Zero Hour (2004–…): Season 1, Episode 4 - Terror in Tokyo - full transcript

NARRATOR: On March 20, 1995,

the Tokyo Metro was the scene
of an attempt at mass murder.

The attackers released
the nerve agent sarin,

a chemical so powerful

that in its pure form, the
tiniest droplet is enough to kill.

(SIRENS BLARING)

This was the first ever use of a
weapon of mass destruction for terrorism.

The group behind the attack turned
out to be a new Japanese religion

called Aum Shinrikyo or
Aum the Supreme Truth.

For them, the murder of so many civilians

was not an attempt to
gain publicity for their cause,



but a religious act,

a holy act.

This film will reconstruct minute-by-minute

what happened from
7:46 to 8:46 in the morning

as five men set out to gas the Tokyo Metro.

It will explore the bizarre
motivations that led to the injury

and murder of so many innocent people.

It will show a carefully co-ordinated
plan of mass, indiscriminate destruction.

(CLOCK TICKING)

March 20, 1995.

Some nine million commuters
are making their way into the center

of the world's largest metropolis.

Hidden among these anonymous faces

are five men, each holding an
umbrella with a sharpened steel tip.



In their bags, they carry
packages of sarin liquid

wrapped discreetly in newspaper.

In their pockets they each
have a hypodermic syringe

containing 2 millimeters
of atropine sulphate,

an antidote against the nerve agent.

They plan to release the sarin at 8:00,

14 minutes time.

What is remarkable about these five men

is how educated and literate they are.

Masato Yokoyama is on board his train,

the 5th car of B801
heading into central Tokyo.

He is 31, a quiet, well-spoken
graduate in applied physics

from Tokai University.

Yasuo Hayashi is 37.

He is carrying three packages of sarin

when all the others only have two.

He volunteered for the
duty, keen to prove his loyalty.

He has a degree in Artificial
Intelligence from Kogakuin University.

Kenichi Hirose waits
nervously for his train.

He is just 30,

and an important member of
the cult's Chemical Brigade.

He is holder of a
postgraduate degree in physics

from the elite Waseda University.

Ikuo Hayashi at 48, is
the oldest of the team.

He is wearing a mask. It is not
uncommon on the Tokyo subway.

It also helps avoid identification.

Five years before this fateful day,

he resigned his job and left
with his family to join the cult.

He used to be a senior
cardiologist devoted to his patients.

The fifth attacker is Toru Toyoda.

His train will arrive in 10 minutes.

He assisted in the secret manufacture
of the sarin that the team are carrying.

He is a fiery young man, aged 27,

with a top Honors degree
and an M.A. in applied physics.

(CLOCK TICKING)

Sarin in its pure form

evaporates into a colorless gas
26 times more deadly than cyanide.

It suffocates, chokes
and blinds the victim.

The attackers are synchronized
to release it in 10 minutes time.

(CLOCK TICKING)

It's Monday and passengers
are still remembering

the pleasures of the
weekend that has just past.

There is no thought of
what is about to happen.

(SPEAKING JAPANESE)

TRANSLATOR: I was in quite a good mood

because the next day
would be a national holiday.

I was going to visit my father's
grave with my sister-in-law,

so I was planning to call her from my work

to arrange to meet-up.

(SPEAKING JAPANESE)

TRANSLATOR: I was a jeweler at that time.

I was a healthy and happy 28-year-old.

I went to work.

At night I'd go out
drinking with my friends.

What glorious days.

NARRATOR: For the Metro staff,
this is also an ordinary Monday.

(SPEAKING JAPANESE)

TRANSLATOR: We never imagined
we would have a gas or terrorist attack.

I had never even used
the word "terrorist" before.

NARRATOR: As the terrorists travel
invisibly among the station attendants,

the salary men and the secretaries
of Japan's rush hour, this...

For a few more minutes...

Is a city at peace.

(CLOCK TICKING)

The chemical agent sarin has only
been used once before as a weapon,

by Saddam Hussein, to
gas thousands of Kurds.

Now these terrorists are about to release
it in the confines of the Tokyo Metro.

Kenichi Hirose will later confess

to being struck by the tragic
implications of what he is about to do.

At the last moment, he has
an intense desire to leave.

HIROSE THROUGH TRANSLATOR:
I was envious of the people

who could just walk out of there.

But I told myself that this is
nothing less than salvation.

The teachings tell us that human feelings

are the result of seeing
things in the wrong way.

We must overcome our human feelings.

