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Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche |
Customer Rating: 
Sales Rank: 32103
Available from Amazon |
$10.17 |
From Haruki Murakami, internationally acclaimed author of <b>The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle</b><i> </i>and <b>Norwegian Wood</b>, a work of literary journalism that is as fascinating as it is necessary, as provocative as it is profound.
In March of 1995, agents of a Japanese religious cult attacked the Tokyo subway system with sarin, a gas twenty-six times as deadly as cyanide. Attempting to discover why, Murakami conducted hundreds of interviews with the people involved, from the survivors to the perpetrators to the relatives of those who died, and <b>Underground</b> is their story in their own voices. Concerned with the fundamental issues that led to the attack as well as these personal accounts, <b>Underground</b> is a document of what happened in Tokyo as well as a warning of what could happen anywhere. This is an enthralling and unique work of nonfiction that is timely and vital and as wonderfully executed as Murakami’s brilliant novels.
Some reviewers (including Murakami, writing on himself) have asserted that after Murakami`s long stay abroad, this book was primarily written by Murakami for himself as the author sought to come to grips with Japanese society again. Whatever Haruki Murakami`s rationale, `Underground` is worth a read, particularly to anyone who seeks to understand topics ranging from our new `postmodern` existence, to Japanese society and modern life, or just the nuts and bolts of the future of terrorism.
A great deal emerges from these telling interviews; information that takes the form of insights which subtly impress themselves on the reader. `It made me realize all the more how frightening [mass media`s control] is` --victim Masanori Okuyama. `People raised in happy families probably wouldn`t join Aum` -- Harumi Iwakura, former Aum member. `The local police might not have any experience, but they were practically useless... they only showed up after the rescue operation was over,` --Naoyuki Ogata, victim. `People were foaming at the mouth... that half of the roadway was absolute hell. But on the other side, people were walking to work as usual` --Kiyoka Izumi, victim. Some of what came out of the interviews was information that came completely out of the blue, probably even to the author, such as the mention (in the book`s Japanese edition) that half the women interviewed suffered regularly from sexual assault while riding on Tokyo`s legendary so-packed-you-can`t-breathe trains.
And it all emerges because Murakami`s strength is his intense focus here-- `I intentionally set up my camera at one fixed spot,` he writes. Outlines of events are sparse; the narratives are front and center. His wide approach (34 interviews from victims alone) allows for sweeping perspective on a number of topical issues and permits the reader to take from the book what they may. A more in-depth look at the inner workings of Aum, the socioeconomic background of terror, or the disconnect of modern digital life are all natural follow-up reads-- the reader need only choose their path. While keeping it simple, Murakami has written and complied a work, a look at the dawn of the modern urban age of terror, that will be read for years.
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