1 00:00:46,680 --> 00:00:49,617 [ominous music playing] 2 00:00:57,591 --> 00:01:00,661 [traffic din] 3 00:01:03,432 --> 00:01:06,201 [male announcer on PA] 4 00:01:06,334 --> 00:01:08,636 [train chugging by] 5 00:01:08,769 --> 00:01:11,073 [radio crackling] 6 00:01:11,206 --> 00:01:13,208 [two men speaking Japanese on radio] 7 00:01:27,721 --> 00:01:30,958 [female announcer on PA] 8 00:01:33,028 --> 00:01:36,064 [indistinct chatter] 9 00:01:36,198 --> 00:01:39,600 [two men speaking Japanese on radio] 10 00:01:49,810 --> 00:01:52,847 [sirens wailing] 11 00:01:56,684 --> 00:01:58,553 FEMALE ANCHOR: A frightening development this morning, 12 00:01:58,686 --> 00:02:00,522 a chemical weapon, nerve gas, 13 00:02:00,654 --> 00:02:03,492 was released inside a crowded subway system in Tokyo today 14 00:02:03,624 --> 00:02:06,194 and police say it's a deliberate attack by terrorists. 15 00:02:06,328 --> 00:02:08,363 MALE ANCHOR: It was like a scene in a science fiction movie. 16 00:02:08,497 --> 00:02:11,133 People with no apparent injuries collapsed. 17 00:02:11,266 --> 00:02:14,202 Commuters stumbled into the open air gasping for breath. 18 00:02:14,336 --> 00:02:16,104 FEMALE ANCHOR: The deadly gas that spread through 19 00:02:16,238 --> 00:02:18,306 the city's subway system Monday morning was sarin. 20 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:20,242 -[people screaming] -It's a deadly nerve gas 21 00:02:20,375 --> 00:02:22,877 first developed by the Nazis during World War II. 22 00:02:23,011 --> 00:02:27,048 -[sirens wailing] -[heavy breathing on radio] 23 00:02:33,888 --> 00:02:36,024 -[breathing stops] -[music continues] 24 00:02:39,927 --> 00:02:42,164 [upbeat music starts] 25 00:02:57,112 --> 00:02:59,780 [plane engine whooshing] 26 00:03:03,318 --> 00:03:06,121 ANDREW: Tokyo was a mixture of a very futuristic city, 27 00:03:06,254 --> 00:03:09,424 but also a little bit backward at the same time. 28 00:03:10,058 --> 00:03:12,127 I mean, when I first arrived there, I remember standing 29 00:03:12,260 --> 00:03:14,262 in a hotel room looking out across the vista. 30 00:03:14,396 --> 00:03:16,031 It was just like all the movies I'd seen, 31 00:03:16,164 --> 00:03:17,566 just like all the films I'd seen. 32 00:03:17,698 --> 00:03:19,700 So, it didn't disappoint in that way. 33 00:03:20,669 --> 00:03:24,072 And, of course, there were lots of high-tech elements about the city. 34 00:03:24,206 --> 00:03:27,841 But also, I lived in an apartment that if you put 35 00:03:27,975 --> 00:03:29,810 the toaster on, turn too many lights on, 36 00:03:29,944 --> 00:03:31,680 all of the fuses would blow and would go out. 37 00:03:31,812 --> 00:03:33,215 So there was that sort of... 38 00:03:34,216 --> 00:03:36,284 shell of oldness about it, too. 39 00:03:44,159 --> 00:03:45,960 I was born in London. 40 00:03:46,094 --> 00:03:48,896 I moved up to Scotland quite early in my life, 41 00:03:49,030 --> 00:03:51,732 and came to journalism really quite late. 42 00:03:53,368 --> 00:03:55,803 And then there was a kind of crossroads. 43 00:03:55,936 --> 00:03:57,505 I got a call from my girlfriend at the time 44 00:03:57,639 --> 00:04:00,475 who was just been offered a teaching job in Japan, 45 00:04:00,609 --> 00:04:03,044 and she said, "Do you want to come along? It's well paid. 46 00:04:03,178 --> 00:04:04,945 You can come and hang out for a few months, 47 00:04:05,080 --> 00:04:06,548 and we can have a look at Japan." 48 00:04:06,681 --> 00:04:09,384 And I said, "Why not?" And I tagged along. 49 00:04:09,517 --> 00:04:12,254 [traffic din] 50 00:04:13,455 --> 00:04:15,990 I got a job as the deputy editor 51 00:04:16,124 --> 00:04:18,660 of a Tokyo city magazine called Tokyo Journal, 52 00:04:18,792 --> 00:04:21,996 which was this kind of very eccentric mix between 53 00:04:22,130 --> 00:04:25,467 hard-hitting political profiles and practical jokes. 54 00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:27,935 -[crowd chattering] -[Andrew] I think a very interesting time 55 00:04:28,069 --> 00:04:31,139 to be in Japan, because, viewed from the West, 56 00:04:31,273 --> 00:04:34,042 this was a time where Japan was approaching the end 57 00:04:34,175 --> 00:04:36,877 of its mission of total global domination. 58 00:04:37,012 --> 00:04:39,614 I was tired, and I think a lot of people are tired of watching 59 00:04:39,748 --> 00:04:41,782 other countries ripping off the United States. 60 00:04:41,915 --> 00:04:44,452 Japan is one of the wealthiest machines 61 00:04:44,586 --> 00:04:46,221 ever created, Saudi Arabia-- 62 00:04:46,354 --> 00:04:47,888 And it's not-- hey, let me tell you, 63 00:04:48,023 --> 00:04:49,758 I'm a big beneficiary of Japan. 64 00:04:49,890 --> 00:04:51,892 They buy my apartments in spades... 65 00:04:52,027 --> 00:04:56,930 ♪♪♪ 66 00:05:13,448 --> 00:05:15,050 ['80s Japanese TV theme starts] 67 00:05:15,183 --> 00:05:17,485 [speaking Japanese] 68 00:05:34,336 --> 00:05:36,837 SHOKO: 69 00:06:04,499 --> 00:06:06,634 ANDREW: By 1989, the stock market had peaked, 70 00:06:06,768 --> 00:06:09,237 and Japan was really entering this period 71 00:06:09,371 --> 00:06:12,307 of economic stagnation and possibly a sort of 72 00:06:12,440 --> 00:06:14,875 cultural and political stagnation as well. 73 00:06:15,009 --> 00:06:18,246 And I think what was about to happen was a symptom of that. 74 00:06:18,380 --> 00:06:20,615 [atmospheric music playing] 75 00:06:26,154 --> 00:06:28,423 The first day of 1995, when I read a story 76 00:06:28,556 --> 00:06:32,227 in the Yomiuri Shimbun, and that story was about 77 00:06:32,360 --> 00:06:34,429 traces of sarin had been found by the police 78 00:06:34,562 --> 00:06:36,097 at this place called Kamikuishiki. 79 00:06:36,231 --> 00:06:38,333 It was on the flanks of Mount Fuji. 80 00:06:41,302 --> 00:06:44,005 It was a very, very small story and didn't go into 81 00:06:44,139 --> 00:06:46,608 any more details than that, but.... 82 00:06:46,741 --> 00:06:49,110 a Nazi nerve gas had leaked 83 00:06:49,244 --> 00:06:51,979 in an otherwise obscure city. 84 00:06:53,148 --> 00:06:55,650 It was a mystery that begged to be solved 85 00:06:55,784 --> 00:06:57,985 and begged to be investigated further. 86 00:06:58,119 --> 00:07:00,021 And so the next day, I went to Mount Fuji 87 00:07:00,155 --> 00:07:01,823 and set out to investigate. 88 00:07:01,955 --> 00:07:04,259 [wind whooshing] 89 00:07:07,529 --> 00:07:09,564 SEIICHI: 90 00:08:16,064 --> 00:08:18,333 ANDREW: I mean, Fuji itself is an amazing mountain. 