NARRATOR: These teachings have been devised

by a man who claims to
be a manifestation of Shiva,

the Hindu god of destruction and rebirth

and the Christ-like Messiah.

(MAN SINGING IN JAPANESE)

He is the cult's half-blind
guru, and founder,

the charismatic Chizuo Matsumoto.

Members know him by his holy name,

Shoko Asahara,

and believe he has superhuman powers
that include mind-reading and levitation.

In eight years he has
built Aum up from nothing

to a flourishing organization
with 40,000 members worldwide.

But the core of his support lies in Japan.

Hirose and the other
terrorists follow his teachings,

a mixture of pseudoscience, Nostradamus,

esoteric Buddhism and
apocalyptic Christianity.

Aum tells its converts

that they will rise above the
ordinary mass of the human race.

(SPEAKING JAPANESE)

TRANSLATOR: When I was at high school,
I started believing that human beings

have hidden powers and that we
can develop these hidden powers.

Then I came across a book by Aum.

NARRATOR: This
promotional video promises to be

the key to developing superpowers,

and the opening
chapter of a wonderful life.

(SINGING IN JAPANESE)

Asahara's recipe for empowerment

is for his followers to hand over
their wealth to his safe-keeping

and reject a world that has
been polluted by materialism.

(SPEAKING JAPANESE)

(SPEAKING JAPANESE)

TRANSLATOR: I was a
believer in Aum Shinrikyo.

I believed that capitalism was evil.

Oooooh... (NAGOAKA SPEAKING JAPANESE)

TRANSLATOR: The most important
thing for human beings are our souls,

and when we fixate on
material things, our souls decay.

NARRATOR: Aum believes that
the source of this decay is America,

which is enslaving the world.

Even the Japanese
government and the emperor

are under its thumb.

It's only a matter of minutes now
before the attack will commence.

The release of the sarin will
be both crude and dangerous.

The devotees have to puncture their packets

in front of dozens of potential witnesses.

They must then make good their escape

before the sarin can contaminate them.

Yasuo Hayashi, like the other attackers,

has renounced his previous
life to become an Aum priest.

He is a member of the inner circle
of some one or two hundred members

who are privy to Asahara's plans.

The mission holds no fears for him.

All he has to do is follow
the guru's teachings.

Masato Yokoyama is as
devoted as Yasuo Hayashi.

All disciples seek to remove what
they call "corrupt data" from their mind,

and replace it with "pure
data" from the mind of the guru.

They fast, meditate, and listen
repeatedly to tapes of Asahara's sermons.

This "pure data"

is now telling the five attackers to
kill thousands of innocent people.

(SPEAKING JAPANESE)

TRANSLATOR: Believers in Aum were
never allowed to think for themselves.

The guru Asahara was absolute.

We were taught that if you
think his teachings are wrong,

it is because you, your
heart, has been corrupted.

NARRATOR: As Aum's
so-called Minister of Healing,

Dr. Hayashi has become a key figure
in cleansing the hearts of initiates.

In ceremonies known
as "Christ Initiations,"

the doctor gives disciples
drinks laced with LSD

to rid them of "corrupted
thought patterns."

Asahara himself regularly
takes large amounts of drugs.

Indeed, such are the
quantities that Aum use,

that it's manufacturing its own LSD.

(SPEAKING JAPANESE)

TRANSLATOR: The effect was incredible.
My hands felt like rubber balls,

my body became numb, I
felt sick. I was totally confused.

I had been given it without
being told what it was.

But this was the
initiation from the holy one.

NARRATOR: Toru Toyoda
gets on his assigned train.

He is the last of the attackers to board.

And he is perfectly calm.

Like all members of
the inner circle of Aum,

he has undergone another form of training,

the PSI or Perfect Salvation Initiation.

These headsets developed by Aum technicians

pass low-voltage
currents through the brain.

The aim is to implant
Asahara's thought patterns

directly into the mind.

He has no compunction about
following Asahara's orders.

The trains the attackers are
on have been carefully chosen

for targeted, destructive effect.

The five men are on three lines,

arteries that intersect
at Kasumigaseki Station

near Tokyo's Metropolitan
Police Department,

and the heart of Japanese government.

If all goes as planned,

the five subway cars will
be spreading the deadly gas

as they criss-cross the busy
intersection in another seven minutes.

(CLOCK TICKING)

8:00. The moment of attack.

Despite his doubts,
Kenichi Hirose steels himself

and finally decides to place his sarin.

