From: atom one
Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2001 9:20 PM
To: atomone@mindspring.com
Subject: Tuesday, September 11, 2001...

Dearest family and friends:

It has been very difficult for me to write this email and I apologize for the delay in writing it to send it to you all.

I don't think that I need to tell anyone how painful and tragic the course of events of the past 3 days have been for the entire world. This is an unspeakable and unforgivable act of merciless terror for all, either for those that were victims, for those family members or friends of the victims, and even for those who have been watching the horror all over the world.

As you all know, my wife, Yukiko Kawakami was one of the tens of thousands of people that were in the twin towers of the World Trade Center that unbelievable morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001. Here is the scenario:

1. 08:45 AM EST: One WTC (North Tower) was struck by the first Boeing 767 from floor 82 to the 100s;
2. 09:03 AM EST: Two WTC (South Tower) was struck by the second Boeing 767 between floors 60s-70s;
3. 09:50 AM EST: Two WTC (South Tower) collapses to the ground;
4. 10:28 AM EST: One WTC (North Tower) collapses to the ground;

Here is the the story through my own eyes:

My wife was working on the 90th floor in One WTC (North Tower) in the Northeast corner of the building. Normally, her working hours are from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday to Friday, however from 3 weeks ago, she has been starting and leaving work a half an hour early to attend classes in the evenings.

The morning was like any other; she left the apartment before 8:00 AM to get to work on time at 8:30 AM. Being that I work much closer to home than she, I leave home later than her. I just happened to notice that she had left her cell phone at home and I just thought to myself, "she left her cell at home, again."

Around 9:00 AM, I receive a call from my uncle, asking me how Yukiko was. Totally clueless to the happenings in lower Manhattan, I responded as usual, telling him that she was at work, that I was on my way out the door, and that I would call him later. He uttered three words to me: "Watch the news..." I turn on the TV to find a huge hole at the top of one of the towers of the WTC, with clouds of thick, black smoke billowing from it. I went numb.

Immediately, assessing from the TV capture of the building, I realized that the North Tower had been struck by an airplane. I started to feel a sick uneasiness in my stomach. Listening closely to what was being announced on the news, it was way too early to find out the actual floors that had been hit or the evacuation actions that were being initiated. Minutes later, the second plane swooped down and slammed the South Tower. I raced to call her office number and it rang endlessly. The news announced that they were closing off all of lower Manhattan; all transportation methods were shut down and the City was in a state of emergency.

I started to pace around the apartment thinking of what to do, my heart racing in my chest. Should I go down there? Should I stay put and wait for her call? What should I do? All during this time, I was still numb, trying to fully process in my mind what exactly had happened. I decided to call my mother. At the first sound of her voice, everything hit me at once, like a Mack truck: I may never see her alive again. I completely crumbled.

My uncle calls me, followed by two co-workers, completely clear of the fact that my wife was in one of the buildings, started their trek uptown to be with me. For the next half hour, watching the news, I was trying to find out more information to no avail. The South Tower goes down. The only relief I had was that the North Tower was still standing. Completely mixed emotions began to fill me as my eyes started to swell and a heavy feeling started to sink in my gut. I realized that I had to call her parents in Japan and I was thinking, "what the hell am I supposed to say?" All connectivity over the phones were sporadic and cell phone service was literally non-existent. An hour and a half after the first crash, the North Tower collapses on the TV and my breath stops sharply. I stood there frozen for what seemed like hours.

I picked up the phone, my hands trembling and made futile attempts to call her parents in Japan. I was completely unable to get an international line. Emails, instant messages, and phone calls from family and friends all over started to pour in. What the hell am I doing? What the hell is going on here? What the hell am I going to do? Around 11:53 AM, I received a call and the Caller ID was from some Japanese bakery in NYC. I picked up the receiver and to my utter disbelief, I hear the all-too-familiar voice of my wife: "Hello, is it you?" I completely broke down crying of relief and anxiety. Barely able to even speak, I asked her if she was safe, and then to just simply come home. Both of us crying over the phone, I must say that that was the best phone call that I have ever, and will ever, receive in my life.