91 00:08:18,466 --> 00:08:20,068 It's a symbol of Japan. 92 00:08:20,201 --> 00:08:22,637 It's been this pilgrimage site for centuries. 93 00:08:22,770 --> 00:08:25,373 And then plunked on the flanks of the mountain 94 00:08:25,507 --> 00:08:28,309 are these great big ugly facilities. 95 00:08:28,443 --> 00:08:30,311 At the time, I thought, "They look like 96 00:08:30,445 --> 00:08:33,147 a cross between factories and prison camps." 97 00:08:35,483 --> 00:08:36,985 It was interesting when I went to talk 98 00:08:37,118 --> 00:08:38,453 to the people of Kamikuishiki 99 00:08:38,586 --> 00:08:40,321 who lived near the facilities. 100 00:08:40,455 --> 00:08:44,092 It was clear that for years, the people of Kamikuishiki 101 00:08:44,225 --> 00:08:46,294 had been in massive conflict with the group 102 00:08:46,427 --> 00:08:48,162 who were really, really bad neighbors. 103 00:08:48,563 --> 00:08:50,465 There'd be round-the-clock construction noise. 104 00:08:50,598 --> 00:08:52,400 They'd leave bags of garbage 105 00:08:52,534 --> 00:08:55,069 and empty chemical containers in the fields. 106 00:08:55,470 --> 00:08:57,405 There would be, like, chanting coming out of there 107 00:08:57,539 --> 00:08:59,340 all times of the day and night. 108 00:08:59,474 --> 00:09:01,010 And there'd be leaks of weird smelling stuff 109 00:09:01,142 --> 00:09:03,044 coming out of these compounds too. 110 00:09:05,580 --> 00:09:09,851 Yeah. And I remember going to this one area in a forest... 111 00:09:09,984 --> 00:09:12,720 [leaves crunching] 112 00:09:12,854 --> 00:09:15,590 ...And pulling some tarpaulin aside. 113 00:09:16,724 --> 00:09:19,727 And behind was this massive Russian helicopter. 114 00:09:23,731 --> 00:09:26,401 I decided to try to look deeper into it 115 00:09:26,534 --> 00:09:29,004 and started talking to members there 116 00:09:29,137 --> 00:09:30,805 and seeing their operation. 117 00:09:38,079 --> 00:09:40,882 Joyu, he was a graduate 118 00:09:41,016 --> 00:09:42,884 of a top Japanese university 119 00:09:43,018 --> 00:09:44,586 and a very smooth talker, 120 00:09:44,719 --> 00:09:47,255 both in Japanese and in English. 121 00:09:47,989 --> 00:09:51,326 He worked for a while at Japan's space agency, 122 00:09:51,459 --> 00:09:53,661 it's the Japanese equivalent of NASA. 123 00:09:58,499 --> 00:10:00,101 How can I start? [chuckles] 124 00:10:00,234 --> 00:10:02,004 [static crackles] 125 00:10:02,136 --> 00:10:06,741 ♪♪♪ 126 00:11:03,998 --> 00:11:05,466 My fellow Americans, 127 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:08,169 thank you for sharing your time with me tonight. 128 00:11:08,302 --> 00:11:11,006 What if free people could live secure 129 00:11:11,140 --> 00:11:13,875 in the knowledge that their security did not rest 130 00:11:14,009 --> 00:11:16,277 upon the threat of instant US retaliation 131 00:11:16,411 --> 00:11:18,312 to deter a Soviet attack? 132 00:11:19,081 --> 00:11:21,716 JOYU: 133 00:11:38,399 --> 00:11:39,567 [explosion booming] 134 00:13:58,706 --> 00:14:00,942 [speaking Japanese] 135 00:14:57,999 --> 00:15:00,701 I think Asahara was really good at promotion. 136 00:15:00,835 --> 00:15:02,770 Aum had lots of magazines, 137 00:15:02,904 --> 00:15:05,374 they had just a huge number of books. 138 00:15:06,041 --> 00:15:10,012 They also made a lot of cartoons of anime. 139 00:15:10,912 --> 00:15:13,181 And that was a really, really good recruiting tool. 140 00:15:13,315 --> 00:15:19,654 ♪♪♪ 141 00:15:41,676 --> 00:15:44,712 [speaking Japanese] 142 00:16:05,566 --> 00:16:08,437 ANDREW: Asahara, I think, was a very charismatic person. 143 00:16:08,569 --> 00:16:11,772 He described himself as the reincarnation of Buddha. 144 00:16:11,906 --> 00:16:14,242 He called himself the messiah of the last century. 145 00:16:14,376 --> 00:16:16,711 I think he was very down to earth and approachable 146 00:16:16,844 --> 00:16:19,580 and I think he knew how to talk to the young people. 147 00:16:21,816 --> 00:16:23,951 [speaking Japanese] 148 00:16:41,669 --> 00:16:44,839 [applause] 149 00:16:47,675 --> 00:16:50,811 Later on, he became a very different figure, 150 00:16:50,945 --> 00:16:52,513 somebody to fear and worship. 151 00:16:52,646 --> 00:16:55,117 [ominous electronica playing] 152 00:17:04,859 --> 00:17:07,661 [Asahara speaking Japanese] 153 00:18:00,549 --> 00:18:03,784 [crowd chanting] 154 00:18:05,786 --> 00:18:07,588 JOYU: 155 00:19:08,383 --> 00:19:12,786 ♪♪♪ 156 00:19:23,931 --> 00:19:27,169 [Asahara chanting] 157 00:19:31,239 --> 00:19:33,175 Aum was a strict hierarchy. 158 00:19:33,308 --> 00:19:35,210 So at the very top you had Asahara 159 00:19:35,343 --> 00:19:38,079 and then under him were like his priesthood. 160 00:19:38,613 --> 00:19:39,880 They'd recruited 161 00:19:40,015 --> 00:19:42,983 extremely good scientists and chemists. 162 00:19:43,118 --> 00:19:44,919 They were like the top of Aum 163 00:19:45,053 --> 00:19:47,222 and everybody else was kind of beneath that. 164 00:19:50,325 --> 00:19:52,427 JOYU: 165 00:20:06,541 --> 00:20:08,842 [speaking Japanese] 166 00:20:31,799 --> 00:20:35,403 MIKA: 167 00:21:15,443 --> 00:21:18,480 SHOKO: 168 00:21:45,573 --> 00:21:47,841 [phone ringing] 169 00:22:38,159 --> 00:22:41,396 [speaking Japanese] 170 00:22:46,967 --> 00:22:50,205 YUJI: 171 00:23:42,891 --> 00:23:46,094 [speaking Japanese] 172 00:24:53,094 --> 00:24:57,131 [Asahara chanting] 173 00:25:51,252 --> 00:25:54,489 HIROYUKI: 174 00:26:19,180 --> 00:26:22,417 [quiet music playing] 175 00:27:45,034 --> 00:27:46,401 ANDREW: Followers were totally fleeced. 176 00:27:46,534 --> 00:27:48,236 All their money was essentially 177 00:27:48,369 --> 00:27:50,705 leeched away from them by Aum. 178 00:27:50,838 --> 00:27:53,708 Aum would slowly work on you, then work on your property, 179 00:27:53,841 --> 00:27:56,444 work on your parents' property and bank accounts, 180 00:27:56,577 --> 00:27:59,881 and they just, you know, suck all of the money out. 181 00:28:01,749 --> 00:28:03,451 ANDREW: There were a number of initiations. 182 00:28:03,584 --> 00:28:04,886 They charged huge amounts of money for these. 183 00:28:05,020 --> 00:28:07,022 One was called the blood initiation, 184 00:28:07,156 --> 00:28:10,159 where followers would actually-- supposedly drink some of his blood. 185 00:28:10,291 --> 00:28:11,926 That cost a lot of money. 186 00:28:13,861 --> 00:28:15,596 There was something else called "miracle pond," 187 00:28:15,730 --> 00:28:18,866 which seemed to be vials of his own bathwater, 188 00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:20,568 which you could drink. 