In his panic he fumbles.

No one intervenes.

He successfully punctures both bags.

(CLOCK TICKING)

Yasuo Hayashi is having
a pang of conscience.

He will later recall,
"I didn't want to do it,

"but I knew I couldn't run away from it.

"I just had to do it."

He punctures two of the three bags.

Toru Toyoda successfully
releases all his sarin.

Masato Yokoyama only
manages to puncture one bag.

It will prove to be the least
damaging of the attacks.

Dr. Hayashi is the last to attack.

But he has second thoughts,

as he will later tell police investigators.

HAYASHI THROUGH
TRANSLATOR: When I looked around,

the sight of so many commuters shocked me.

I'm a doctor, and I've been
working all my life to save lives.

If I release this sarin
now by puncturing the bag,

many people could die.

If I unleash the sarin here, now the
woman opposite me is dead for sure.

I thought a number of
times that I should stop.

But I couldn't go against
orders. I told myself,

"This is just a yoga of the Mahamudra,
of a True Enlightened Master."

NARRATOR: He also punctures
only one bag before leaving the train.

This is a silent attack.

The Metro Control Centers
have no idea it's happened.

(CLOCK TICKING)

The full effects of the sarin will
not be felt for several minutes.

The five trains continue their journey
towards Kasumigaseki and police headquarters.

Japan is one of the most law
abiding countries in the world.

The idea that Japanese citizens

would ever commit such a large
scale and indiscriminate crime

seems unimaginable.

The attackers plan to rendezvous

at their hideout in the
Shibuya district of Tokyo.

They will then return to
Asahara at Aum's headquarters.

The attackers themselves have no
desire to experience the effects of sarin.

According to plan, they carefully
rinse the tips of their umbrellas.

Kenichi Hirose's clumsy delivery

means that he's been
contaminated by the sarin.

He's already feeling symptoms.

He reaches for his antidote.

All the attackers know that there
is a risk that this might happen,

but the inner circle, and the guru himself

believe this is a necessary risk.

Beyond the pseudo-religious
rantings against a corrupt world,

there is an ulterior,
and very practical motive

for this morning's operation.

Just two days before this attack,

on March the 18th,
Asahara received a tip-off

from two of his disciples
serving in the Japanese army.

They've told him that Aum's
base is about to be raided

in connection with ongoing police
enquiries into complaints against Aum.

This morning's attack is
intended to head the police off.

Asahara has no intention
of claiming responsibility.

Instead, he calculates that the police
will target other potential culprits,

and that the attack will be so devastating

that they'll be sidetracked and
disrupted for months to come.

It's not the first time that
Asahara has tried this tactic.

The year before, in Matsumoto,

he succeeded with
another pre-emptive strike.

It was also his first use of sarin.

A local landowner was taking him to court.

Fearing that he was about to lose the case,

Asahara attacked the trial judges.

At night, Aum terrorists
drove a specially fitted truck

into the district where the judges lived,

and sprayed out sarin in atomized form.

Seven people were killed
and 144 rushed to hospital.

The judges were among the injured

and were unable to attend
court to deliver their verdict.

Asahara's tactic worked.

The police pointed the finger elsewhere.

(SPEAKING JAPANESE)

TRANSLATOR: We didn't have any idea
that this incident had any link with Aum.

At that time our chief
suspect was North Korea.

They were our most dangerous enemy.

NARRATOR: The terrorists drive
off, unspotted, into the Tokyo traffic.

Asahara has staked the fate of his religion

on the heads of these five men.

But the haphazard way that
they've punctured their sarin

means that the impact of the
five attacks varies considerably.

Masato Yokoyama only
punctured one of his sachets,

and that only with one small hole.

The sarin is hardly leaking,

and there are no serious incidents,

though people are already
receiving minor sarin poisoning.

(COUGHING)

By contrast, Toru Toyoda's
sarin is evaporating rapidly.

At Roppongi, a couple of stops
after Toyoda released the sarin,

the effects take hold on the commuters.

(ALL COUGHING)

(SHOUTING IN JAPANESE)

The sarin gas drifts invisibly
through the crowded carriages.

(COUGHING)

Normally sarin is odorless, but the
Aum chemists have not purified it enough,

and some smell an odor like mustard,

others like burning rubber.

(PEOPLE TALKING EXCITEDLY)

(SPEAKING JAPANESE)

TRANSLATOR: Suddenly, I felt
that my eyes were flashing or sparking,

as if I were looking at
fireworks in the night.

