As we enter December, we can hear jingle bells and various special features looking back on this year are being broadcast on TV.Various incidents and accidents have occurred this year as well, but issues related to religion have been featured in the news this year, including reports on the Unification Church, which came into the spotlight after the murder of former Prime Minister Abe last year.
Twenty-eight years ago, on March 28, 1995, an unprecedented terrorist attack occurred.This was an incident in which highly poisonous sarin was sprayed on various lines of the Tokyo Metropolitan Subway.The masterminds and perpetrators of the incident were the founders and followers of Aum Shinrikyo, and 3 people were killed, many office workers on their way to work were caught up in the incident, and approximately 20 people were injured.
At the time, I was living in Toyosu, Tokyo, and I would take the Yurakucho Line to my office in Kasumigaseki, transfer to the Hibiya Line at Yurakucho, and get off at Kasumigaseki Station to go to work.On the morning of the incident, I arrived at Yurakucho Station and waited on the platform for the Hibiya Line, but there was no sign of a train coming that day, and the platform was quickly filled with people as it was the early morning rush.So I decided to change from the Hibiya Line to the Chiyoda Line and head to Kasumigaseki Station.When I arrived at the platform of Hibiya Station on the Chiyoda Line, a train was just sliding onto the platform, so I hurried to get into the last train.When he arrived at Kasumigaseki Station, he got off the train and started walking towards the beginning of the platform, but this time the train he was on did not depart. After an announcement was made that the first vehicle was stopped for cleaning, the vehicle departed a short time later.As I was walking along the platform of Kasumigaseki Station on the Chiyoda Line toward the ticket gates, I caught a glimpse of a subway worker cleaning the platform from something that looked like filth that had been in the first car.
As I exited the ticket gate of the Chiyoda Line, I saw panicked passengers running from the ticket gate of the Hibiya Line, where I usually ride, towards the outside of the subway.I asked, ``What the hell happened?'' I headed to the office, wondering.
After arriving at the Kasumigaseki office, there was great commotion in the area.Ambulance sirens blared outside, helicopters flew overhead, and the office received a steady stream of calls from people concerned about their families.A staff member who was cleaning the platform at Kasumigaseki Station on the Chiyoda Line later became a victim of this incident.
I am in charge of a lecture on risk management at a university, and in my lectures I talk about the fact that there are always risks in society, and we never know when those risks will materialize.We teach that it is necessary to be aware of risks as much as possible and take measures to prevent them from materializing, but as in this incident, unexpected situations can occur, so we teach students how difficult it is to be aware of risks. I'll give it to you.