189 00:28:21,202 --> 00:28:23,371 ASAHARA: 190 00:28:38,319 --> 00:28:42,223 JOYU: 191 00:28:54,203 --> 00:28:57,005 SHOKO: 192 00:29:27,102 --> 00:29:29,004 INTERVIEWER: 193 00:29:41,916 --> 00:29:43,851 SHOKO: 194 00:31:24,552 --> 00:31:29,790 [tense music playing] 195 00:31:31,525 --> 00:31:36,764 [ominous music playing] 196 00:32:15,070 --> 00:32:17,105 SHOKO: 197 00:32:30,918 --> 00:32:34,488 ANDREW: Later on, an Aum badge was found at the scene. 198 00:32:35,556 --> 00:32:38,726 So, they were really the prime suspect from day one. 199 00:33:01,882 --> 00:33:05,187 [tense music playing] 200 00:33:20,369 --> 00:33:23,504 DAVID: I'm an investigative journalist by profession. 201 00:33:23,938 --> 00:33:25,906 The one place I've spent more than anywhere 202 00:33:26,041 --> 00:33:28,609 outside the States has been Japan. 203 00:33:29,877 --> 00:33:33,748 I was working with Andrew Marshall at Tokyo Journal. 204 00:33:34,548 --> 00:33:37,152 Aum received an extraordinary amount of deference 205 00:33:37,285 --> 00:33:40,821 from Japanese authorities at almost every level 206 00:33:41,622 --> 00:33:43,624 During the '30s and '40s 207 00:33:43,758 --> 00:33:46,927 Shinto became the official state religion, 208 00:33:47,062 --> 00:33:51,199 and all other religions were heavily prosecuted. 209 00:33:53,168 --> 00:33:55,636 The infamous Tokko, the thought police, 210 00:33:55,770 --> 00:33:58,240 and you could be thrown into jail 211 00:33:58,373 --> 00:34:00,108 for having the wrong thoughts. 212 00:34:01,176 --> 00:34:03,677 ANDREW: So, the police and the Japanese authorities in general 213 00:34:03,811 --> 00:34:06,914 didn't want to be seen as cracking down on religion in any way. 214 00:34:07,049 --> 00:34:08,916 They didn't want to be associated 215 00:34:09,051 --> 00:34:11,685 with that extremely dark time in Japanese history. 216 00:34:11,819 --> 00:34:15,023 And I think actually the Aum, you know, milked that for all it was worth. 217 00:34:15,157 --> 00:34:17,059 It gave them a certain amount of space 218 00:34:17,192 --> 00:34:19,927 in which to expand and operate with impunity. 219 00:34:20,062 --> 00:34:24,299 [ominous music playing] 220 00:35:02,970 --> 00:35:05,840 [ominous music playing] 221 00:35:28,662 --> 00:35:30,898 SHOKO: 222 00:35:56,891 --> 00:35:59,927 [ominous music playing] 223 00:36:01,762 --> 00:36:04,999 YUJI: 224 00:36:17,678 --> 00:36:19,914 YUJI: 225 00:37:10,898 --> 00:37:13,268 YUJI: 226 00:37:35,523 --> 00:37:39,760 ♪♪♪ 227 00:38:04,852 --> 00:38:07,088 FEMALE ANNOUNCER: 228 00:38:16,930 --> 00:38:19,134 MALE ANNOUNCER: 229 00:38:23,271 --> 00:38:27,309 TARO: 230 00:38:34,982 --> 00:38:39,120 [audience cheering and applauding] 231 00:39:24,232 --> 00:39:26,434 ANDREW: To what extent did he believe... 232 00:39:27,202 --> 00:39:28,869 the things that he said were happening? 233 00:39:29,003 --> 00:39:30,438 To what extent did he believe 234 00:39:30,572 --> 00:39:32,240 in the supernatural powers he had? 235 00:39:33,074 --> 00:39:36,478 I mean, it's really hard to tell, but he believed in the impact. 236 00:39:36,611 --> 00:39:38,879 They got him-- I mean, they got him worshippers, 237 00:39:39,013 --> 00:39:41,182 they got him incredible wealth. 238 00:39:42,016 --> 00:39:44,486 And that's quite a step-up for someone 239 00:39:44,619 --> 00:39:46,154 that was born into-- into poverty 240 00:39:46,287 --> 00:39:48,623 and had so many challenges early on in life. 241 00:39:53,128 --> 00:39:56,297 [emotional piano instrumental] 242 00:39:56,431 --> 00:39:59,467 JOYU: 243 00:41:29,090 --> 00:41:34,329 ♪♪♪ 244 00:42:34,155 --> 00:42:37,392 JOYU: 245 00:43:05,853 --> 00:43:09,090 ♪♪♪ 246 00:43:12,860 --> 00:43:16,397 His blindness probably had an impact on who he was, 247 00:43:16,531 --> 00:43:19,167 I mean, how could it not, in a way? 248 00:43:19,300 --> 00:43:22,704 But it didn't seem to stop him doing most of what he wanted to do. 249 00:43:24,839 --> 00:43:27,609 He seemed to parlay it into, you know, 250 00:43:27,742 --> 00:43:30,545 part of the whole Asahara personality 251 00:43:44,993 --> 00:43:48,229 TARO: 252 00:44:02,677 --> 00:44:04,612 ANDREW: He sold kind of quack remedies. 253 00:44:04,746 --> 00:44:06,781 Uh, there was one called "almighty medicine," 254 00:44:06,914 --> 00:44:10,385 which was just pieces of tangerine in alcohol. 255 00:44:12,320 --> 00:44:14,455 TARO: 256 00:44:25,134 --> 00:44:27,435 ANDREW: I think he was a hustler right from the beginning. 257 00:44:27,568 --> 00:44:29,370 I think money was the issue. 258 00:44:29,504 --> 00:44:31,673 He found that through this acupuncture clinic, 259 00:44:31,806 --> 00:44:34,076 he could sell these remedies which would earn him money. 260 00:44:34,208 --> 00:44:36,577 And I think it just kind of snowballed from there. 261 00:44:36,711 --> 00:44:39,447 He starts these yoga schools which bring in more money 262 00:44:39,580 --> 00:44:41,482 and bring in more people who come regularly, 263 00:44:41,616 --> 00:44:43,317 they become his followers. 264 00:44:43,451 --> 00:44:45,620 I mean, it's just a very successful business model 265 00:44:45,753 --> 00:44:48,423 in a way, isn't it, starting your own religion. 266 00:44:54,962 --> 00:44:57,198 MALE ANNOUNCER: 267 00:45:15,316 --> 00:45:19,021 ANDREW: In 1990, there was a general election in Japan, 268 00:45:19,154 --> 00:45:23,224 and Asahara and Aum decided to contest 25 seats 269 00:45:23,357 --> 00:45:25,560 in Japan's House of Representatives. 270 00:45:25,693 --> 00:45:28,329 So Asahara would be one of the-- the candidates. 271 00:45:28,463 --> 00:45:30,832 At that point, the money had been flowing in, 272 00:45:30,965 --> 00:45:33,935 the-- the members had been flowing in, 10,000 or more, 273 00:45:34,069 --> 00:45:37,005 and they poured millions and millions into this campaign. 274 00:45:38,140 --> 00:45:40,374 JOYU: 275 00:46:01,896 --> 00:46:03,931 [man singing] 276 00:46:27,055 --> 00:46:29,158 ANDREW: They had these very, very bizarre campaigns 277 00:46:29,323 --> 00:46:32,460 where Asahara would, you know, sit on the stage 278 00:46:32,593 --> 00:46:36,397 and followers wearing these papier-mâché hats 279 00:46:36,531 --> 00:46:38,299 in the shape of-- of Asahara. 280 00:46:39,201 --> 00:46:41,936 Dance around to a song which consists of-- 281 00:46:42,070 --> 00:46:44,806 just of his name being repeated over and over again. 