The Sept. 11 assaults on the US happened 25 years in the past right this moment, however right here in Japan, with a 13-hour time distinction, they unfolded all through the evening. After each towers had fallen, the dawn outdoors my Tokyo house on Sept. 12 introduced with it the chilliness of feeling ceaselessly destabilized.
For a lot of People of my era, New York Metropolis was solely half-jokingly thought-about “the middle of the world,” with pleasure tinged by sarcasm. However now its skyline was simply one other goal that may very well be disfigured.
A number of years later, I used to be again in New York with a brand new job writing about anime. My espresso desk disappeared beneath stacks of DVDs and manga paperbacks: “Akira,” “Grave of the Fireflies,” “Neon Genesis Evangelion” and others. I’d seen a few of them earlier than as a fan, however now I had cause to look once more.
