Underground

Alternate Titles

• Tokyo gas attack and the Japanese psyche

Description

It was a clear spring day, Monday, March 20, 1995, when five members of the religious cult Aum Shinrikyo conducted chemical warfare on the Tokyo subway system using sarin, a poison gas twenty-six times as deadly as cyanide. The unthinkable had happened, a major urban transit system had become the target of a terrorist attack.

First Sentence

Two men were assigned to drop sarin gas on the Chiyoda Line: Ikuo Hayashi and Tomomitsu Niimi.

Excerpt

Two men were assigned to drop sarin gas on the Chiyoda Line: Ikuo Hayashi and Tomomitsu Niimi.

Description

"The Tokyo Gas Attack left twelve people dead and over thousands injured; many suffering from after-effects such as blindness, memory loss and paralysis as a consequence of inhaling sarin gas. In Underground the survivors recount their thoughts and feelings at the time, marvel at the slow response of the emergency services, and reveal how the attack has changed their view of society. We are left with a sense not only of the nightmarish quality of the assault, but also of something amiss in Tokyo itself, perhaps in modern city life everywhere. In the second half of the book, Murakami interviews members of the Aum Shinrikyo (Supreme Truth) cult, in the hope that they might be able to explain how their guru, Shoko Asahara, instilled such devotion in his followers and why he resorted to terrorism."--BOOK JACKET.

Subjects

Other Editions

• UndergroundVintage International2001-01-01
• AndāguraundoKōdansha1997-01-01
• UndergroundHardcoverThe Harvill Press2000-01-01
• UndergroundHardcoverHarvill Press2000-05-31
• Underground - The Tokyo Gas Attack And The Japanese PsychePaperbackVintage Books / Random House2001-01-01
• UndergroundPanther2001-01-01