Underground War: The Tokyo Attack

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Underground war: The stop of Tokyo ( Jap. アンダーグラウンド, Andaguraundo for English. Underground ) is a book by Haruki Murakami about the Omu Shinrikyo sect perpetrated Sarin - gas attack in the subway of Tokyo on 20 March 1995. He speaks to witnesses to offer a different point of view that has not been shown in the media.

Historical background

See also: Poison gas attack on the Tokyo subway (1995)

During the morning rush hour of March 20, 1995, poison gas was released by members of the Ōmu-Shinrikyō sect in five subway lines running through the government district of Tokyo. The sarin vapors spread both in the trains and in around 15 metro stations that had been used. 13 people died and several thousand were injured, some seriously.

content

The book is divided into two parts: The first part consists of numerous interviews with victims of the poison gas attack or their relatives, which Haruki Murakami conducted from January to December 1996, categorized into the subway lines affected and their directions. The second part of the book, subtitled The Promised Place , contains interviews with members of the Ōmu-Shinrikyō sect who were directly or indirectly involved in this attack.

Many of the people interviewed expressed dissatisfaction with the materialism in Japanese society, as well as with the sensational press and the inefficiency of the rescue workers. In his conclusion, Murakami believes, among other things, that the right lessons were not drawn from the attack: Instead of ticking off the attack as an act of less isolated villains, Japanese society should deal better with its psychological "underground".

In Japan both parts were published separately. The first part appeared there in 1997 with Kodansha , the interviews with the members of the Ōmu-Shinrikyō sect appeared in 1998 with Bungei Shunjusha. In Germany, underground war was first published in 2002.

Radio play adaptation

The WDR adapted the book as a radio play in 2003 under the direction of Matthias Lempert .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Barr, Cameron W .: Japan Hunts for Culprits In Tokyo Subway Attack , Christian Science Monitor , May 21, 1995, p. 1.
  2. ^ WDR: Radio play "Underground War (The Tokyo Attack)" by Haruki Murakami. December 13, 2018, accessed January 17, 2019 .