Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway
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The Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, usually referred to in the Japanese media as the 地下鉄サリン事件 (chikatetsu sarin jiken "subway sarin incident") was an act of domestic terrorism perpetrated by a religious group of members of Aum Shinrikyo on March 20, 1995. In five simultaneous coordinated attacks, the conspirators released sarin gas on several lines of the Tokyo Subway, killing twelve people and injuring some six thousand more. The attack was obviously intent on Kasumigaseki and Nagatacho, home to the Japanese government. This was (and remains, as of 2005) the most serious attack that has occurred in Japan since the end of the Second World War.
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Background
AUM Shinrikyō (オウム真理教, literally, "AUM the True Teaching") is the former name of a controversial religious group based in Japan. The group gained international notoriety in 1995, when its founder and a group of followers were accused of masterminding the poison gas attack.
The name AUM Shinrikyō derives from the Hindu syllable "aum" (pronounced "ohm") meaning "powers of creation and destruction of a universe," and the Japanese words "shinri" ("truth") and "kyō" ("teaching," "doctrine"). In 2000, after the attack, the organization changed its name to Aleph (א), which is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Their logo has also changed. Despite this, the group is still commonly referred to as AUM.
The Japanese police initially said that the attack was the cult's way of hastening the apocalypse. The prosecution said that it was an attempt to bring down the government and install Shōkō Asahara, the group's founder, as the "king" of Japan. The most recent theory proposes that the attack was an attempt to divert attention from Aum as the group obtained some information indicating that police searches were planned (though it ended up leading to mass searches and arrests, contrary to the plan). Asahara's defence team claimed that certain senior members of the group independently planned the attack, but their motives for this are left unexplained.
Asahara was sentenced to death by hanging on February 27, 2004.
The main perpetrators
Ten men were responsible for carrying out the attacks; five released the sarin, while the other five served as get-away drivers.
The teams were:
- Hayashi Ikuo (林 郁夫) and Niimi Tomomitsu
- Hirose Ken'ichi (広瀬 健一) and Kitamura Koichi
- Toyoda Toru (豊田 亨 Toyoda Tōru) and Takahashi Katsuya
- Yokoyama Masato (横山 真人) and Tonozaki Kiyotaka
- Hayashi Yasuo and Sugimoto Shigeo (杉本 繁郎)
Hayashi Ikuo
Prior to joining AUM, Hayashi was a senior medical doctor with "an active 'front-line' track record" at the Japanese Ministry of Science and Technology. The son of a doctor, Hayashi graduated from Keio University, one of Tokyo's top schools. He was a heart and artery specialist at Keio Hospital, which he left to become head of Circulatory Medicine at the National Sanitorium Hospital in Tokai, Ibaraki (north of Tokyo). In 1990 he resigned his job and left his family to join the monastic order sangha, where he became one of Asahara's favourites and was appointed the group's Minister of Healing, as which he was responsible for administering a variety of "treatments" to AUM members, including sodium pentathol and electric shocks to those whose loyalty was suspect. These treatments resulted in several deaths.
Niimi Tomomitsu was his get-away driver.
Hirose Ken'ichi
Hirose was thirty years old at the time of the attacks. Holder of a postgraduate degree in Physics from prestigious Waseda University, Hirose became an important member of the group's Chemical Brigade in their Ministry of Science and Technology. Hirose was also involved in the group's Automatic Light Weapon Development scheme.
After releasing the sarin, Hirose himself showed symptoms of sarin poisoning. He was able to inject himself with the antidote (atropine sulphate) and was rushed to AUM Shinrikyo Hospital in Nakano for treatment.
Hirose's appeal of his death sentence was rejected by the Tokyo High Court on Wednesday, July 28, 2003.
Kitamura Koichi was his get-away driver.
