“Underground” by Haruki Murakami
Japan has a rich history and legacy of operational efficiency and being the safest country in the world. Yet, on the 20th of March in the year 1995, a ghastly act of terrorism shook the core ethics of Japanese culture, perpetrated by a few members of the religious cult — Aum Shinrikyo. The leader of the cult was Shoko Asahara, who led the perpetrators to release Sarin Gas on three main lines of Tokyo Metro, passing through Kasumigaseki and Nagatacho stops. Nine months earlier, the cult carried out the Matsumoto Sarin Attack which strengthened their resolution to carry out one of the biggest bioterrorism incident in Japan.
The book touches upon the lives of 60+ survivors affected by the attack, and the perpetrators who were led to believe that this act of terrorism is an unquestionable and unfathomable road to salvation.
It was quite surprising to note that the majority of the survivors didn’t quite put the blame on the perpetrators than on the whole idea of the Attack. Some have even forgiven the attackers to attain mental peace and to move on in life. Japanese culture doesn’t allow too much disturbance to others. So, even when the Sarin gas was released and the subway passengers in that coach were feeling nauseous and sick, none of them created any panic or disturbance so as to inconvenience others.
The perpetrators who testified against the leader of the cult had second thoughts before the Attack. But, eventually they left everything to their fate and surrendered to the job at hand. Japanese culture believes in Salvation and presence of Higher Purpose of Life. The perpetrators gave in to the will of their Leader without questioning the end game.
Overall, it was a decent read. If you are a non-fiction reader, this book might really interest you particularly because the author has painstakingly interviewed and collected all the Survivors who were willing to share their experiences to get to this book.
Have you read this book? Suggest the next book I should read… :)
Rating: 4/5