Then I couldn't see anything. It felt as
though somebody put a black cloth on my head.

At that moment I thought to myself,

"I'm going to die."

NARRATOR: As the sarin eats
away at the body's nervous system,

some passengers go into spasm,

others collapse unconscious.

(SPEAKING JAPANESE)

NARRATOR: Thirteen
minutes after the attack,

the sarin is spreading
through the Tokyo Metro.

There are 40 to 50 passengers in
various stages of sarin poisoning.

It is made worse by the minute

as the poison gas
spreads onto the platform.

No one has any idea
what is happening to them.

(SPEAKING JAPANESE)

TRANSLATOR: I'd seen many events,
incidents, and tragedies in my life,

but I was never involved.

They never happened to me.

It was always somebody else.

The fact that I was part of this
tragedy was what I found most shocking.

NARRATOR: Shunkichi Watanabe has
collapsed dangerously close to the sarin.

When help does come, it's too late.

He will die.

Many passengers head
upstairs for fresh air,

but the sarin is already in
their blood, poisoning them.

The sarin used in this attack

is just the tip of an extraordinary
arsenal Asahara has been developing.

Through Aum, Asahara
has assets of a billion dollars,

gained through donations

and a range of legal and illegal activity.

He has spent tens of millions
on weapons' programs.

At their headquarters, Aum are
developing the capacity to produce

an incredible 70 tons of
sarin to spray on Tokyo,

an amount that could wipe out the city.

Under chief chemist, Masami Tsuchiya,

they have produced in their
laboratories phosgene, sodium cyanide

and the powerful nerve agent, VX.

Under Seiichi Endo,

Aum scientists are also
developing biological weapons,

including the botulinus toxin, and anthrax.

Aum is also accessing
military hardware from Russia.

Kiyohide Hayakawa, Aum's number two,

has even purchased an army helicopter

and made enquiries into nuclear weapons.

(CLOCK TICKING)

(ANNOUNCEMENT OVER PA IN JAPANESE)

Toru Toyoda's train is now
seven minutes behind schedule.

With the sick removed from the
carriage where the sarin was released,

the station attendants
let the train continue.

Unknown to the Metro staff,

the sarin gas is being
spread along the line,

just as Asahara has planned.

In the minds of the five attackers,

the people they are killing
are not innocent bystanders,

they're depraved and corrupt.

The practical reason for their action

may be to ward off the police
raid they've been tipped off about.

But they can also console
themselves that this is a holy act,

a crusade against the polluted world.

There have been other
similarly motivated attacks.

Two years before, Aum tried to assassinate

what it viewed as the
"corrupt" Royal family.

From the back of a van,
Asahara sprayed botulinus toxin

around the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.

Asahara's deluded
self-righteousness knows no bounds.

And there is a further huge ambition.

(SPEAKING JAPANESE)

NARRATOR: Asahara believes

that if this attack on the Metro
can be blamed on America,

it will be possible to trigger a
world war and fulfill divine destiny.

The apocalypse is coming.

Only the enlightened members of Aum

can escape the impending disaster.

Toru Toyoda's train continues
into the Hibiya line platform

at Kasumigaseki with
its evacuated carriage.

But passengers in other
carriages are also affected

as the sarin filters through the train.

The train is now taken out of service,

but the sarin is leaking into the station.

(CLOCK TICKING)

At Kasumigaseki's Chiyoda Line platform,

Assistant Stationmaster,
Kazumaza Takahashi,

is trying to clear up a messy package

which he has removed from the train.

(SPEAKING JAPANESE)

TRANSLATOR: He always called
me when he was working night shift,

and he had indeed phoned
me on the previous evening.

He wanted to talk about going
away for our wedding anniversary.

NARRATOR: The package is
the sarin placed by Dr. Hayashi.

His train pulled into
Kasumigaseki 10 minutes ago,

and scores of ill people were
evacuated before the train moved on.

(SPEAKING JAPANESE)

Throughout the station,
people are starting to show

severe symptoms of sarin poisoning.

(COUGHING)

(SPEAKING JAPANESE)

TRANSLATOR: People started to collapse.
Then I had reports of people dying,

no pulse, no breathing and so on,

reports that were getting
worse by the minute.

(CLOCK TICKING)

NARRATOR: On Kenichi
Hirose's train at Nakano-Sakaue,

similar events are occurring.

His sarin has now been
at work for 26 minutes.

The authorities have finally been informed.

