"Armageddon is fast approaching... An alliance centered in the U.S. will attack Japan. Japan will be bombed with nuclear weapons and reduced to a wilderness state. This will take place from 1996 to 1998."
- Urgent Message from Shôkô Asahara
(Aum Shinri Kyô Publication)
INTRODUCTION
Japan has long enjoyed the enviable reputation of being one of the safest nations in the world. The country has one of the world lowest rates for murder and other violent crime, and the Japanese National Police Agency and local Police forces are often praised as a model of law enforcement efficiency. Tokyo enjoys one of the cleanest, safest and most efficient subway networks in the world. Trains run on precise schedules and accommodate 2.7 billion passengers a year. All that changed on March 20, 1995. A nightmare unfolded as the city of Tokyo experienced one of the worst terrorist attacks of the century.
MARCH 20, 1995 - THE INCIDENT
At approximately 8:15 during the peak of the morning rush hour in Tokyo commuters first noticed the presence of noxious fumes. Passengers fainted, and some went into convulsions after a lethal nerve gas leaked from packages planted on one of the world's busiest subway systems. Commuters overcome by the gas were carried out to the sidewalk. Others staggered out on their own, gasping for air. Rescue workers in protective gear rushed into stations, and the Japanese Self Defense Forces (including an anti-chemical-warfare squad) were called to assist with the emergency. Police later confirmed that the toxic agent was sarin, a deadly nerve gas developed by the Nazis during World War II. Sarin can be fatal even in small doses. The substance was planted in wrapped containers in at least five subway cars on three separate train lines.
Over three thousand people were admitted to hospitals for treatment or observation. In total, over five thousand people were affected by the deadly attack. Japanese authorities initially remained silent refusing to discuss suspects. The media soon turned its attention to a bizarre religious Cult known as Aum Shinri Kyô ("Aum Supreme Truth"). The religious group has a commune located in Kamikuishiki, a small village near the foot of Mt. Fuji in central Japan. Town residents had previously complained of irritating fumes emanating from the Aum compound. In a separate incident, a substance believed to be a sarin by-product was blamed for seven deaths in June 1994 at houses in the central Japanese town of Matsumoto in Nagano Prefecture.
Japan has experienced very few terrorist attacks in recent years. During the 1960s and 1970s, leftist guerrillas executed a series of attacks demonstrating their opposition to the imperial family and to construction of Tokyo's Narita airport. Right-wing groups occasionally engages in intimidation, often encouraging efforts toward a stronger Japan and a rejection of foreign influence. Previous radical attacks have been rather unsophisticated and have involved homemade mortars or smoke bombs. Seldom have any terrorist activities been aimed at the general populace and neither leftists nor right-wing groups have been linked to previous attacks involving poisonous substances.
BACKGROUND OF THE AUM SHINRI KYÔ
In the Beginning..
The central figure in this bizarre incident is a charismatic figure known as Shôkô ASAHARA. Asahara, known among his followers as "the Guru" and "the Supreme Leader" preaches that he is the reincarnation of the Hindu deity Shiva. Asahara (whose true name is Chizuo MATSUMOTO) was born in 1955, the 4th son of a poor tatami straw mat maker in Kumamoto. Partially blind from birth, Asahara attended a special school for the blind. At school, the young Asahara capitalized on his partial eyesight by guiding his less fortunate classmates around. Reportedly, He charged for this service.
Despite his disability, Asahara excelled at sports, earning a first grade black belt ranking in Judo. His dream was to enter the prestigious University of Tokyo. Life was not kind to Asahara who experienced one disappointment after another. He studied desperately to enter the University, but the school continued to reject him despite years of diligent study,
Asahara then decided to abandon his dreams - if he could not enter Japan's most prestigious university, he decided he would enter none at all. At the age of 23 he married Tomoko, a classmate. He and his wife opened a pharmacy and a natural foods shop, and soon saved enough money to buy a modest home in a comfortable suburb. Within a year of opening the store, he was fined for selling an herbal remedy brewed from orange peels that he claimed without medical proof was a traditional Chinese herbal cure named "Almighty Medicine."
Two years later, Asahara and his wife began teaching yoga classes combined with elements of Buddhist, Hindu and Christian beliefs. He traveled to the Himalayas, where he claims he became the only Japanese to ever attain enlightenment. With this enlightenment came new ideas for his program, including a name change in 1987 from the Aum Association of Mountain Wizards to Aum Shinri Kyô, or "Supreme Truth". At the same time he changed his name from Chizuo Matsumoto to Shôkô Asahara. Membership in the Aum Supreme Truth increased and the sect grew in numbers attaining religious status in 1989.
