The Tokyo Subway Sarin Attack: How a Cult Brought Terror to Japan

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This is the story of a nearly blind kid from a poor, mat-making family who decided he was destined

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to save the world by killing people. He claimed to have divine powers, built a cult with scientists

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and cops in it, and then unleashed nerve gas on Tokyo subway system during rush hour.

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And somehow, that's not even the wildest part. Before we dive in, if you like your true crime

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brief and bingeable, you're in the right place. Hit follow now for at least two new episodes every

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week. This is 10 Minute Murder. Let's get into it.

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[Music]

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In the spring of 1955 in Kumamoto, Japan, a poor family of mat makers welcomed their fourth son.

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His name was Chizuo Matsumoto. And at first glance, his life was expected to follow a pretty

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standard track. Grow up, weave some tatami mats, raise a family, in credits. But Chizuo was born

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with infantile glaucoma. His left eye was completely blind and his right eye barely worked.

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That alone was enough to knock him off the family's career path. So, at age six, his parent

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sent him to school for the blind. He didn't just study there, he lived there, and he never moved back home.

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He graduated in 1973 and despite being mostly blind, he wasn't lacking in ambition.

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At school, Chizuo carved out a reputation as a bit of a bossy guide, sometimes a leader,

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sometimes a bully. He helped other students get around using his partial vision, which made him

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useful, but it also made him bold. He used to tell classmates that he'd be president of Japan someday,

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not student council president actual president. And when he finished school, he figured, "Pure,

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why not go for it?" He applied to law school in Tokyo. The answer was, "No." A pretty firm no. That

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rejection pushed him onto a more common path for people in his situation at the time.

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Accu-puncture and Chinese medicine. Eventually, he opened a small clinic just outside Tokyo.

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It wasn't flashy, but it paid the bills. He got married. They had six kids. From the outside,

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he had built something stable. But stability wasn't what he was after.

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Chizuo Matsumoto wasn't satisfied treating some sore backs at migraines. His ambition ran deeper.

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Traditional Chinese medicine had introduced him to something he found more powerful. Spirituality.

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He got into Chinese astrology, Taoism, Yoga and Meditation. Then Buddhism. Then Christianity.

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If it promised secret knowledge, he was all in. Still, it wasn't enough.

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After a few trips to India, including one where he met the 14th Dalai Lama,

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Chizuo came back to Japan with bold claims. He said he had reached full enlightenment, understood

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the fabric of reality, and had a mission from the Hindu god Shiva to bring real Buddhism to Japan.

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He began calling himself "Sonshi," which means guru. And he started handing out pamphlets.

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His Tokyo apartment became the center for his new movement. He called it "Om Shin Rikyo," meaning "supreme

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truth." He also renamed himself "Shokou Asahara," and started calling himself "Tokyo's Christ."

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Settle? Not really, but it worked. By 1989, Om Shin Rikyo was officially recognized as a religion.

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And it wasn't just attracting lost souls. It was pulling in top university grads, scientists and

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engineers. People with credentials were now pledging loyalty to Shokou. Om Shin Rikyo had grown far

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beyond a yoga class in a blind man's apartment. It became a status symbol for Japan's elite.

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Scientists, engineers, military officials, even Tokyo police officers were buying in. Shokou

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embraced the spotlight. He published his own manga, an anime, blending spiritual philosophy with

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robots, quests and sci-fi themes. He backed it with ad campaigns that promised to heal illness,

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unlock psychic power, and help people reach their goals. It worked. The son of a poor mat maker was

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now being treated like a profit by people in real positions of power. New recruits went through bizarre

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rituals. Hallucinogens, being hung upside down, even electric shocks. It was marketed as spiritual

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awakening. But that facade didn't last. The rituals turned brutal. Drugs gave way to physical abuse.

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Members who tried to leave were kidnapped or disappeared entirely. Shokou claimed anyone outside

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the cult had bad karma and was doomed to eternal suffering. But he offered a solution. He believed

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enlightened followers could save those people. And the fastest way to do that, he said, was to kill

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them before their karma got worse. This was the belief system, and somehow people accepted it.

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Shokou's beliefs had gone from extreme to deadly. In 1989, Tokyo Broadcasting System,

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or TBS, recorded an interview with a lawyer who was building a case against Om Shemriko.

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The interview never aired. Cult members had infiltrated the network, seen the footage,

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and shut it down. Some pressured the stations. Others went straight to Sakamoto, the lawyer's home.

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Around 3am, they broke in through an unlocked door. The lawyer was in bed with his wife.

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Their one-year-old son was in the next room. Sakamoto was struck with a hammer, injected with

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potassium chloride, and strangled. His wife and son were killed the same way. Their bodies were

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sealed in metal drums and dumped in separate rural areas. Their murders remained unsolved for years.

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Meanwhile, Shokou claimed he had been chosen by the Hindu god Shiva to lead a divine army

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and build a utopia for the enlightened. His plan? Take over Japan. He tried doing it legally

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at first. In 1990, he entered 25 cult members into the national election. None were elected.

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He saw that as proof, the world was out to stop him, so he changed his tactics.

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After the election flop, Shokou was convinced there was a conspiracy working directly against him.