282 00:46:46,908 --> 00:46:49,343 SHOKO: 283 00:47:42,097 --> 00:47:45,133 INTERVIEWER: 284 00:47:57,346 --> 00:47:59,547 It might seem bit odd that a religious group 285 00:47:59,680 --> 00:48:03,118 should, you know, make a strike into politics, but there was a precedent. 286 00:48:03,252 --> 00:48:06,154 So, there's a group called Soka Gakkai, a Buddhist group, 287 00:48:06,288 --> 00:48:08,823 and back in the '60s they started a political wing, 288 00:48:08,956 --> 00:48:12,960 which became a political party and quite a powerful one in Japan. 289 00:48:49,563 --> 00:48:55,469 [Asahara vocalizing] 290 00:49:00,275 --> 00:49:02,210 ANCHOR: 291 00:49:04,645 --> 00:49:06,480 ANDREW: It was a disaster. 292 00:49:09,784 --> 00:49:13,621 They didn't win any of the 25 seats they contested. 293 00:49:14,256 --> 00:49:16,124 And in Asahara's district, 294 00:49:16,258 --> 00:49:18,993 I think he got fewer votes in that district 295 00:49:19,127 --> 00:49:21,862 than there were Aum members registered in that district, 296 00:49:21,996 --> 00:49:25,133 so not even every Aum member voted for him it seemed like. 297 00:49:36,911 --> 00:49:38,946 SHOKO: 298 00:49:55,496 --> 00:49:58,632 Imagine you're a cult leader, everyone's adoring you, 299 00:49:58,766 --> 00:50:02,570 you're being told that you're a grandmaster and a spiritual leader, 300 00:50:02,703 --> 00:50:05,040 and that you're the second coming of God, 301 00:50:05,173 --> 00:50:07,708 and it's a little hard to lose a local election. 302 00:50:07,842 --> 00:50:11,046 [ominous music playing] 303 00:50:11,712 --> 00:50:13,681 I think this was a turning point because 304 00:50:13,814 --> 00:50:16,418 up until then, the money had been flowing in, 305 00:50:16,550 --> 00:50:18,487 the members had been flowing in. 306 00:50:18,619 --> 00:50:20,222 And then you have the expenditure 307 00:50:20,355 --> 00:50:23,691 of all these millions on an election campaign 308 00:50:23,824 --> 00:50:25,693 which ends in not just failure, 309 00:50:25,826 --> 00:50:27,695 but a very, very public failure. 310 00:50:30,765 --> 00:50:32,733 Also, a number of Aum members 311 00:50:32,867 --> 00:50:34,535 started leaving the cult around this time, 312 00:50:34,668 --> 00:50:36,937 because perhaps, because as campaign workers, 313 00:50:37,072 --> 00:50:39,474 they were interacting with the public again 314 00:50:39,607 --> 00:50:41,742 and started coming to their senses. 315 00:50:45,013 --> 00:50:47,049 YUJI: 316 00:51:15,343 --> 00:51:16,911 ANDREW: And it's really after that 317 00:51:17,045 --> 00:51:21,749 that you can see a change in Asahara's direction. 318 00:51:21,882 --> 00:51:24,052 [speaking Japanese] 319 00:51:30,724 --> 00:51:33,727 [intense music plays] 320 00:51:33,861 --> 00:51:35,263 Armageddon becomes very much 321 00:51:35,397 --> 00:51:38,300 a, you know, a bigger part of-- of his teaching. 322 00:51:38,433 --> 00:51:40,569 And also the war, this sort of decisive, 323 00:51:40,701 --> 00:51:43,004 apocalyptic war starts to get closer. 324 00:51:44,406 --> 00:51:46,408 And that was a really, really good recruiting tool 325 00:51:46,541 --> 00:51:50,145 for the cult to say, "Look, a war is coming. 326 00:51:50,278 --> 00:51:52,680 We live in these incredibly unstable times, 327 00:51:52,813 --> 00:51:54,149 but come to Aum and we'll give you 328 00:51:54,282 --> 00:51:56,418 the sort of spiritual, physical abilities 329 00:51:56,551 --> 00:51:58,386 to withstand this coming war 330 00:51:58,520 --> 00:52:01,655 and you'll be the sole survivors," essentially. 331 00:52:07,496 --> 00:52:09,930 [loud explosion] 332 00:52:15,470 --> 00:52:17,705 JOYU: 333 00:52:43,131 --> 00:52:46,800 [USSR National Anthem plays] 334 00:52:46,934 --> 00:52:48,603 MALE ANCHOR: In Moscow, the hammer and sickle 335 00:52:48,736 --> 00:52:50,671 is lowered for the last time 336 00:52:50,804 --> 00:52:52,907 and an era comes to an end. 337 00:52:53,041 --> 00:52:54,842 Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev 338 00:52:54,975 --> 00:52:56,911 has been removed from power 339 00:52:57,045 --> 00:53:01,049 and there are tanks now in the streets of Moscow. 340 00:53:30,278 --> 00:53:32,681 ANDREW: Again, his timing was quite impeccable. 341 00:53:32,813 --> 00:53:34,616 Soviet Union, Russians were struggling. 342 00:53:34,748 --> 00:53:37,918 I mean, this was a chaotic and difficult time for them. 343 00:53:38,053 --> 00:53:39,820 And in walks this, you know, 344 00:53:39,954 --> 00:53:42,890 this man in robes from Japan 345 00:53:43,024 --> 00:53:44,359 and offers salvation, 346 00:53:44,492 --> 00:53:47,162 offers to sort of speak to Russian souls. 347 00:53:48,230 --> 00:53:49,364 And he was very successful there. 348 00:53:49,497 --> 00:53:51,366 The numbers went up to 20 or 30,000. 349 00:53:51,499 --> 00:53:53,235 In a very short amount of time, 350 00:53:53,368 --> 00:53:56,471 they had more followers in Russia than they did in Japan. 351 00:53:57,439 --> 00:53:59,241 [foreboding music plays] 352 00:54:01,343 --> 00:54:03,378 JOYU: 353 00:54:46,521 --> 00:54:49,857 ANDREW: During the first Russian salvation tour, Asahara rented out 354 00:54:49,990 --> 00:54:52,294 the Olympic stadium and filled it with thousands of Russians 355 00:54:52,427 --> 00:54:54,895 and did a meditation session for all of them. 356 00:54:55,030 --> 00:54:57,898 So, you know, obviously he had pulling power. 357 00:54:58,033 --> 00:55:03,271 ♪♪♪ 358 00:55:07,375 --> 00:55:12,846 ♪♪♪ 359 00:55:16,651 --> 00:55:20,921 DAVID: At the time, Russian technology, Russian weapons 360 00:55:21,056 --> 00:55:22,657 were on the world market. 361 00:55:22,791 --> 00:55:26,361 They were experts in-- in chemical and biological weapons 362 00:55:26,494 --> 00:55:30,065 that the US and other Allied powers were quite worried about 363 00:55:30,198 --> 00:55:33,501 the potential for proliferation. 364 00:55:33,867 --> 00:55:36,471 You'd never had a country collapse 365 00:55:36,604 --> 00:55:38,872 with thousands of nuclear weapons. 366 00:55:39,007 --> 00:55:41,376 [foreboding music plays] 367 00:55:41,509 --> 00:55:45,013 Aum sees the apocalypse coming 368 00:55:45,146 --> 00:55:48,049 and they want to arm themselves. 369 00:55:48,183 --> 00:55:50,151 What do you arm yourselves with? 370 00:55:51,952 --> 00:55:53,655 Weapons of mass destruction. 371 00:55:53,788 --> 00:55:55,390 WMD. 372 00:55:59,094 --> 00:56:00,861 ANDREW: Asahara met a guy called Oleg Lobov, 373 00:56:00,994 --> 00:56:03,498 who was part of Boris Yeltsin's circle. 