In 1990, using the name Supreme Party (Shinritô) the Aum Shinri Kyô sponsored a group of 25 political candidates, including Asahara, in parliamentary elections. None had previous political experience and They offered no platform other than opposition to a proposed sales tax. Supporters in white robes distributed literature and balloons at Tokyo train stations. The group was badly defeated and some analysts believe this prompted a turning point for Asahara and the Cult.
(The writer vividly remembers the following experience. I was living in the Shibuya-ku area of Tokyo during the 1990. One morning as I walked to the local train station, I saw a group of people dressed in bright Buddhist garb and wearing strange head gear campaigning in front of the station. At the center of attention stood a odd looking heavy set character with a beard and long black stringy hair. Little did I realize at the time, but I had just walked within fifty feet of Shôkô Asahara)
Beliefs:
Aum Shinri Kyô beliefs are based heavily upon Buddhism and an odd assortment of Western and Eastern religious practices. Cult leader Asahara was heavily influenced by the prophecies of Nostradamus. The Cult preaches that by studying the "Spirit of Truth" (Shinri) one can attain various levels of consciousness.
Aum publications assert that only Master Shôkô Asahara has attained the highest level. Asahara has also claimed the ability to levitate and to fly around rooms. The Aum concept of "levitation" however appears to be little more than bouncing around while seated in the traditional lotus posture. The religion also believes in the Hindu deity Shiva, characterized as the "Deity of Destruction" Much of the violent nature of the Aum Shinri Kyô can be traced to this belief. The concept of Armageddon or the End of the World is not a dominant theme in Buddhism of any of the major Eastern religions, yet Asahara has stated:
"From now until the year 2000, a series of violent phenomena filled with fear that are too difficult to describe will occur. Japan will turn into a waste land as the result of nuclear attack. This will occur from 1996 through January 1998. An alliance centering on the United States will attack Japan. In large cities in Japan, only one-tenth of the population will be able to survive. Nine out of ten people will die."
Asahara writings also contain numerous references to the use of sarin gas and other poisonous substances. This obvious indicator should have been a major tip-off to Japanese law enforcement authorities and yet the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system took them by surprise.
MARCH 22, 1995 - THE RAID
Two days after the attack on the Tokyo subway system Japanese authorities launched a series of carefully coordinated raids involving some 2,500 police plus chemical-warfare experts from the Japanese military. Japanese police arrive at the Aum Shinri Kyô compound near the small mountain village of Kamikuishiki in central Japan and gathered evidence by the truckload . They also made a number of bizarre discoveries during a massive search. Police freed seven people believed to be held as captives by the Cult. Police responded to cries for help and discovered one woman locked in a large box. Authorities arrested four sect members including three physicians charged with using drugs to keep these captives unconscious. Fifty Cult members were discovered in a comatose state, evidently induced by fasting. Police also confiscated books, membership lists, gas masks, gold ingots and cash worth millions of dollars.
The most damning evidence included a supply of chemicals similar to those used for the poison gas attack on the subways. During the preliminary raids police officials were unable to locate Cult leader Shôkô Asahara.
The Cult steadfastly denied any connection to the subway deaths and Asahara issued a statement declaring the subway gas attack was staged by the government to discredit his Cult. The Cult's experience with sarin, together with Asahara's repeated speeches and writings about "the power of poison gas," clearly made it a subject of suspicion from the beginning.
Police discovered about 30 bottles of the chemical solvent methyl cyanide among large quantities of chemicals seized. This fairly rare chemical was reportedly used to dilute the highly poisonous sarin gas during the subway attack. The Yomiuri Shimbun, one of Japan's popular dailies reported the discovery of a full-scale "chemical factory" at the Cult complex, including some chemicals used in the manufacture of sarin. Another Japanese news source reveled the workings of the Cult's "Science Ministry" where Japanese chemists are said to have manufactured sarin. The maze-like building reportedly contained tons of chemicals and equipment needed to produce the gas used in the attacks on the Tokyo subway.
AUM SHINRI KYÔ OPERATIONS
The Aum Shinri Kyô claimed over 10,000 members throughout Japan as well as some 30,000 members in Russia. Aum's influence extended as far as the United States and Europe. The Cult targeted major Japanese universities seeking to recruit members from among the best and the brightest. Among Aum's followers were scientists, physicians and engineers from some of Japan's leading institutions of higher learning.