Toyoda Toru
Toyoda was twenty-seven at the time of the attack. He studied applied physics at Tokyo University's Science Department and graduated with honours. He also holds a master's degree, and was about to begin doctoral studies when he joined AUM, where he belonged to the Chemical Brigade in their Ministry of Science and Technology.
Toyoda's appeal of his death sentence was rejected by the Tokyo High Court on Wednesday, July 28, 2004, and he remains on death row.
Takahashi Katsuya was his get-away driver.
Yokoyama Masato
Yokoyama was thirty-one at the time of the attack. He was a graduate in applied physics from Tokai University's Engineering Department. He worked for an electronics firm for three years after graduation before leaving to join AUM, where he became Undersecretary at the group's Ministry of Science and Technology. He was also involved in their Automatic Light Weapons Manufacturing scheme.
Tonozaki Kiyotaka, a high school graduate who joined the group in 1987, was a member of the group's Ministry of Construction. He was Yokoyama's getaway driver.
Hayashi Yasuo
Hayashi Yasuo was thirty-seven years old at the time of the attacks, and was the oldest person at the group's Ministry of Science and Technology. He studied artificial intelligence at Kogakuin University; after graduation he traveled to India where he studied yoga. He then became an AUM member, taking vows in 1988 and rising to the number three position in the group's Ministry of Science and Technology.
Asahara had at one time suspected Hayashi Yasuo of being a spy. The extra packet of sarin he carried was part of "ritual character test" set up by Asahara to prove his allegiance, according to the prosecution.
Hayashi went on the run after the attacks; he was arrested twenty-one months later, one thousand miles from Tokyo on Ishigaki Island.
Sugimoto Shigeo was his get-away driver. His lawyers argued that he played only a minor role in the attack, but the argument was rejected and he has been sentenced to death.
The attack
Monday, 20 March, 1995 was for most a normal workday, though the following day was a national holiday. The attack came at the peak of the Monday morning rush hour on one of the world's busiest commuter transport systems: the Tokyo subway system transports millions of passengers daily; during rush hour, trains are frequently so crowded that it is impossible to move.
The liquid sarin was contained in plastic bags which each team then wrapped in newspapers. Each perpetrator carried two packets of sarin totalling approximately one litre of sarin, except Hayashi Yasuo, who carried three bags. A single drop of sarin the size of the head of a pin can kill an adult.
Carrying their packets of sarin and umbrellas with sharpened tips, the perpetrators boarded their appointed trains; at prearranged stations, each perpetrator dropped his package and punctured it several times with the sharpened tip of his umbrella before escaping to his accomplice's waiting get-away car.
Chiyoda line
The Chiyoda line (千代田線) runs from Kita-senjū (北千住) in northeast Tokyo to Yoyogi-uehara (代々木上原) in the west.
Two men were assigned to drop sarin packets on the Chiyoda line, Hayashi Ikuo and Niimi Tomomitsu. Niimi was the get-away driver.
Hayashi, wearing a surgical mask of the type commonly worn by Japanese people during cold and flu season, boarded the southwestbound 7:48am Chiyoda line train number A725K on the first car, and punctured his bag of sarin at Shin-ochanomizu Station (新御茶ノ水駅) in the central business district before making his escape.
Two people were killed and 231 suffered serious injuries. Hayashi was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Marunouchi line (Ogikubo-bound)
Two men, Hirose Ken'ichi and Kitamura Koichi, were assigned to release sarin on the westbound Marunouchi line (丸ノ内線) destined for Ogikubo (荻窪).
Hirose boarded the third car of Train A777, and released his sarin at Ochanomizu Station.
Despite two passengers being removed from the train at Nakano-sakaue Station, the train continued on to its destination, car three still soaked with liquid sarin. At Ogikubo, new passengers boarded the now-eastbound train, and they too were affected by sarin, until the train was finally taken out of service at Shin-koenji Station.
This attack resulted in one death and 358 serious injuries.