374 00:56:04,332 --> 00:56:06,867 He helped them expand not just in Moscow, 375 00:56:07,000 --> 00:56:09,104 but other places in Russia. 376 00:56:10,004 --> 00:56:11,573 Asahara was interested in science, 377 00:56:11,706 --> 00:56:13,475 so Lobov gave him access 378 00:56:13,608 --> 00:56:15,110 to a number of young scientists 379 00:56:15,243 --> 00:56:18,380 who perhaps have information that he needed. 380 00:56:18,513 --> 00:56:21,683 And his construction minister, a guy called Hayakawa, 381 00:56:21,816 --> 00:56:24,319 actually did crisscross these former republics 382 00:56:24,452 --> 00:56:26,654 looking for all sorts of things. 383 00:56:31,860 --> 00:56:34,995 DAVID: They were looking not only at chemical weapons 384 00:56:35,130 --> 00:56:38,932 and biological agents, but also nukes. 385 00:56:39,067 --> 00:56:41,236 They were looking at nuclear weapons. 386 00:56:43,104 --> 00:56:47,375 ANDREW: Aum got some kind of training from Russian military types. 387 00:56:48,676 --> 00:56:52,213 They bought Kalashnikovs, assault rifles 388 00:56:52,347 --> 00:56:56,084 and also a helicopter that I ended up seeing in Mount Fuji. 389 00:56:59,987 --> 00:57:03,658 They were looking at how to build an electromagnetic gun. 390 00:57:04,559 --> 00:57:07,061 ANDREW: Asahara was really interested in lasers, 391 00:57:07,195 --> 00:57:08,863 you know, right from the beginning. 392 00:57:08,996 --> 00:57:10,732 He met with Nikolai Basov, 393 00:57:10,865 --> 00:57:12,966 who won the Nobel Prize 394 00:57:13,101 --> 00:57:15,670 for physics for his work on lasers. 395 00:57:18,339 --> 00:57:22,210 DAVID: And also massive production of narcotics. 396 00:57:23,044 --> 00:57:25,747 They put electrode caps on people's heads 397 00:57:25,880 --> 00:57:27,849 to stimulate the brain 398 00:57:27,981 --> 00:57:31,252 and synthesized LSD and mescaline 399 00:57:31,386 --> 00:57:36,024 that was given to people during meditation. 400 00:57:39,294 --> 00:57:43,598 The operations in Russia were run by Joyu. 401 00:57:44,432 --> 00:57:47,669 He had a reputation as being just super loyal to the guru. 402 00:57:48,470 --> 00:57:51,005 He was one of Asahara's favorites. 403 00:57:53,408 --> 00:57:55,443 I think, you know, he's very clever. 404 00:57:56,377 --> 00:57:58,580 He's been very cautious in his approach. 405 00:58:01,416 --> 00:58:04,819 His behavior in Russia was never really looked at. 406 00:58:04,953 --> 00:58:08,857 The Russian operation was-- I mean, it was pretty grim. 407 00:58:08,989 --> 00:58:11,259 A lot of the Russian followers were mistreated. 408 00:58:11,392 --> 00:58:14,195 They were possibly experimented on. 409 00:58:19,200 --> 00:58:20,401 That was something that should have been 410 00:58:20,535 --> 00:58:23,271 investigated properly, but wasn't. 411 00:58:34,115 --> 00:58:38,286 After the Russian operation, Aum started to accelerate. 412 00:58:39,120 --> 00:58:41,723 When Aum was on the rise, there was a lot going on in the world. 413 00:58:41,856 --> 00:58:45,326 So you had, you know, '91, you had the breakup of the former Soviet Union. 414 00:58:45,460 --> 00:58:49,631 You had war in Bosnia, which started out-- that was a big war in, 415 00:58:49,764 --> 00:58:52,367 in Europe for the first time in a long time. 416 00:58:52,500 --> 00:58:56,604 So there were other things on the global security radar. 417 00:59:00,208 --> 00:59:03,444 DAVID: CIA offices overseas 418 00:59:03,578 --> 00:59:06,114 have collection priorities. 419 00:59:06,748 --> 00:59:08,416 They have orders, more or less, 420 00:59:08,550 --> 00:59:11,386 on what they're supposed to report intelligence on, 421 00:59:11,519 --> 00:59:14,455 and what a new age religious cult 422 00:59:14,589 --> 00:59:17,592 outside of Tokyo was doing was not on the list. 423 00:59:25,233 --> 00:59:27,335 FEMALE ANCHOR: 424 00:59:33,408 --> 00:59:35,944 ANDREW: So after I'd investigated the sarin incident 425 00:59:36,077 --> 00:59:37,879 at Kamikuishiki, in the village, 426 00:59:38,013 --> 00:59:42,116 the first thing I did was look again at the incident in Matsumoto, 427 00:59:42,250 --> 00:59:45,219 which was this city in the Japan Alps. 428 00:59:46,654 --> 00:59:49,724 Dozens of people falling sick, some people dying. 429 00:59:50,658 --> 00:59:54,228 And one of the victims was this machinery salesman 430 00:59:54,362 --> 00:59:56,397 called Yoshiyuki Kono. 431 00:59:59,233 --> 01:00:02,403 [ominous music plays] 432 01:00:11,312 --> 01:00:14,549 [speaking Japanese] 433 01:01:13,775 --> 01:01:16,611 [dogs barking] 434 01:01:32,326 --> 01:01:34,395 [porcelain shatters] 435 01:01:55,483 --> 01:01:57,186 ANDREW: When the ambulance arrived, 436 01:01:57,318 --> 01:01:58,720 Kono was saying to the ambulance man, 437 01:01:58,853 --> 01:02:00,521 I ate Thai rice pilaf for dinner. 438 01:02:00,655 --> 01:02:02,590 So he at this stage, Kono still thought 439 01:02:02,724 --> 01:02:06,461 that he had some kind of violent form of food poisoning. 440 01:02:06,594 --> 01:02:08,563 [eerie music plays] 441 01:02:39,627 --> 01:02:41,295 ANDREW: The police focused in on Kono, 442 01:02:41,429 --> 01:02:44,532 because he had chemicals in his house. 443 01:02:44,665 --> 01:02:46,801 Supposedly, he had a license to mix them. 444 01:02:47,568 --> 01:02:50,605 Previously, he'd been a pharmaceutical salesman. 445 01:02:54,109 --> 01:02:57,812 And then traces of sarin was found in his back garden. 446 01:02:58,946 --> 01:03:01,983 So he was really the prime suspect in this case. 447 01:03:05,220 --> 01:03:08,190 The Japanese media had really sort of pointed the finger at him. 448 01:03:08,322 --> 01:03:10,525 Somebody had even flown a helicopter over his house 449 01:03:10,658 --> 01:03:13,128 to look for sort of sarin patches in his back garden. 450 01:03:13,961 --> 01:03:16,864 And afterwards, actually, Kono was briefly detained. 451 01:03:16,998 --> 01:03:19,400 I think they needed someone to pin it to. 452 01:03:19,534 --> 01:03:21,669 It was such a mystery and such a devastating 453 01:03:21,803 --> 01:03:23,905 and sort of horrific attack. 454 01:04:32,241 --> 01:04:37,612 ♪♪♪ 455 01:04:38,512 --> 01:04:40,249 ANDREW: His wife was still in hospital. 456 01:04:41,316 --> 01:04:44,619 His two daughters had also spent time in hospital. 