By: Eric Talmadge
Associated Press
TOKYO (AP) - In London, mourners planned to gather
at a cathedral where one year ago Queen Elizabeth II
and Prime Minister Tony Blair joined hundreds of Americans
at a service for those who lost their lives in the Sept. 11
attacks.
In Tokyo, there was to be a simpler ceremony, the planting
of a lone maple and a moment of silent prayer.
Attesting to the global impact of Sept. 11, gatherings to
mark next week's anniversary were planned around the
world. Nearly 500 foreigners from 91 countries lost their
lives in the terror attacks that day.
In Britain, which lost more citizens in the attacks than any
country other than the United States, a service of
remembrance and commemoration was planned at
St. Paul's Cathedral.
With the shock of the terror attacks still new, thousands
of people, many of them American, filled the plaza outside
the cathedral on Sept. 14 last year, joining in prayers and
singing hymns.
All told, 67 Britons are believed to have been killed.
The national focus in Australia was to be a joint
Anglican-Catholic service at St. Christopher's Catholic Cathedral
in Canberra. Part of the service, to be broadcast nationwide,
was to include a candle-lighting ceremony by the leaders of
Australia's other major faiths.
Prime Minister John Howard was to speak at the ceremony,
and the families of the 10 Australians who perished in the
World Trade Center were expected to attend.
Tokyo had no official memorials planned, but Japan's
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was to fly to New York to
attend ceremonies there and the American community
prepared remembrances at diplomatic and military installations
across the country.
A Japanese maple tree was to be planted outside the gate
of the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, where many people,
Japanese and American - left flowers after the attack.
According to an embassy statement, the flowers were
burned in accordance with Japanese religious custom,
and the ashes will be used to fertilize the newly planted
maple.
On Tokyo's outskirts, a flag flown over the Pentagon
and hats from the New York Fire Department were to be
displayed at a memorial on Yokota Air Base, headquarters
of U.S. forces in Japan.
Nearly 50,000 American troops are stationed in Japan, and
they have played a key backup role in the war against terrorism.
For some, whether to mark the anniversary publicly or privately
was a difficult decision.
Half of the 24 Japanese who were killed worked for Fuji Bank,
which had 700 employees in offices from the 79th to 82nd floors
of the World Trade Center. Six Americans working for the bank
also died.
The bank, which has changed its name to Mizuho following
a merger, has organized a private memorial in New York.
But officials at the bank's Tokyo headquarters refused to
disclose any details, and said they did not plan any formal
remembrance in its other branches around the world.
In Copenhagen, Denmark, two minutes of silence were to be
observed in the city hall square and at the stock exchange.
The stock exchange in Helsinki, Finland, planned a similar tribute.
In France, the future - not the past - was to be the focus of a
two-day anti-terrorism conference.
After gathering at an oak tree planted earlier this year in dirt
from the attack sites, American and French officials were to
assess "the challenges ahead, and how best to orient our
resources to defeat terrorism at its roots,"
a U.S. Embassy statement said.
French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie and U.S. Assistant
Secretary of State Lincoln Bloomfield are among those invited
to speak at the conference. U.S. Ambassador Howard Leach
was also to attend.
On the evening of Sept. 11, a memorial service will also be
held at the American Cathedral in Paris in conjunction with
other events led by American religious leaders in the French
capital.
In Jerusalem, the Israel Museum was organizing an exhibition of
photographs from the World Trade Center site. The International
Policy Institute for Counterterrorism in Herzliya planned a
conference on terrorism with a presentation by U.S. Ambassador
Dan Kurtzer.
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