The structure of the Aum Shinri Kyô was significant in that it attempted to duplicate that of the Government of Japan. Senior Cult members were given the same titles as those used in Japanese government ministries. Hideo MURAI, a graduate of the Physics Department of Osaka University went by the title Minister of Science & Technology. Murai, age 36 was later murdered in front of the Aum Shinri Kyô Tokyo Headquarters by an assassin recruited by the Cult.
Other members held similar titles. Kiyohide HAYAKAWA, Aum's Minister of Construction and one of the cults senior advisors, was tasked with acquiring land, building additional facilities and acquiring specific technology and armaments. Hayakawa also developed contacts in Russia to supply the Cult with military hardware and training.
The Aum Shinri Kyô is estimated to have assets in excess of one billion US dollars. The Cult's real estate holding included sixteen different properties in various prefectures in Japan. Aum collected this massive wealth through a variety of means. Believers were required to turn over their homes and all worldly possessions to the Cult. The Aum Shinri Kyô ran a wide variety of small businesses running from noodle shops to selling computer software in Tokyo's high technology district of Akihabara.
A Japan Times article1 outlines the cost of "religious training" which Aum Shinri Kyô believers are told to undergo. The Cult offered a wide variety of training courses including a Yoga Course for Spiritual Emancipation (¥30,000 - ¥80,000/US$ 300 - $800), an Advanced Course for the Acquisition of Supernatural Powers (¥15,000 - ¥20,000 per session/US$ 150 - $200) and a "Blood Initiation" for donations of more than one million yen (US$10,000) The ritual involved drinking of blood which supposedly was drawn from Cult leader Asahara.
The Aum Shinri Kyô was engaged in military preparation for what the Cult believed was an inevitable conflict which would lead to the end of the word. Aum members collected blueprints for the manufacture of handguns and automatic weapons, procured parts for AK-47 submachine guns, rocket launchers and other military hardware. But Aum's interest did not stop here. A television show aired by Tokyo Asahi Television Network in Japanese (December 16, 1995) reveled that the Aum Shinri Kyô intended to acquire nuclear weapons.
The program featured an interview with Mitsuhiro SUGANUMA, former chief of the Public Security Investigation Agency's (PSIA; Kôan Chôsachô) international division, who testified that Aum probably "intended to negotiate with Japan using plutonium or similar nuclear substances" and intended to use this as a threat. The program offers a biographical account of Aum's Minister of Construction, Kiyohide Hayakawa and his alleged plan to produce 1,000 Russian Kalashnikov machine guns at Aum facilities. Suganuma also commented : "I believe that Hayakawa, Asahara , and other Aum leaders were thinking of asking these Russian followers to come work as soldiers in Japan eventually. In he public security sense, they had extremely dangerous plans." The report also stated that the Russian parliament had investigated Aum activities. Viktor Ilyukhin, chairman of the State Duma's Committee on Security, commented : "We had information that low-ranking military officers joined Aum Shinri Kyô. It is possible that they arranged the shooting practice at the training facilities." The program revealed that Hayakawa's confiscated notebook lists prices of tanks and a wide variety of other weapons. It also says that Aum attempted to establish a foothold in Vladikavkaz, near Chechnya, where many weapons were available. Aum is also suspected of establishing links with the Russian intelligence authorities through "Aum Protect," a security company it established in Russia.
The program ended with the chilling observation that Aum Shinri Kyô is, in essence, a tool used by Shôkô Asahara to realize his political ambition of taking over power by bringing about an Armageddon.
MAY 16, 1995: ASAHARA ARRESTED
When Japanese police officials forced open a steel-plated mezzanine between floors of a chemical-storage building at the Aum Shinri Kyô Headquarters, they made a startling discovery. Hiding in a tiny secret room only a meter (yard) high was the bearded, nearly blind Cult leader. He told them softly that he had been meditating for two days as he waited for them. Initially, it appeared investigators might never find Asahara. After nearly three hours of fruitless searching they brought out power saws to break into hidden rooms. They finally discovered him after smashing thick planks to uncover his secret meditation room on the third floor of a building in the complex known as Sixth Satian. The search for Shôkô Asahara had ended. and along with it Japan's largest investigation. The arrest came almost four hours after thousands of police armed with warrants launched simultaneous dawn raids nationwide against the Aum Shinri Kyô Cult.
