Book

The 9/11 Commissions Report

Description

Used copy of The 9/11 Commission Report annotated with Japanese notes in the margins. The cover of the book is white and blue with printed text that reads: “THE | 9/11 | COMMISSION | REPORT | Final Report of the National Commission | on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States” along with the official seal of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. The binding and edges of the book are worn and taped. The interior pages have colored highlighting and handwritten Japanese notes in the margins. 

Historical Notes

Kazusada Sumiyama’s son, Yoichi Sumiyama Sugiyama, was one of 24 Japanese nationals killed on 9/11. After a 2004 memorial for 9/11 victims, Sumiyama bought an English-language copy of the The 9/11 Commission Report. In 2008, he read a Japanese translation and realized that it omitted chapters describing the terrorists’ motives. Determined to make the record complete, Sumiyama began translating the full report, an effort that took a decade. 

Sumiyama was methodical in his work, translating about three pages a day with this annotated copy of the 9/11 Commission Report and a photo of his son Yoichi nearby. His Japanese-language version was published in 2021 for the 20th anniversary of the attacks, supported by a crowdfunding campaign that raised approximately $45,000. He hoped that his expanded translation would help make clear the costs of terrorism and encourage people to embrace peace and freedom. This was, he said, “the earnest wish of a father who lost his beloved son amid the great flow of history.”