[Hayashi]

It was around 9 pm and I was at my PC checking email when I received an email from a friend who was then staying in Pennsylvania (or was it New Jersey?).
Anyway she wrote that a plane had just crashed into the WTC in NY. At first I thought it was a joke, or perhaps an accident, or even domestic terrorism. I visualised a small light aircraft. Never could I imagine that it was a fully-laden airliner.

I walked into my bedroom, told my wife about our friend's email, and tuned to the local news channel here.

I was flabbergasted to see footage of the aricraft hitting the building. It was replayed over and over and when the second one hit I knew it was no accident.

Then reports started coming in about the Pentagon being hit, and another one crashing in the countryside of Pennsylvania. Rumours that a bomb had exploded at Capitol Hill.

My wife & I stayed up until 2 am.

The scary part was a few months later, the police arrested a few guys in Singapore who allegedly belonged to a terrorist cell. They had videotaped possible targets like an MRT station (subway to the rest of the world), and I believe the shipyards where USN vessels were berthed whenever they stopped over here.