Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche

On Monday, March 20, 1995, a bright spring day, five members of the fanatical cult Aum Shinrikyo used the toxic gas sarin—which is 26 times deadlier than cyanide—to wage chemical warfare on the Tokyo subway system. The unimaginable had occurred: a terrorist assault had targeted a major metropolitan transportation system.

Haruki Murakami, the critically acclaimed author of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and perhaps the most significant contemporary novelist in Japan, spoke with survivors of the disaster in an effort to learn why. These survivors included a young cult member who vehemently condemns the attack despite having not left Aum, a fashion salesman who harbors more resentment toward the media than the attackers, and a Subway Authority employee who felt survivor guilt. Murakami reveals fascinating facets of the Japanese mind via these and several other voices. We also get a clear picture of an incident that might happen anywhere, at any moment, as he identifies the underlying problems that gave rise to the assault. One of the most insightful writers in the world has produced a potent piece of journalism in Underground, which is both unceasingly significant and hauntingly captivating.