"We have obtained evidence that the sect has produced sarin within its compound and discovered its members who were involved in the attacks on the subways," said Shigeaki ISHIKAWA, a chief detective. Ikuo HAYASHI, a Cult doctor in already custody, had confessed to planting nerve gas packets in a subway car, and that Masami TSUCHIYA, head of the Cult's chemical team, had told police he had produced sarin.
Since the time of the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system, police raids on Cult sites all over Japan uncovered tons of chemicals and equipment believed necessary to manufacture the nerve gas sarin, as well as evidence that the Cult was researching biological weapons. In October 1992, an Aum "medical mission" is said to have traveled to Zaire to obtain a sample of the deadly Ebola virus.
Police patrolled train stations and manned roadblocks. The two months following the subway attack became a time of turmoil and soul-searching in Japan. The gas attack and a series of mysterious and violent incidents that followed have profoundly and unalterably changed Japan's image as a safe nation.
The devastating earthquake in Kobe during January 1995 and the subsequent attack by the Aum Shinri Kyô have caused the Government of Japan and Japanese law enforcement and Intelligence officials to come under intense criticism. An reevaluation of Japan's capabilities to respond to Crisis is desperately needed.
OPSEC ANALYSIS - WHY?
Even the most cursory look at the activities of the Aum Shinri Kyô is sufficient to conclude that the doomsday Cult constituted a severe threat to Japanese domestic security. Despite the Cult's status as a religious organization, there were a number of obvious OPSEC indications which should have provided ample warning to Japanese Intelligence and law enforcement officials. Among the more prominent indicators were:
. Writings by Cult leader Shôkô ASAHARA contain ominous predictions of an impending Armageddon and references to the use of poison gas. An analysis Cult's voluminous published books and articles reveals that Asahara's writings offer a pessimistic and paranoid view of the world. His main opponents are the U.S. military, the CIA, the Japanese right wing and Japan's government. "The major drive of the CIA is to control us, using poison gas or electric waves," Asahara has charged. In a pamphlet titled "Urgent Message from Shôkô Asahara," the guru says "Armageddon is fast approaching" for Japan.. Asahara 's ignominious defeat in the 1990 parliamentary elections during 1990 had a decided effect on the thinking of the Aum leader. His writings became even more militant.. During the initial raid on the Aum compound, Japanese police discovered laboratory facilities for the production of sarin gas as well as a factory for the production of arms and automatic weapons. Residents living in the vicinity of the Aum, compound had previously complained of noxious orders emanating from the Cult facilities.. Aum Shinri Kyô Cult members are suspected to have initiated an attack in a quiet residential area of Matsumoto in central Japan, on June 27, 1994. Seven people were killed and 600 became ill. This incident predated the Tokyo subway attack by nearly a year and involved the same sarin gas.
. Kiyohide Hayakawa (Aum' s Minister of Construction) made frequent trips to Russia for the purposes of procuring military hardware and arranging training for Aum Shinri Kyô members. Through Russian sources, the Cult also acquired a Soviet made army helicopter, a Mi-17, and imported it via Austria2. The helicopter was parked close to the Aum compound in Kamikuishiki.
. Earlier complaints registered again the Aum Shinri Kyô indicate that Cult members engaged in a wide variety of criminal activities including harassment of ex Cult members and their families, threats, intimidation, extortion, kidnapping, attempted murder of those who opposed the Cult and in several documented cases the actual murder of Aum members.
APRIL 24, 1996: POSTSCRIPT TO TERROR
Over one year has passed since the attack which killed eleven people and affected 5,500. The trial of Shôkô Asahara , supreme leader of the Aum Shinri Kyô Doomsday Cult has finally begun. If convicted Asahara faces death by hanging. In their opening statement in what has become known as Japan's "Trial of the Century", prosecutors stated Asahara declared himself as divine, personally devised the Cult's rules and punishments and controlled all aspects of life including overseeing finances of the Aum Shinri Kyô Asahara's first appearance in court however has done little except provoke additional anger and bitterness.
Asahara initially claimed to have abandoned his true name (Chizuo Matsumoto) and to have "forgotten " his address. He dozed off several times, refused to enter a plea and further confused the court with a long rambling speech. The Aum Shinri Kyô was officially disbanded during October 1995 and declared bankrupt on March 28, 1996. Some observers view Asahara's antics as an effort to preserve some degree of control over the devastated Cult. Others fear a possible resurgence of Cult activities during the trial.