457 01:04:44,752 --> 01:04:46,687 As he explained to me, 458 01:04:46,821 --> 01:04:49,390 "Look, you know, if I knew so much about chemicals, 459 01:04:49,523 --> 01:04:52,127 why would I mix a herbicide 460 01:04:52,261 --> 01:04:54,595 that was going to cause damage to my wife and kids? 461 01:04:54,729 --> 01:04:56,198 Why would I do that?" 462 01:04:56,331 --> 01:04:59,167 I mean, that seemed like impeccable logic to me. 463 01:04:59,301 --> 01:05:02,271 And as Kyle Olsen, this biochemical weapons expert, 464 01:05:02,403 --> 01:05:04,739 told me at the time, you know, you don't take chemical A 465 01:05:04,872 --> 01:05:07,109 and chemical B and mix it and just get sarin, you know, 466 01:05:07,242 --> 01:05:10,112 the chance of that happening are vanishingly remote. 467 01:05:11,046 --> 01:05:13,848 So when I left Kono's house that day, 468 01:05:13,981 --> 01:05:16,118 I was absolutely convinced he was innocent 469 01:05:16,251 --> 01:05:19,854 and really couldn't see why everybody else didn't think that, too. 470 01:05:22,957 --> 01:05:25,360 So after I'd returned from Matsumoto, 471 01:05:25,493 --> 01:05:28,596 I started to draw a line between the Matsumoto sarin leak 472 01:05:28,729 --> 01:05:31,799 and the cult, and I started writing the story. 473 01:05:36,671 --> 01:05:38,906 CULT MEMBER: 474 01:06:46,074 --> 01:06:49,777 [gas hissing] 475 01:07:15,103 --> 01:07:17,972 -[keys jingling] -[engine sputters] 476 01:07:36,224 --> 01:07:37,492 [gas hissing] 477 01:07:37,625 --> 01:07:40,728 SHOKO: 478 01:08:11,826 --> 01:08:14,029 EIKO: 479 01:08:32,581 --> 01:08:34,815 TARO: 480 01:09:21,829 --> 01:09:27,068 ♪♪♪ 481 01:09:54,129 --> 01:09:56,264 [soft instrumental music plays] 482 01:09:56,398 --> 01:10:01,436 ♪♪♪ 483 01:10:25,660 --> 01:10:28,029 ANDREW: In 1995... 484 01:10:29,830 --> 01:10:34,236 there was the Kobe earthquake in January, which was devastating. 485 01:10:36,404 --> 01:10:38,406 Thousands of people were killed. 486 01:10:43,511 --> 01:10:45,779 SHOKO: 487 01:11:09,337 --> 01:11:11,839 ANDREW: And I think that for Asahara really showed. 488 01:11:11,972 --> 01:11:14,175 It really helped his apocalyptic creed 489 01:11:14,309 --> 01:11:16,478 to have something as awful as that happen. 490 01:11:17,479 --> 01:11:19,447 But the cult also made a mistake. 491 01:11:19,581 --> 01:11:23,485 They abducted this man called Kariya, 492 01:11:23,618 --> 01:11:24,985 who was a notary public. 493 01:11:25,120 --> 01:11:26,987 His sister had been in the cult 494 01:11:27,122 --> 01:11:29,357 and he'd been trying to get his sister out of it. 495 01:11:31,359 --> 01:11:33,561 SHOKO: 496 01:12:44,265 --> 01:12:47,302 ANDREW: The war was very, very real for Aum members, 497 01:12:47,435 --> 01:12:49,537 because it was constantly drummed into them by Asahara. 498 01:12:49,671 --> 01:12:52,540 You know, we need to prepare for this war that's coming. 499 01:12:52,674 --> 01:12:54,875 And as police attention and other people's attention 500 01:12:55,009 --> 01:12:58,113 focused in on the cult, that just became confirmation 501 01:12:58,246 --> 01:13:00,548 that the cult had to prepare even more 502 01:13:00,682 --> 01:13:04,085 because they were at the center of this persecution. 503 01:13:05,353 --> 01:13:07,422 JOYU: 504 01:13:24,406 --> 01:13:27,675 ANDREW: In my story, I quoted, uh, Kyle Olsen, and he thought 505 01:13:27,809 --> 01:13:31,479 that the Matsumoto sarin attack was actually a terrorist attack, 506 01:13:31,613 --> 01:13:35,383 and it was a trial run for another attack, 507 01:13:35,517 --> 01:13:37,985 probably on a big city, probably Tokyo. 508 01:13:38,720 --> 01:13:40,655 [eerie music plays] 509 01:13:40,789 --> 01:13:46,027 ♪♪♪ 510 01:14:17,859 --> 01:14:24,399 ♪♪♪ 511 01:14:32,740 --> 01:14:35,677 [indistinct yelling] 512 01:15:01,903 --> 01:15:03,671 [siren blaring] 513 01:15:03,805 --> 01:15:07,609 [police whistles blowing] 514 01:15:11,045 --> 01:15:13,248 [tense music plays] 515 01:15:16,918 --> 01:15:21,155 ♪♪♪ 516 01:16:33,328 --> 01:16:35,863 [siren blaring] 517 01:16:36,965 --> 01:16:38,766 [speaking Japanese] 518 01:16:49,110 --> 01:16:50,912 FEMALE ANCHORS: A frightening development this morning, 519 01:16:51,046 --> 01:16:52,847 a chemical weapon, nerve gas, 520 01:16:52,981 --> 01:16:56,284 was released inside a crowded subway system in Tokyo today. 521 01:16:56,417 --> 01:16:58,853 The police says it was a deliberate attack by terrorists. 522 01:16:58,987 --> 01:17:01,389 ...the deadly gas that spread through the city subway system 523 01:17:01,522 --> 01:17:02,824 Monday morning was sarin, 524 01:17:02,957 --> 01:17:05,827 said to be even more powerful than cyanide. 525 01:17:05,960 --> 01:17:08,262 It's a deadly nerve gas first developed 526 01:17:08,396 --> 01:17:10,565 by the Nazis during World War II. 527 01:17:11,666 --> 01:17:14,335 [low droning music playing] 528 01:17:25,346 --> 01:17:27,915 ANDREW: Attackers had sharpened umbrellas. 529 01:17:28,050 --> 01:17:29,517 They had bags of sarin. 530 01:17:29,651 --> 01:17:31,586 Once they got close to Kasumigaseki, 531 01:17:31,719 --> 01:17:34,222 they puncture them with the pointed umbrellas, 532 01:17:34,355 --> 01:17:35,757 and the sarin would seep out. 533 01:17:36,858 --> 01:17:40,029 There were about a dozen people killed in Tokyo 534 01:17:40,161 --> 01:17:41,496 and thousands injured. 535 01:17:41,629 --> 01:17:43,297 My reaction was, of course, shock. 536 01:17:43,431 --> 01:17:46,834 I couldn't quite believe, I couldn't really process. 537 01:17:53,608 --> 01:17:56,310 The attack on the Tokyo subway was an attempt 538 01:17:56,444 --> 01:18:00,481 to stop the police from investigating the cult. 539 01:18:00,615 --> 01:18:03,651 An attempt really, to-- to slow them down. 540 01:18:05,853 --> 01:18:08,123 So they had five attackers, and they-- 541 01:18:08,256 --> 01:18:10,291 they had three subway lines, 542 01:18:10,425 --> 01:18:12,994 and the idea was to puncture sarin 543 01:18:13,128 --> 01:18:17,198 on each of these lines when the trains intersected 544 01:18:17,331 --> 01:18:18,766 at a place called Kasumigaseki, 545 01:18:18,900 --> 01:18:21,002 and Kasumigaseki is right in the center of Tokyo. 546 01:18:21,136 --> 01:18:24,039 It's where all the police agencies are, and it's where all of the-- 547 01:18:24,173 --> 01:18:26,141 a lot of the government ministries are as well. 548 01:18:26,274 --> 01:18:28,710 So it was seen as a kind of strike not just at the police, 549 01:18:28,843 --> 01:18:32,680 but, you know, at the heart of the Japanese bureaucracy. 550 01:18:40,688 --> 01:18:44,459 So this is the copy of Esquire in which my story ran. 551 01:18:44,592 --> 01:18:46,061 It's actually dated April, 552 01:18:46,195 --> 01:18:49,964 but it came out in the first few days of March... 