

I was lucky to be on the first Delta plane that went from Tokyo to Los Angeles, and of course, everyone cheered when the plane took off - including the crew who had been in Tokyo the entire week too. I never felt so far away as I did during those days, and even though I called my family members twice a day, it was certainly wonderful to be back home.