Conflicted: A History Podcast

The Tokyo Subway Sarin Attacks 1995 – Part 2


Listen Later

As the Japanese police prepare for a raid on the Aum Shinrikyo compound, cult leader Shoko Asahara launches a desperate chemical weapons attack in downtown Tokyo. During the height of Monday morning rush hour, Aum terrorists target five commuter trains with sarin gas, killing 13 people and scarring the psyche of an entire nation. In the aftermath, survivors struggle to pick up the pieces of their lives and adapt to new realities. 

 

SOURCES:

Amarasingam, A. (2017, April 5). A history of sarin as a weaponThe Atlantic

Brackett, D. W. Holy Terror: Armageddon in Tokyo. 1996.

Cotton, Simon. “Nerve Agents: What Are They and How Do They Work?” American Scientist, vol. 106, no. 3, 2018, pp. 138–40. 

Danzig, Richard; Sageman, Marc; Leighton, Terrance; Hough, Lloyd; Yuki, Hidemi; Kotani, Rui; Hosford, Zachary M.. Aum Shinrikyo: Insights Into How Terrorists Develop Biological and Chemical Weapons . Center for a New American Security. 2011

“Former ER Doctor Recalls Fear Treating Victims in 1995 Tokyo Sarin Attack.” The Japan Times, March 18, 2025..

Gunaratna, Rohan. “Aum Shinrikyo’s Rise, Fall and Revival.” Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses, vol. 10, no. 8, 2018, pp. 1–6. 

Harmon, Christopher C. “How Terrorist Groups End: Studies of the Twentieth Century.” Strategic Studies Quarterly, vol. 4, no. 3, 2010, pp. 43–84. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/26269787. 

“IHT: A Safe and Sure System — Until Now.” The New York Times, 21 Mar. 1995.

Jones, Seth G., and Martin C. Libicki. “Policing and Japan’s Aum Shinrikyo.” How Terrorist Groups End: Lessons for Countering al Qa’ida, RAND Corporation, 2008, pp. 45–62. 

Kaplan, David E. (1996) “Aum’s Shoko Asahara and the Cult at the End of the World”. WIRED. 

Lifton, Robert Jay. Destroying the World to Save It: Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence, and the New Global Terrorism. 1999.

Murakami, Haruki. Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche. Translated by Alfred Birnbaum and Philip Gabriel. 2001.

Murphy, P. (2014, June 21). Matsumoto: Aum’s sarin guinea pig. The Japan Times. 

Reader, Ian. Religious Violence in Contemporary Japan: The Case of Aum Shinrikyo.  2000.

Tucker, Jonathan B. “Chemical/Biological Terrorism: Coping with a New Threat.” Politics and the Life Sciences, vol. 15, no. 2, 1996, pp. 167–83. 

Ushiyama, Rin. “Shock and Anger: Societal Responses to the Tokyo Subway Attack.” Aum Shinrikyō and Religious Terrorism in Japanese Collective Memory., The British Academy, 2023, pp. 52–80. 

Williams, Richard. 2003. “Marathon Man.” The Guardian, May 16, 2003.

“Woman bedridden since AUM cult’s 1995 sarin gas attack on Tokyo subway dies at 56.” The Mainichi (English), 20 Mar. 2020,

“30 Years After Sarin Attack — Lessons Learned / Brother Kept Diary For Sister Caught in Sarin Attack, Chronicling Her 25-Year Struggle With Illness” The Japan News, 19 Mar. 2025,

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Conflicted: A History PodcastBy Evergreen Podcasts

  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8

4.8

528 ratings


More shows like Conflicted: A History Podcast

View all
Book Lounge by Libby by Book Lounge by Libby

Book Lounge by Libby

324 Listeners

Dan Carlin's Hardcore History by Dan Carlin

Dan Carlin's Hardcore History

64,241 Listeners

History on Fire by Daniele Bolelli

History on Fire

5,629 Listeners

Your Teen Mag Podcast by Evergreen Podcasts

Your Teen Mag Podcast

120 Listeners

Our Fake History by PodcastOne

Our Fake History

3,467 Listeners

The Next Best Picture Podcast by Evergreen Podcasts

The Next Best Picture Podcast

514 Listeners

Recruiting Future with Matt Alder - What's Next For Talent Acquisition, HR & Hiring? by Matt Alder

Recruiting Future with Matt Alder - What's Next For Talent Acquisition, HR & Hiring?

79 Listeners

The Explorers Podcast by Matt Breen

The Explorers Podcast

1,517 Listeners

Secrets and Spies Podcast: Espionage | Global Issues | Current Affairs by Secrets & Spies

Secrets and Spies Podcast: Espionage | Global Issues | Current Affairs

277 Listeners

The Chad & Cheese Podcast by Evergreen Podcasts

The Chad & Cheese Podcast

91 Listeners

Tides of History by Audible /  Patrick Wyman

Tides of History

6,306 Listeners

GenXGrownUp Podcast by Evergreen Podcasts

GenXGrownUp Podcast

99 Listeners

The Constant: A History of Getting Things Wrong by Mark Chrisler

The Constant: A History of Getting Things Wrong

881 Listeners

Dan Carlin's Hardcore History: Addendum by Dan Carlin

Dan Carlin's Hardcore History: Addendum

8,341 Listeners

Warriors In Their Own Words | First Person War Stories by Evergreen Podcasts | The Honor Project

Warriors In Their Own Words | First Person War Stories

661 Listeners

CONFLICTED by Message Heard

CONFLICTED

478 Listeners

Fall of Civilizations Podcast by Fall of Civilizations Podcast

Fall of Civilizations Podcast

5,252 Listeners

Banking Transformed with Jim Marous by Evergreen Podcasts

Banking Transformed with Jim Marous

87 Listeners

FIVE MINUTE NEWS by Evergreen Podcasts

FIVE MINUTE NEWS

428 Listeners

Real Dictators by NOISER

Real Dictators

5,247 Listeners

The Ancients by History Hit

The Ancients

3,369 Listeners

The Rest Is History by Goalhanger

The Rest Is History

15,823 Listeners

Gone Medieval by History Hit

Gone Medieval

1,897 Listeners

American History Hit by History Hit

American History Hit

1,581 Listeners