Marunouchi line (Ikebukuro-bound)
Two members were assigned to release sarin on the Ikebukuro (池袋)-bound Marunouchi line, Yokoyama Masato and Tonozaki Kiyotaka. Tonozaki was the get-away driver.
Yokoyama boarded the 7:39am B801 train at Shinjuku (新宿) on the fifth car. He released his sarin at Yottsuya (四谷).
Yokoyama only succeeded in puncturing one of his packets, and only made one hole, resulting in the sarin being released relatively slowly. The train reached its destination at 8:30am, and returned to Ikebukuro as the B901. At Ikebukuro the train was evacuated and searched, but the searchers failed to discover the sarin packets, and the train departed Ikebukuro at 8:32 as the Shinjuku-bound A801. At Hongo-san-chome, staff removed the sarin packets and mopped the floor, but the train continued to Shinjuku, and then returned again to Ikebukuro as the B901. The train was finally put out of service at Kokkai-gijidomae Station at 9:27, one hour and forty minutes after the sarin was released.
This attack resulted in approximately 200 serious injuries, though no fatalities.
Yokoyama was sentenced to death in 1999. Tonozaki was sentenced to life in prison. Both are appealing.
Hibiya line (departing Naka-meguro)
The team of Toyoda Toru and Takahashi Katsuya were assigned to release sarin on the northeastbound Hibiya line (日比谷線). Takahashi was the get-away driver.
Toyoda boarded the first car of the 7:59am B711T train bound for Tobu-dobutsukoen (東武動物公園駅) and punctured his sarin packet at Ebisu. Three stops later passengers had begun to panic, and several were removed from the train at Kamiyacho and taken to hospital. Still, the train continued to Kasumigaseki, though the first car was empty. The train was evacuated and taken out of service at Kasumigaseki.
One person died and 532 were seriously injured.
Toyoda was sentenced to death.
Hibiya line (Naka-meguro-bound)
Hayashi Yasuo and Sugimoto Shigeo were assigned to the southwestbound Hibiya line departing Kita-senjū for Naka-meguro.
Hayashi received, at his own insistence in an apparent bid to allay suspicions and prove his loyalty to the group, three packets of sarin while everyone else got two. He boarded the third car of the 7:43 A720S train from Kita-senjū at Ueno Station (上野駅). He released his sarin two stops later, at Akihabara (秋葉原), making the most punctures of any of the perpetrators.
Passengers began to be affected immediately. At the next station, Kodenmacho, a passenger kicked the packet onto the platform; four people waiting at that station died as a result. A puddle of sarin, however, remained on the train floor as the train continued its route. at 8:10 a passenger pressed the emergency stop button, but as the train was in a tunnel at the time, it proceeded to Tsukiji Station (築地駅). When the doors opened at Tsukiji, several passengers collapsed onto the platform, and the train was immediately taken out of service.
This train made five stops after the gas was released; along the way, eight people died. 275 more were seriously injured.
Hayashi was arrested after going on the run, and was sentenced to death (he has appealed). Sugimoto was sentenced to life in prison.
Aftermath
The injured
The short- and long-term symptoms experienced by those affected included:
- bleeding from the nose and mouth
- coma
- convulsions
- difficulty breathing
- disturbed sleep and nightmares
- extreme sensitivity to light
- foaming at the mouth
- high fevers
- influenza-like symptoms
- loss of consciousness
- loss of memory
- nausea and vomiting
- paralysis
- post-traumatic stress disorder
- respiratory problems
- seizures
- uncontrollable trembling
- vision problems, both temporary and permanent
Witnesses have said that subway entrances resembled battlefields. In many cases, the injured simply lay on the ground, many unable to breathe. Incredibly, several of those affected by sarin went to work in spite of their symptoms. Most of these left and sought medical treatment as the symptoms worsened.
Several of those affected were exposed to sarin only by helping those who had been directly exposed. Among these were passengers on other trains, subway workers and health care workers.
