Japan yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of coordinated attacks on the Tokyo subway system when a doomsday cult released a Nazi-developed nerve gas on packed trains, killing 13 people and injuring 6,000.
At Kasumigaseki, one of the hardest hit subway stations, staff and relatives of some of those who died in the biggest attack on post-World War II Japan, fell silent at 8am to remember those who died and those still affected.
“Twenty years have passed, but I think the victims are still suffering,” said Fumiko Suzuki, who was there to pay tribute to a friend made ill by the invisible clouds of sarin that spread through rush-hour trains. “We should not forget about the attack.”
Photo: AFP
Thirteen members of the Aum Supreme Truth cult remain on death row for their part in the March 20, 1995, terror and for other murders and kidnappings the group carried out.
Cult leader Shoko Asahara was convicted of ordering five teams of followers to dump packets of sarin on trains, puncturing them with the sharpened tip of an umbrella.
Thousands of commuters were unknowingly exposed to the colorless, odorless nerve gas, which even in low doses can cause paralysis of the lungs and neurological damage.
Some died almost instantly, while others suffered gradually worsening symptoms.
More than 6,000 people were treated in hospital after having inhaled sarin — an agent developed in Nazi Germany and used by former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein against the Kurds in Iraq.
Kasumigaseki station master Mitsuaki Ota led tributes to Tokyo subway worker Kazumasa Takahashi who unknowingly picked up a punctured packet of the nerve gas from the floor of one of the trains.
He and another colleague died.
“I’d like to offer my deep condolences to those who died, and I’m praying from the bottom of my heart for the quick recovery of those who are still suffering,” Ota said.
Takahashi’s widow, Shizue, told reporters at the scene that the 20th anniversary of the attack should serve as a wake-up call over the risk of terrorism.
“It’s possible we’ll face the danger of terror attacks. I want [Japanese people] to be more aware,” she said after laying a flower on a makeshift altar.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
RSS