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If the democratic route wasn't going to let him build his spiritual utopia,

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then it was time to go full apocalyptic. He announced that overthrowing the Japanese government

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was now the mission. Peacefully, if possible, but more likely not. The cult started stockpiling

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weapons and openly talking about biological and chemical warfare. That sharp turn into paramilitary

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territory caused many of Omshin Riko's followers to bail, but the ones who stuck around, they were all in.

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And that was enough. One of them was the president of Okimiro Ironworks. With him on board,

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Omshin Riko quietly began replacing the company's original staff with cult members. By the time they were

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done, nearly 90% of the workforce had been swapped out. What was once a legit iron factory was now

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a front for foraging weapons and developing biological agents. It became a covert lab for

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chemical warfare, dressed up as a place that made metal parts. Meanwhile, Shokou reappeared on

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television. The coal was too smooth over the cult's image, recruit new members, and bring in more

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donations. But behind the scenes, he was unraveling. He was experiencing hallucinations, convinced that

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enemies were hiding everywhere. He withdrew from public life and claimed that worldly distractions

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were preventing him from fulfilling his divine mission. Inside the cult, the strategy shifted again.

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The most efficient and cost-effective way to launch their next phase, they decided, was to produce

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their own nerve agent. The agent was Seren. Seren is brutal, it's colorless, odorless, and evaporates

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quickly into the air. Even a small amount can kill a person within minutes. There's no warning

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before it hits, and once it does, the effects are immediate. This was not only a threat, this was

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a preparation for war. Before targeting the whole country, Shokou wanted to test his nerve agent.

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The target was a group of judges involved in a land dispute with Amshim Riko. Six cult members

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drove through Matsumoto in a van and sprayed Seren gas into a residential area. 58 people were

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hospitalized. Eight died. At first, the attack was not linked to the cult. That changed after one

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member was tied to a kidnapping, and Seren was found in soil samples under their compound. Police

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planned a raid, but Shokou had insiders in the Tokyo police who tipped him off. Instead of hiding,

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he escalated. He sent members into the Tokyo subway during rush hour, carrying plastic bags of

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Seren. They dropped them, punctured the bags with umbrellas, and walked away. Several train lines were

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hit, nearly 700 people were hospitalized. Around 5,000 made it out on their own. Hospitals didn't

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realize it was a chemical attack until hours later. By then, it was too late for some.

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Eight died that day. Four more died later. Only the poor quality of the Seren kept the death toll

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from being much higher. The evidence was finally overwhelming. Police raided the cult's headquarters.

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Shokou was finally arrested and hit with 27 murder charges. He was found guilty and sentenced to

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death. In 2018, that sentence was carried out. Six other senior members of Alm Shinrico were also

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executed, but the story didn't end there. Before his death, Shokou had arranged for his fourth

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daughter to receive his ashes. That move caught his followers off guard. She wasn't part of the cult

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and had publicly rejected everything her father stood for. She made it clear she had no intention

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of preserving his legacy. If anything, she planned to scatter his ashes in the ocean and be done with it.

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Shokou's wife and third daughter stepped in and petitioned for custody of their remains.

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They were still loyal, along with their other active members of the cult who had never been arrested.

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Their plan was to build a shrine in his honor, a permanent place to continue his worship.

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Eventually, they won the case, and in 2024, they took possession of his ashes. As of the recording

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of this episode in 2025, there's no public shrine yet, at least not officially. But the cult didn't

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die with Shokou. Alm Shinrico still exists in fragmented forms. Some of his offshoots are quiet,

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others are still recruiting. As of now, it's believed that around 1,600 members are still active,

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spreading his teachings and trying to keep the myth of Shokou Asahara alive.

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[Music]

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Thanks for listening to 10 Minutes Murder,

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Bingeable True Crime Stories. My name is Joe, I'm the host,

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let me tell you this story was difficult. Obviously for the lives lost, that's always a

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difficult thing to talk about. Day in and day out at the research, all the time I've covered this.

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I've talked about this in the past, but there's that mixed with the fact that this is Japan.

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I'm super American, and pronouncing these names is difficult for me. I've always struggled if you're

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an OG listener to this podcast, you know since day one, I've struggled with names and places if they

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aren't native to what I know. That doesn't stop me, I still try to branch out, I still do the research

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and try to figure out how to say them, but the signal between my brain and my mouth sometimes

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doesn't work like it should. I mean zero disrespect when I mispronounce something, and especially in

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this one where the names are just so difficult for me. And this has been on my radar, this story has

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been on my radio for a couple of years now. Someone requested it, and I wish I can remember your name,

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but it's been a while, and that message is lost to time at this point. But it's a great story,

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and I've delayed doing it because I just didn't want to tackle these names, but it's a story that's

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so interesting, and you don't hear a lot about in the States. I'm sure in Japan you hear about it,

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then there's still a thing that goes on there that they talk about, but here they don't really talk

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about this, so I definitely wanted to cover it on the podcast. Hey, if you're a brand new listener,

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welcome, make sure you hit subscribe. If you enjoy the podcast, share it with your friends and

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in touch with me, if you want to do that 10minutemurder.com. That's going to do it. That is your episode for today.

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Thank you so much for listening. See you next time.