Recent surveys of the victims (in 1998 and 2001) show that many are still suffering, particularly from post-traumatic stress disorder. In one survey, twenty percent of 837 respondents complained that they feel insecure whenever riding a train, while ten percent answered that they try to avoid any gas-attack related news. Over sixty percent reported chronic eyestrain and said their vision has worsened.1
Emergency services
Emergency services including police, fire and ambulance services were criticised for their handling of the attack and the injured, as were the media (some of whom, though present at subway entrances and filming the injured, hesitated when asked to transport victims to the hospital) and the Subway Authority, which failed to halt several of the trains despite reports of passenger injury. Health services including hospitals and health staff were also criticised: one hospital refused to admit a victim for almost an hour, and many hospitals turned victims away.
Sarin poisoning was not well-known at the time, and many hospitals only received information on diagnosis and treatment because a professor at Shinshu University's school of medicine happened to see reports on television. Dr. Yanagisawa Nobuo had had experience with treating sarin poisoning after the Matsumoto incident; he recognized the symptoms, had information on diagnosis and treatment collected, and led a team who sent the information to hospitals throughout Tokyo via fax.
AUM/Aleph today
The sarin gas attack was the most serious terrorist attack in Japan's modern history. It caused massive disruption and widespread fear in a society that had previously been considered virtually free of crime. AUM attempted four more gas attacks after this one, employing various substances. All were unsuccessful.
Shortly after the attack, AUM lost its status as a religious organization, and many of its assets were seized. However, the Diet (Japanese parliament) rejected a request from government officials to outlaw the sect altogether because the officials could not prove that AUM posed a threat to society. The Public Security Committee, an organization similar to America's CIA, received increased funding to monitor the group. In 1999, the Diet gave the Committee broad powers to monitor and curtail the activities of groups like AUM that have committed "indiscriminate mass murder" and whose leaders have been accused of "holding strong sway over their members."
About twenty of AUM's members, including Asahara himself, are either standing trial or have already been convicted for crimes related to the attack. As of July 2004, eight AUM members have received death sentences for their roles in the attack.
The group reportedly still has about 2,100 members, and continues to recruit new members under the new name Aleph. Though the group has renounced its violent past, it still continues to follow Asahara's spiritual teachings. Members operate several businesses, though boycotts of known Aleph-related businesses, in addition to searches, confiscations of possible evidence and picketing by protest groups, have resulted in closures.
AUM/Aleph remains on the US State Department's list of terrorist groups, but has not been linked to any terrorist acts. Aleph has announced a change of its policies, apologized to victims of the subway attack, and established a special compensation fund. AUM members convicted in relation to the attack or other crimes are not permitted to join the new organization, and are referred to as "ex-members" by the group.
Many Japanese municipal governments have refused to allow known members to register as city residents; Aleph has successfully sued some of these governments, and Human Rights Watch has included criticism of these government actions in some of its annual reports. Some businesses refuse to sell goods or provide services to known Aleph followers; some landlords refuse to rent to members; and some cities have spent public money to persuade Aleph members to leave town, but attempts to ban the group have failed.
References
1. "Survey: Subway sarin attack haunts more survivors" in Mainichi Online June 18, 2001. Available: http://www12.mainichi.co.jp/news/mdn/search-news/896300/aum-60-71.html
Detailed information on each subway line, including names of perpetrators, times of attack, train numbers and numbers of casualties, as well as biographical details on the perpetrators, were taken from Haruki Murakami's book on the attack called Underground (ISBN 0375725806).
Related topics
External links
- Aum Shinrikyo (http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/aums.html) A history of AUM and list of AUM-related links
- The Aum Supreme Truth Terrorist Organization - The Crime library (http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/terrorists/prophet/19.html?sect=22) Crime Library article about AUM
- English Mainichi Shimbun: Failed appeal keeps cult's subway gas killers on Death Row (http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/archive/200407/28/20040728p2a00m0dm010001c.html)ja:地下鉄サリン事件