553 01:18:50,798 --> 01:18:52,834 just about a week before the subway attack. 554 01:18:52,967 --> 01:18:57,705 "The Nazi nerve gas mystery. When death came to a Japanese village." 555 01:18:57,839 --> 01:19:00,274 And it's got quite a number of pages inside. 556 01:19:07,348 --> 01:19:09,817 You know, I'd written this story, and in it there'd been this prediction 557 01:19:09,951 --> 01:19:11,719 that there would be this subway attack. 558 01:19:11,853 --> 01:19:14,555 Uh, I know on a rational level 559 01:19:14,689 --> 01:19:16,791 that the publication 560 01:19:16,924 --> 01:19:18,693 and writing of that story didn't cause the attack, 561 01:19:18,826 --> 01:19:21,896 but I still felt this kind of guilt that this awful thing 562 01:19:22,030 --> 01:19:24,599 that had been predicted in the article had come true. 563 01:19:34,308 --> 01:19:38,346 [tense droning music playing] 564 01:19:55,164 --> 01:19:57,498 ANDREW: The police began raiding the Kamikuishiki headquarters 565 01:19:57,632 --> 01:20:00,968 quite soon after the subway attack. 566 01:20:01,736 --> 01:20:04,672 And a lot of it was carried live on Japanese TV. 567 01:20:04,806 --> 01:20:07,809 And a lot of us were just rooted to the screens. 568 01:20:12,380 --> 01:20:16,285 You know, you had police wearing these full biochemical warfare kits 569 01:20:16,417 --> 01:20:20,755 with big gas masks sort of rolling into these facilities, 570 01:20:20,888 --> 01:20:22,757 just bringing up unbelievable amounts 571 01:20:22,890 --> 01:20:25,493 of barrels of chemicals and so on. 572 01:20:25,626 --> 01:20:29,231 So right from the beginning, from those initial raids, 573 01:20:29,363 --> 01:20:33,101 you got the feeling that we were dealing with something quite exceptional. 574 01:20:38,439 --> 01:20:40,908 [children screaming] 575 01:20:47,815 --> 01:20:51,385 [people screaming, shouting] 576 01:21:00,295 --> 01:21:02,297 ANDREW: Each facility was called a Satyan, 577 01:21:02,430 --> 01:21:05,600 which was supposedly derived from a Sanskrit word meaning "truth." 578 01:21:05,733 --> 01:21:10,239 So you had Satyan one, two, three, four, et cetera, et cetera, and... 579 01:21:10,371 --> 01:21:13,242 probably the most important one was Satyan 7. 580 01:21:13,841 --> 01:21:16,911 Aum said this was actually a place of worship. 581 01:21:20,148 --> 01:21:22,984 But Satyan 7 was really where the sarin 582 01:21:23,118 --> 01:21:25,653 was manufactured in large quantities. 583 01:21:31,059 --> 01:21:32,860 The cult also had a factory where they were 584 01:21:32,994 --> 01:21:36,064 trying to make Kalashnikov assault rifles. 585 01:21:36,198 --> 01:21:39,800 And the plan was to make a thousand of these assault rifles. 586 01:21:43,238 --> 01:21:47,276 This helicopter that I saw, it was the Mi-17, which is a cargo carrier. 587 01:21:47,408 --> 01:21:51,380 You can actually convert it to carry missiles and machine guns. 588 01:21:51,512 --> 01:21:53,915 It's a heavy duty Russian helicopter. 589 01:21:55,683 --> 01:21:58,287 They bought it in Russia and dismantled it 590 01:21:58,419 --> 01:22:01,189 and then just brought it in through the port of Yokohama. 591 01:22:03,358 --> 01:22:06,827 Asahara went into hiding before the gas attack, 592 01:22:06,961 --> 01:22:09,664 and he hadn't been seen in public for quite a while. 593 01:22:11,465 --> 01:22:13,701 You know, even though there were hundreds of people on these raids, 594 01:22:13,834 --> 01:22:15,436 they didn't find Asahara. 595 01:22:20,142 --> 01:22:22,144 JOYU: 596 01:23:01,350 --> 01:23:03,085 ANDREW: It wasn't like when the police started 597 01:23:03,218 --> 01:23:05,220 raiding the facilities, everything went back to normal, 598 01:23:05,354 --> 01:23:07,822 in fact, everything seemed to really speed up. 599 01:23:07,955 --> 01:23:10,491 I mean, we all felt in Tokyo a real sense 600 01:23:10,624 --> 01:23:13,161 of vulnerability that we hadn't felt before. 601 01:23:13,295 --> 01:23:16,064 Japan's police chief, who has been leading the investigation 602 01:23:16,198 --> 01:23:18,899 into last week's gas attack on the Tokyo underground 603 01:23:19,034 --> 01:23:21,370 has been shot and seriously wounded. 604 01:23:21,502 --> 01:23:25,374 Takaji Kunimatsu was shot four times from close range 605 01:23:25,506 --> 01:23:29,177 outside his home by a masked gunman who fled on a bicycle. 606 01:23:30,278 --> 01:23:32,580 ANDREW: Then a couple of weeks after that, 607 01:23:32,713 --> 01:23:36,251 there was an attempt to release hydrogen cyanide at Shinjuku, 608 01:23:36,385 --> 01:23:39,620 which is a very big station in central Tokyo. 609 01:23:44,059 --> 01:23:46,428 And then you add to that following month 610 01:23:46,594 --> 01:23:48,629 there was the bombing in Tokyo. 611 01:23:49,197 --> 01:23:51,599 FEMALE ANCHOR: 612 01:24:01,476 --> 01:24:03,778 ANDREW: All of these events, when you wound them into one, 613 01:24:03,911 --> 01:24:05,980 just created this incredible sense 614 01:24:06,114 --> 01:24:08,883 of apprehension and fear, of sarinoia, 615 01:24:09,017 --> 01:24:12,753 as somebody called it, that just went on for weeks. 616 01:24:12,887 --> 01:24:15,956 [crowd clamoring] 617 01:24:18,226 --> 01:24:22,963 Asahara was still at large and a real focus of interest 618 01:24:23,098 --> 01:24:25,333 became the Tokyo headquarters of the cult. 619 01:24:26,934 --> 01:24:28,370 And the cult members would come back and forth 620 01:24:28,503 --> 01:24:30,272 because they were still at large. They weren't-- 621 01:24:30,405 --> 01:24:33,275 weren't being arrested in those very early days. 622 01:24:33,408 --> 01:24:38,146 So one day Murai comes through the crowd and then... 623 01:24:38,280 --> 01:24:40,848 [speaking Japanese] 624 01:25:03,038 --> 01:25:04,372 ANDREW: ...a man steps out of the crowd, 625 01:25:04,506 --> 01:25:06,241 and this is in front of all the cameras, 626 01:25:06,374 --> 01:25:07,775 and stabs him fatally. 627 01:25:07,908 --> 01:25:09,643 He dies later. 628 01:25:13,482 --> 01:25:16,617 [crowd clamoring] 629 01:25:19,620 --> 01:25:23,924 ANDREW: Hideo Murai was the chief scientist of the cult. 630 01:25:24,059 --> 01:25:27,062 He was very much Asahara's right hand man 631 01:25:27,195 --> 01:25:30,764 when it came to the science and the architect 632 01:25:30,898 --> 01:25:32,700 of the biochemical weapons program. 633 01:25:34,835 --> 01:25:38,373 An attack which was done by a Yakuza gangster. 