Subway officials again step in.

Takeo Fujimoto will die in
hospital in two days' time.

Tsuna Sakai will die in the next few hours.

(COUGHING)

Assistant Stationmaster Sumio Nishimura

removes the suspicious
packets to a back office.

He will be grateful that he
is so careful with the sarin.

Though he will be sick, he
is extremely lucky to survive.

The train, still contaminated
by sarin, is allowed to carry on.

(COUGHING)

Takahashi, with sarin all over his gloves,

has not been so careful.

His colleagues at Kasumigaseki
Station take him to a back room.

(SPEAKING JAPANESE)

No ambulance is available to assist them.

With calls flooding in from
numerous Metro stations,

the emergency services are
being stretched to the limit.

The station attendants wait.

The open bag containing
the sarin continues to leak.

(COUGHING)

(SPEAKING JAPANESE)

TRANSLATOR: Aum Shinrikyo
doesn't seek happiness.

They sacrifice their present life

for a better existence in the afterlife.

They're ready to sacrifice the
lives of others for the same reason.

Aum Shinrikyo is so selfish.

(CLOCK TICKING)

NARRATOR: On the fifth train, where
Yasuo Hayashi left his three packages,

the effects have been devastating.

He made the most punctures
of any of the attackers.

A passenger pulled the
emergency stop at Tsukiji Station.

Eight passengers had
already lost consciousness,

and many others were seriously ill.

The authorities, suspecting
a gas leak, halted the train

and evacuated the station.

(SPEAKING JAPANESE)

This morning's attack is evidence

of the madness that has taken over Aum.

Few dare to speak out.

(NAGOAKA SPEAKING JAPANESE)

TRANSLATOR: If Asahara doubted
someone, or thought they were a spy,

then he would hang them upside down.

If someone rubbed him up the wrong way,

he put them into solitary
confinement for a month.

There were so many punishments
I can't describe them all.

NARRATOR: Part of Dr. Hayashi's job,

as the Minister of Healing,
is the "curing" of deviants.

They must be steered
back onto the holy path.

He frequently uses sodium pentathlon

on members who are suspected
of being spies or just recalcitrant,

and gives electric shocks
to remove their memories.

The regime is so brutal it often
leads to injury and even death.

Numerous devotees, some
estimate 46, have been killed.

And the violence extends
beyond Aum members.

In 1989, Aum came under a legal
challenge from a bright young lawyer,

Tsutsumi Sakamoto.

He was representing 23
families who wanted access

to their children inside the cult.

On Asahara's orders,

the cult broke into Tsutsumi's
flat at night and injected him,

his wife and baby with potassium chloride.

The bodies were secretly disposed of.

The ruthless discipline instilled
by Aum's practices is one reason

why all the attackers have
gone through with their mission.

(CLOCK TICKING)

The first team, Yasuo
Hayashi and his driver,

return to their hideout.

They wait for other teams,

proud that they have completed
their mission undetected.

Yet this is an attack the
police could have anticipated.

In recent months, there have been
numerous fingers pointed at Aum.

After the 1994 attack on
the judges at Matsumoto,

the police did receive
an anonymous tip-off.

MAN: Aum Supreme Truth
is guilty of the sarin attack.

It has the manpower,
materials, money and motive

to deal with this mad weapon.

NARRATOR: But the police
and intelligence services

could not conceive of a religious
organization resorting to terrorism.

(SPEAKING JAPANESE)

SUGANUMA THROUGH TRANSLATOR: I
never dreamed terrorism would be conducted

by a religious organization.

Our view of terrorism in Japan
was of revolutionary terrorism,

or ideological terrorism,

such as the revolutionary Marxist Faction

or the Kakui Kyoto group.

NARRATOR: There is a critical cultural
factor that has blinded the police.

Because of experiences during World War II,

the police authorities
and intelligence service

were very cautious about investigating

or monitoring religious organizations.

It is not overstating the case to
say that religious organizations

became untouchable.

NARRATOR: Nevertheless, suspicion
has been building against Aum,

and because of the raid they're
planning on Aum in two days' time,

the police are a key target.

Police Headquarters are right
next door to Kasumigaseki Station,

where the sarin continues to leak out.

(CLOCK TICKING)

By 8:46, one hour after the
attackers boarded their trains,

Japan is beginning to feel the shock.

It will be nearly two hours, 10:30 a.m.,

before a military doctor
diagnoses sarin poisoning.

At 1:30, military experts in
full chemical warfare gear

are sent in with 100 troops.

