Ambassador Schieffer Speaks at 9/11 Memorial Concert
Kasai Seaside Park
Sept. 11, 2005
The "September Concert in Japan" was held on Sunday, Sept. 11, 2005, in Kasai Seaside Park in Tokyo, to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 2001 in the U.S. as well as the 10th anniversary of the sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo subway system. Ambassador Schieffer appeared and spoke briefly from the stage before the musical performances began.
Ambassador Schieffer was introduced to the audience by Shizue Takahashi, founder of the Tokyo Subway Sarin Incident Victims' Association and widow of a Tokyo subway employee who died while helping passengers escape the sarin fumes. Takahashi has been active in forging links among the survivors and bereaved family members of terror attacks around the world, notably in New York, which has a sister city partnership with Tokyo.
At the event, Ambassador Schieffer also signed posters of encouragement to be sent to family members of those lost in the 9/11 attacks and the recent London transit bombings.
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| Ambassador Thomas Schieffer takes the stage Sept. 11 at the "September Concert in Tokyo" in remembrance of the 2001 terrorist attacks in the U.S. and the 1995 sarin gas attacks in Tokyo. |
AMBASSADOR SCHIEFFER: Thank you very much. It's a great honor for me to be here. Ten years ago, terrorists took the lives of innocents here in Tokyo. Four years ago, terrorists took the lives of innocents in New York. And this year, terrorists took the lives of innocents in London. We have come here today to remember those who did no harm to any other.
And we have come here today to resolve that terrorism will have no place in a civilized society. We can take hope in the fact that terrorism appeals to the worst in human beings. Open and free societies appeal to the best that is in human beings.
I hope that we can take that message of hope to all our societies and resolve that these innocent people shall not have died in vain, but their deaths shall reaffirm in us the belief that the rule of law must govern all our societies.
Domo arigato gozaimasu.