634 01:25:39,207 --> 01:25:41,376 The attacker said that he'd been ordered 635 01:25:41,510 --> 01:25:43,478 by the head of a crime syndicate to do it. 636 01:25:43,612 --> 01:25:46,714 But the mystery still does remain, who ordered that hit? 637 01:25:46,847 --> 01:25:49,884 And of course, Asahara was still at large then, 638 01:25:50,018 --> 01:25:52,020 a number of the other senior cultists 639 01:25:52,154 --> 01:25:54,556 who had murder to their name were still out there 640 01:25:54,688 --> 01:25:58,759 and people would do anything really to shut up Murai, I suppose. 641 01:26:02,164 --> 01:26:04,999 Aum had contacts in lots of different organizations. 642 01:26:05,133 --> 01:26:07,001 Uh, they had contacts in the media, 643 01:26:07,135 --> 01:26:08,769 they had contacts in the military, 644 01:26:08,903 --> 01:26:10,971 they also had contacts in the police. 645 01:26:11,106 --> 01:26:14,009 And I think this is one reason why the police 646 01:26:14,142 --> 01:26:16,578 did such a poor job of going after the cult, 647 01:26:16,710 --> 01:26:19,181 is that the cult had advance knowledge sometimes 648 01:26:19,314 --> 01:26:20,981 of what the police were going to do 649 01:26:21,116 --> 01:26:23,684 and could adjust their plans accordingly. 650 01:26:32,793 --> 01:26:35,030 FEMALE REPORTER: 651 01:26:43,338 --> 01:26:45,407 ANDREW: So Asahara was hiding out 652 01:26:45,540 --> 01:26:49,277 in one of the Mount Fuji facilities all along in Satyan 6. 653 01:26:50,212 --> 01:26:52,280 And in preparation for his raid, 654 01:26:52,414 --> 01:26:54,316 the police put up these floodlights. 655 01:26:55,983 --> 01:26:57,619 Uh, it was very, very dramatic. 656 01:26:57,751 --> 01:26:59,454 It was covered live on TV. 657 01:27:11,366 --> 01:27:13,602 They found him kind of secreted 658 01:27:13,734 --> 01:27:16,137 in this secret compartment between two floors. 659 01:27:16,338 --> 01:27:19,641 And in within there were supposedly a cassette player, 660 01:27:19,773 --> 01:27:21,343 some medicines, a stack of cash, 661 01:27:21,476 --> 01:27:24,613 and by some reports he had a Kalashnikov in there as well. 662 01:27:24,745 --> 01:27:27,781 He was asked by the police, "Are you Asahara?" 663 01:27:27,915 --> 01:27:29,817 And he replied, "I am the guru." 664 01:27:29,950 --> 01:27:31,519 So right to the end, he's still the guru, 665 01:27:31,653 --> 01:27:33,954 not just a mere mortal with a mortal name. 666 01:27:34,089 --> 01:27:36,824 And as police led him away, 667 01:27:36,957 --> 01:27:38,326 he said to one of the police, "Don't touch me. 668 01:27:38,460 --> 01:27:41,162 I don't even let any of my followers touch me." 669 01:27:42,930 --> 01:27:45,966 [speaking Japanese] 670 01:28:28,876 --> 01:28:31,079 [speaking Japanese] 671 01:28:40,921 --> 01:28:43,158 YUJI: 672 01:31:30,158 --> 01:31:33,261 [peaceful music playing] 673 01:31:46,441 --> 01:31:48,109 ANDREW: Asahara was, after his arrest, 674 01:31:48,243 --> 01:31:50,178 he went on trial fairly quickly. 675 01:31:50,311 --> 01:31:55,016 He was charged with multiple counts of murder and sentenced to death. 676 01:31:56,184 --> 01:31:59,087 He really spends the rest of his time in jail, 677 01:31:59,220 --> 01:32:01,289 fighting rather in a futile way 678 01:32:01,422 --> 01:32:03,291 these court cases against him. 679 01:32:04,993 --> 01:32:06,461 He was executed in 2018, 680 01:32:06,594 --> 01:32:08,730 along with 12 other members of the cult. 681 01:32:12,834 --> 01:32:15,069 SHOKO: 682 01:34:42,216 --> 01:34:44,452 KONO: 683 01:35:08,443 --> 01:35:10,478 ANDREW: After the subway attack, 684 01:35:10,611 --> 01:35:13,381 Kono was pretty much cleared of suspicion 685 01:35:13,514 --> 01:35:16,350 because it was very clear who was responsible. 686 01:35:19,520 --> 01:35:22,757 [speaking Japanese] 687 01:36:14,308 --> 01:36:17,311 [outdoor ambiance] 688 01:36:33,795 --> 01:36:35,830 JOYU: 689 01:39:41,283 --> 01:39:46,721 ANDREW: They still seem to be very present for me, I think. 690 01:39:48,023 --> 01:39:50,524 It's not sort of consigned to history as far as I feel. 691 01:39:50,658 --> 01:39:52,160 And I imagine a lot of people in Japan, 692 01:39:52,294 --> 01:39:54,695 it's a pivotal event for them as well. 693 01:39:55,297 --> 01:39:57,698 I mean, it suddenly felt like a turning point in the '90s 694 01:39:57,832 --> 01:40:00,768 that you had this-- this country that had been 695 01:40:00,901 --> 01:40:03,271 so exceptional in coming back from the war years 696 01:40:03,405 --> 01:40:06,874 and had this very sort of hedonistic decade 697 01:40:07,009 --> 01:40:08,709 where everything seemed to be going right for them. 698 01:40:08,843 --> 01:40:10,312 And then suddenly the lost decade, 699 01:40:10,445 --> 01:40:13,015 the 1990s began and smack in the middle of it, 700 01:40:13,148 --> 01:40:15,950 you get this dreadful event happening 701 01:40:16,084 --> 01:40:19,887 and this dreadful event that was done by Japanese to Japanese. 702 01:40:20,022 --> 01:40:22,623 I think that's the thing that's really, really hard to-- 703 01:40:22,757 --> 01:40:24,859 to get a grip on for many people there. 704 01:40:33,402 --> 01:40:36,837 I don't think that you'd have another religious sect 705 01:40:36,971 --> 01:40:39,107 in a developed country that would develop 706 01:40:39,241 --> 01:40:41,609 that many weapons and be able to get away with it. 707 01:40:42,377 --> 01:40:45,713 But in terms of cults, I mean, cults haven't gone out fashion at all. 708 01:40:45,846 --> 01:40:47,748 There's still people that join them. 709 01:40:47,882 --> 01:40:50,785 When you look at how polarized politics is in the US 710 01:40:50,918 --> 01:40:53,522 and in the UK, there's certainly a cult-like element 711 01:40:53,654 --> 01:40:55,023 of that where you have both sides, 712 01:40:55,157 --> 01:40:57,725 they have their own sort of alternate reality, 713 01:40:57,858 --> 01:40:59,860 if you like, where they have their own facts 714 01:40:59,994 --> 01:41:02,663 and they're really, 715 01:41:02,797 --> 01:41:05,666 you know, immune to outside influence 716 01:41:05,800 --> 01:41:07,968 or what the other side would call facts. 717 01:41:10,805 --> 01:41:12,873 So it is a worrying time, 718 01:41:13,008 --> 01:41:16,178 and you can see elements of Aum in our modern lives. 719 01:41:25,120 --> 01:41:26,821 The interesting thing about Aum was that 720 01:41:26,954 --> 01:41:28,557 we just didn't see it coming. 721 01:41:29,458 --> 01:41:33,261 It makes me wonder now what our blind spots are. 722 01:41:34,895 --> 01:41:38,166 [droning music playing] 723 01:45:02,970 --> 01:45:08,209 [music slowly fades]