Book Review: Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche

In 1995 I had been in Japan already for almost 3 years. I was getting used to the culture more and more. I was studying Japanese like crazy. I was going to karate all the time. I was convinced that Japan was great. Japan was beautiful. Japan was, above all, safe.

1995 was a terrible year for Japan. The Kobe earthquake destroyed so many lives. Thousands of people perished in the destruction, crushed under their cities and highways. It was terrible. No one can hold an earthquake responsible though. Earthquakes happen. Tsunamis happen. Fires happen. So when several Japanese citizens belonging to the Aum Shinrikyo (The Aum Doomsday Cult) entered several Tokyo train stations, boarded commuter-packed trains, and released lethal sarin gas it shocked and horrified the nation. Terrorism in Japan was unthinkable. Terrorism of the Japanese on their fellow citizens was beyond that. The world had gone insane, and nothing held meaning anymore.

The media went wild in Japan. There were endless reports about the leader of the Aum Doomsday Cult, Shoko Asahara. There were endless sensational editorials all over the newspapers and television. The cult had found their voice, and it rocked the nation. Murakami, however, saw that there was a large part of the story that never got told, the part about whatever happened to the victims and their families. Murakami takes us inside what was going on with the passengers, who were affected, who are still suffering from the affects of sarin poisoning, who were heroic, and who sacrificed their own lives so that strangers could survive. These stories are remarkable, and astonishing.

Murakami interviews station staff about that day and voice is given to the selfless acts of their fellow workers who perished in the attack. The author discusses in detail how the hospitals acted and saved many, and how they were also so unprepared for such an event. Murakami gives voice to those who have been so horrifyingly damaged by sarin poisoning that they must speak through their family members through series of vocal grunts and sounds.

This text also explores in many ways how the sarin attack in Tokyo has been understood and interpreted through a particular Japanese psychological standpoint. I found these particular treatments to be very interesting. The inability to comprehend the attack by some, the strong desire to ignore and “get over” it by others, the rage and resentment of the survivors and their families are all so powerful, each in their own way.

In the revised edition of the book, Murakami also takes a few chapters to interview other characters in this tale. He interviews former Aum Doomsday Cult members. The approach that he has in listening to their stories, and responding to their statements is so intriguing, he could have done more interviews and written another book entirely.

Murakami has such a sensitive and evocative style it is hard not to be swept away by his writing. He is extremely passionate, thoughtful, logical, and is driven to treat the horror and its affect on the victims with tremendous respect and care. There is nothing sensational to read in the pages of his book, just a thoughtful, articulate, meaningful account of a horrifying day on March 20, 1995 that changed Japan profoundly.

A Must Read!

Book Review: Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche

Author: Haruki Marukami

Reviewed by: Mark Groenewold

Date: January, 2005