Japan marks 23rd anniversary of deadly sarin attack

March 20, 2018

Tokyo- A ceremony was held at Kasumigaseki Station on Tuesday to mourn the victims of the 1995 deadly sarin gas attacks by the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult on the Tokyo subway system, which killed 13 people and left more than 6,000 people injured.

At 8 a.m. (11 p.m. Monday GMT), around the time when the simultaneous sarin attacks were carried out 23 years ago, 16 officials of Tokyo Metro Co. offered silent prayers at the station in central Tokyo, one of the attack sites.

During the morning rush hour on March 20, 1995, Aum Shinrikyo members released the highly toxic nerve gas on five trains on the Hibiya, Marunouchi and Chiyoda lines of the Teito Rapid Transit Authority, the predecessor of Tokyo Metro. At Kasumigaseki Station, Kazumasa Takahashi, then 50, and Tsuneo Hishinuma, then 51, both employees of the TRTA, died after being heavily exposed to sarin.

Toyohiko Otomo, 57, chief of Tokyo Metro's Kasumigaseki service area, laid flowers at the station to remember the victims, as did Takahashi's widow, Shizue, 71.

"I said to my husband, 'I'm back,'" the widow said.

"I became weepier with age," she said. "I'm filled with complicated emotions, feeling a mixture of various thoughts."

In Aum-related crimes, death sentences have been finalized for 13 former members of the cult, including its guru, Chizuo Matsumoto, 63, with all criminal trials completed by January.

Earlier this month, seven of the death-row prisoners were transferred from the Tokyo Detention House to five other similar facilities. The Justice Ministry has denied the speculation that the transfers were part of preparations for their executions.

"I think things have moved on to the next stage," Shizue Takahashi said. "I hope they will move forward with the procedures according to law, without making a fuss about it." Jiji Press