Here is the order of events that my wife experienced:

She gets to the office on time as usual, on the 90th floor of One WTC. Like any other morning, she prepares for the start of the work day. She goes to kitchen of the office to brew the morning coffee for both herself and her 7 other co-workers.

As she was washing out coffee mugs, she hears an extremely loud crashing sound and the ceiling collapses right next to her in the kitchen. Turning around thinking it was the start of an earthquake, she starts screaming. She climbs over the remains of the ceiling and peers into the rest of the office. The office is completely destroyed, covered in massive clouds of smoke and dust; the building had just been hit by an airplane. The branch manager yelled at the top of his lungs, "Grab the evacuation kits and the fire extinguisher!! We are getting the hell out of here!!"

In the few moments of panic, the group together to leave the office, the branch manager extinguishing the flames that lay between the front door and the door to the emergency staircase. They entered and started the long trek down the stairs to the lobby. The people in the staircase were unexplainably calm and orderly, steadfastly climbing down the 90 flights of stairs. After what seemed like 2 hours of walking, they finally reach the lobby. Totally oblivious to what was going on outside and at the sight of the blue skies outside the lobby, everyone let out a sigh of relief. Emergency staff started to direct everyone to the basement of the building when suddenly people started to scream, "RUN! RUN!"

Sheer panic and terror filled the people on the stairs as the blue outside was overcome by horrific clouds of pitch black. Yukiko and her co-workers started to race down the stairs, when a fireman directed them to a flight of stairs to exit the building. They reached the door to find it locked and started to pound on it. A person on the other side responded and opened the door and to their horror, it was another staircase. Miraculously, they were able to find an exit and had just escaped death by a matter of minutes. They were covered from head to toe with dust; in their ears, eyes, nose, and mouth. Outside, rescuers gave them bottles of water to rinse themselves off. Later, reviewing the timeline of events, apparently the moment they escaped, it was not Two WTC, but One WTC that had collapsed. We cannot even begin to fathom the outcome if she had arrived to the lobby just minutes later than she did.

Unbelievably, a photo was taken after her and her co-workers' slim escape by the amazing and award-winning photo-journalist for Time Magazine, James Nachtwey. My cousin in California found this picture and forwarded it to me.


I cannot begin to explain exactly what I had experienced, nor what my wife had experienced and I pray that no one will ever have to find out the feeling. All I can say is that this is one of the few happy stories to come out of this sick and disgusting tragedy.

I know that all of you have been watching the news intently about the fatal events at the WTC, the Pentagon, and in Somersville, PA, but I have only a few comments: I cannot begin to explain how lucky we are that she has actually survived through this, but that the worst has yet to come. The past 3 days and the course of the following weeks will bring forth countless stories of tremendous sorrow and grief. This appalling and disgusting attack on innocent people is understatedly deplorable. This is not issue about race, religion, politics, or economics: this is a direct attack on humanity, pure and simple. It takes a monstrous event like this for people all over the world to realize that we are all human beings and that we all need to come together. The manner in which the people here in the City have come together to work in the rescue effort and to rebuild. We can never forget what we have all felt and learned from this experience and take forward with us in the future. Understandably, myself included, the people directly and indirectly responsible for this utter catastrophe must be eliminated, to say the least, but we should also be cognizant of the fact that true issue: it is not about race, religion, politics, or economics; it is an issue of the human race. We should look to this event to teach everyone the basics of humanity.

We would like to thank each and everyone of you that have expressed their utter concern for Yukiko and myself. This is truly an experience that I cannot even think to wish upon my worst of enemies. We wish everyone the best of the best and for anyone that we have not been able to speak to in person as of yet, our deepest apologies for not getting back to you. This has been a trying time for all of us and all we can do is pray and look to a better, stronger and more unified future for everyone.

Best regards and lots of love,

Richard and Yukiko