(SIRENS BLARING)

By this stage, hospitals all over Tokyo

are jammed with
thousands of sick and dying.

(SPEAKING JAPANESE)

TRANSLATOR: It was so crowded

that I couldn't figure out what
was hallway, surgery or ward.

I was taken to a private
room on the 8th floor,

and there was a bed covered with a blanket.

I took the blanket away.

I saw my husband laid out there.

I always believed that working on
the underground was not dangerous.

I just couldn't believe he had died.

NARRATOR: Many victims
still feel the effects years later.

Yuriko has to wear dark glasses
to protect her damaged eyes.

(SPEAKING JAPANESE)

TRANSLATOR: The after-effects...
First I suffered from asthma.

But I've also suffered
mentally and emotionally.

I've had PTSD,
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

I never thought it would be like this.

I've been suffering for 10 years.

My life wasn't supposed to be like this.

NARRATOR: Noriko used to be
a checkout girl at a supermarket.

(GRUNTING)

(SPEAKING JAPANESE)

TRANSLATOR: Altogether she has been
in hospital for eight and a half years.

Last September she came out of
hospital and she now lives with us.

By inhaling sarin, her brain
was deprived of oxygen.

Now she can't walk, so
she is in a wheelchair.

She can't talk either.

And she has lost her memory.

NARRATOR: Although many thousands
suffer trauma and temporary injury,

it is remarkable that only 12 people die

and 1,300 are physically injured.

The reason is that Aum had
not purified the sarin properly.

If they had, the deaths would
have been in the thousands.

Asahara still hopes to
get away with his crime.

In fact, for Aum, the game will soon be up.

(SPEAKING JAPANESE)

TRANSLATOR: I heard news of the incident
on the radio first thing in the morning.

My immediate intuition

was that it had been committed by Aum.

NARRATOR: The police
will soon be galvanized

into launching its largest
ever peacetime operation.

Asahara's ambition of stalling the
police raid on the Aum compound failed.

Two days after the attack, an unprecedented
force of 2,500 police officers

raided 25 Aum premises throughout Japan.

Arrests were made.

Chemicals, laboratory equipment
and boxes of documents were seized.

Aum's technical facilities were uncovered.

A Russian helicopter was found

which could have been used
for spraying gas across Tokyo.

The pressure continued
over the following months

as the police clocked
up more than 500 raids.

More than 50 children were taken into care,

many still wearing the PSI headsets.

There was a massive manhunt
for fugitive cult members.

But Aum was not a spent force.

On March the 30th,

the police chief in charge
of the Aum investigation

was shot four times as he was
leaving his house to go to work.

He only narrowly survived.

Asahara himself was finally
arrested on the 16th of May.

On the same day, emergency services rushed
to the offices of the Tokyo Governor,

where a letter bomb had blown
up in the face of his secretary.

Between May and July, Aum tried and failed

at four more attacks on
the Tokyo Underground,

two involving Zyclon B,

used by the Nazis in their gas chambers.

By now, arrests had reached 400.

192 were charged with serious
crimes, including 41 for murder.

Aum had been neutralized.

After a protracted eight-year trial,
Asahara was sentenced to death,

as were four of the five attackers.

The exception was Dr. Ikuo Hayashi,

whose co-operation with the
police had led to numerous arrests,

and Asahara's conviction.

He has life imprisonment.

The executions have
not yet been carried out.

Today's members of Aum now
live in a small apartment complex

in the suburbs of Tokyo.

It has changed its name to Aleph,

and apologized for its actions.

But former members of Aum
still believe that Asahara's grip

is as strong as ever.

(SPEAKING JAPANESE)

TRANSLATOR: Aum taught that
we can't judge Asahara's thoughts.

Aum believe that even
if they commit murder,

it doesn't mean they have
done something wrong.

Almost all remaining
members of the organization

still believe Asahara had high ideals,

and that we are just not
capable of understanding them.

NARRATOR: Six years after Aum's attack,

the whole world woke up to the
horror of religiously inspired mass terror.

The parallels are extraordinary.

Just as the West had
under-estimated al-Qaeda,

the Japanese had underestimated Aum.

Both organizations had
mustered huge resources.

Both viewed the Western world as decadent.

Both attacks were carried
out by highly educated people.

Both targeted civilians.

Both organizations refused
to claim responsibility.

Both saw murder as a holy act.
This was Japan's wake-up call.

It foreshadowed a new age of mass terror.