30 years since Japan’s worst domestic terrorist attack, the cult group behind it is ‘ongoing problem,’ officials say

On March 20, Japan marks the 30th anniversary of the country’s worst domestic terrorist attack.  

It took place during the weekday morning commute, when members of a doomsday cult called Aum Shinrikyo released five packages of deadly sarin gas on subway cars in downtown Tokyo. 

A dozen people died from the nerve agent on that day, but nearly six thousand people were injured — some of them severely. Two others died from their injuries later. 

In the weeks and months that followed, Japanese police responded by arresting dozens of adherents from Aum Shinrikyo, including the group’s leader, Shoko Asahara. He was put to death in 2018 along with 12 other senior leaders from the group.  

All these years later, the Japanese authorities say they want people to remember the victims of the attack and the group that was responsible. Memorials are planned, and Japan’s Public Security Intelligence Agency set up a new website about the 1995 Tokyo subway attack. 

It has videos and archive photos about the beliefs and criminal activities of Aum Shinrikyo, which the website describes as “an ongoing problem.” And there’s testimony from victims’ relatives, including 78-year-old Shizue Takahashi.

Shizue Takahashi lost her husband, Kazumasa Takahashi, in the attack that day. 

At the time, the couple had been married for 24 years. Shizue Takahashi said that her husband was gentle and a good father to their three children. 

Kazumasa Takahashi, who was the assistant stationmaster at the Kasumigaseki station, was one of the first people to respond to a call about a suspicious item onboard a train. 

Kazumasa Takahashi found a bag containing liquid on the floor of a subway car. He and a colleague grabbed some newspapers from a trash can and wiped up the liquid so the train could get moving again.

But Kazumasa Takahashi collapsed a few minutes later. Later that day, Shizue Takahashi said, her boss at the bank where she worked drove her to the hospital. 

“I saw my husband lying on the bed, still wearing his uniform,” she said. “And he was already cold.” 

Shizue Takahashi said that she had never heard of a religious group called Aum Shinrikyo before. She did hear about sarin gas in the news because there was an attack the year before in the Japanese city of Matsumoto that killed seven people. 

Members of Aum Shinrikyo were later found to be behind that attack as well. 

“This is the group responsible for the death of my husband,” she said.

Shizue Takahashi wanted to know more about the group, what they did and why, so she started showing up in court during the hearings for the Aum members involved in the attack. That’s not all — Shizue Takahashi was so relentless in her activism on behalf of the lives lost that day that she helped change the laws in Japan to give victims’ families the right to attend trial proceedings in person. 

Since then, she has become an outspoken advocate for the victims of the 1995 sarin gas attack, helping them win compensation from the government and demanding more transparency.

“This was a terrible terrorist attack,” she said. “I want young people to be aware of [Aum Shinrikyo], so they don’t become followers too.” 

On the tunnel wall, a small, black plaque honors Kazumasa Takahashi and his colleague, Tsuneo Hishinuma. It says, ‘Through their precise and courageous judgment, they protected the lives of many passengers and sacrificed their own.” 

Ipei Koike, 72, who remembers the attack, said that there are all kinds of religious groups, and some of them are dangerous. 

“Nowadays, we feel that all the information is available to us, at our disposal, but it’s actually not true. So, I feel the importance of really disclosing the information that’s critical to us, so we know what kind of activities are going on.” 

Koike went on to say that harmful cults are not just a problem for Japan, they’re everywhere — including in the United States. 

At one time, Aum Shinrikyo had thousands of members in many different countries. It was founded in the late 1980s by Shoko Asahara, who preached a mix of beliefs from Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity. 

The group was declared a terrorist organization in Japan. It still exists today but under different names. In 2007, Aum Shinrikyo split into two groups, Aleph and Hikari no Wa. 

Shoko Egawa is a journalist and university professor who’s written a lot about Aum Shinrikyo. She said that these people still pose a threat.

“I wouldn’t expect them to use sarin gas or to try to manufacture weapons,” she said. “So, in terms of that kind of danger, I think it’s very unlikely.” 

But Egawa said that people in spin-off groups still worship the late Shoko Asahara, and people need to be on alert.

Egawa said the biggest Aum Shinrikyo spin-off, Aleph, has about a thousand members. Japanese security agencies monitor their financial activities, places of worship and homes closely. 

One of the group’s buildings in Tokyo actually has a small police trailer right next to it. 

But Egawa said that she worries that there hasn’t been enough public messaging or education about the dangers posed by religious cults in Japan. 

That’s why she’s teaching a university course on the subject. 

“My students were born later, so they don’t have their own memories of what happened,” she said, adding that when they learn that a lot of ordinary young people joined Aum Shinrikyo, her students are genuinely shocked.