An outraged column in the Mainichi Shimbun bluntly described the Cult leader as "..not a mere animal with excessively long hair. He is a ferocious animal with an excessively cruel mind". Asahara's state appointed twelve member defense team have been accused of using tactics to delay the trial. Combined with Japan's notoriously slow legal process threaten to delay justice for many years. It has taken more than a year to bring Asahara to court but it might take up to ten years before a final verdict is reached.
CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS
1989:
NOVEMBER 4, 1989 : Yokohama lawyer Tsutsumi SAKAMOTO noted for his crusades against the Aum Shinri Kyô is kidnapped along with his family. Members of the cult later confess to murdering the attorney and his family and disposing of the remains in the mountains of northern Japan.
1993:
JULY 2, 1993: More than one hundred residents of Koto-ku in Tokyo complain of noxious white fumes emanating from a Cult owned building. City officials are blocked from entering the building by Aum members.
1994:
JUNE 21, 1994: Seven people die and 200 others are affected by fumes from the lethal nerve gas sarin which sweep through a residential area in Matsumoto in central Japan. Among those affected are three judges handling a case involving Aum Shinri Kyô
1995:
MARCH 20, 1995: Sarin gas is released on five crowded Tokyo subway trains, killing 11 people and injuring more than 5,000. Police find specially sealed bags containing sarin residue.
MARCH 22, 1995: Police find hundreds of tons of chemicals in raids on Aum Shinri Kyô (Aum Supreme Truth) Cult headquarters located at Kamikuishiki.
APRIL 13, 1995: Unidentified Aum member warns in TV interview of impending disaster on scale greater than Kobe earthquake, which killed 5,500 people in January.
APRIL 19, 1995: Nearly 400 people are rushed to hospitals in Yokohama (Japan's second largest city) after a mysterious gas is released into railroad system.
APRIL 27, 1995: National Police Agency orders nationwide search for Aum's leader, Shôkô Asahara.
MAY 6, 1995: Security guards thwart gas attack which could have killed 20,000 people in Shinjuku, Tokyo's largest station by deactivating a device in a washroom before it can release cyanide gas.
MAY 15, 1995: Police capture suspected commander of subway attack, Yoshihiro INOUE.
MAY 16, 1995: Police arrest ASAHARA inside a sect building in Kamikuishiki.
MAY 26, 1995: Aum is reported to have planned to arm followers with automatic weapons for guerrilla raids against both the Japanese parliament and prime minister's residence.
JUNE 6, 1995: Asahara and six other senior Cult members are indicted on charges of murder and attempted murder.
JULY 4, 1995: A device capable of releasing enough cyanide gas to kill 9,000 is found in Tokyo's Kayabacho subway station.
JULY 5, 1995: Three people are overcome by fumes at Shinjuku railroad station and police found mysterious liquid in men's room. A second strange device is discovered at Ginza subway station in heart of Tokyo's most well known shopping district. 1996:
JANUARY 31, 1996: Supreme Court approves the disbanding of the Aum Shinri Kyô allowing the Japanese Government to size the Cult's assets.
APRIL 24, 1996: Asahara's trial opens in Tokyo District Court.
REFERENCES
1 TERROR in the Heart of Japan, The Aum Shinri Kyô Doomsday Cult (July, 1995)
2 Jane's All the World's Aircraft describes the aircraft is a cargo-carrying helicopter with a secondary passenger transport role. Its features include rocket pods. Kyodo News Service reported the price of the helicopter as ¥78 million (US$780,000)
JOHN F. QUINN attended Sophia University in Tokyo where he majored in Far Eastern Studies and Japanese History. He has extensive experience both in the government and private sector. As a former career officer with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Mr. Quinn collected, analyzed and reported on business, economic and technological developments in Japan and elsewhere in the Far East.
Mr. Quinn has assisted numerous firms with market research and business
intelligence collection for specific high technology areas and has developed
Strategic Alliances between U.S. and Japanese firms. He is a frequent lecturer
on the subjects of Business Intelligence, Operations Security (OPSEC) and
Economic Espionage. He has appeared on NBC Dateline and is quoted by Peter
Schweizer in Friendly Spies (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1993) and in Competitive
Intelligence by Larry Kahaner (Simon & Schuster, 1996). He currently
serves as Vice President for the Operations Security Professionals Society
(OPS).