A chilling read, this is an account of the Tokyo subway attack in 1995 from the point of view of those who experienced it. The first part is a collection of interviews with survivors or relatives of victims, and the second is a set of interviews with former members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult. The sometimes seeming repetitiveness of the stories (on the way to work, sudden strange smell, etc etc) do not numb but rather emphasize the randomness of acts of devastation that do not differentiate between victims. We are also given a partial picture of the workings of the cult, the leader, and the men who took part in the attack. It gives us an idea of the appeal of such groups, and the motivations of people who join them. There is plenty of food for thought after a reading of this book, and they are not easy to digest. ( )

On March 20, 1995, the religious cult Aum Shinrikyo released the poisonous gas, sarin, into a series of subway trains. Murakami conducts a series of interviews with the victims (both direct and indirect) of these attacks. While he explores their stories, more importantly he explores the psyche of those involved and their reactions to the attack and others around them.

The victims' stories, although they begin to become a bit repetitive, provide incredible insight into the Japanese mindset. Why was the victim treatment delayed? What prevented information about the attack from being spread efficiently and quickly? How does the Japanese way of doing things affect their everyday lives? And with major disasters such as this?

As one victim says "Keeping quiet is a bad Japanese habit."

At the end a few interviews are included with Aum Shinrikyo members (some still involved, others not) that also shows an amazing inside view to the cult's inner workings. Some actions you can't even believe both in terms of members actually living such cruelty or performing such cruelty and you're also stuck in disbelief that the police were none the wiser as to what was going on.

At the end, Murakami succeeds in his attempt in understanding the Japanese psyche and how it may have aided the cult in going through with the attacks and making it more successful and how it may have impaired the Japanese from truly comprehending the situation.

As an accompanying read I highly suggest Ian Reader's [Religious Violence in Contemporary Japan], an in depth following of the Aum Shinrikyo from their meek beginnings to their rebirth as Aleph. ( )

Interesting read. The book starts out with interviews of some of the victims of the sarin gas attack in the Tokyo underground, March 1995. Not knowing so much about this attack, this was interesting, yet after a while also a bit repetitive. The stories are sad, shocking, and even a bit scaring for a commuter like me. They made me wonder: how would I behave in such a situation? How different are the Japanese from Europeans, or do commuters all over the world behave the same? Are we commuters a scaring kind of subculture, living hours of our days in public transportation, no communication with our fellow travellers, absorbed in our own thoughts and worlds, like zombies? Do we get stuck in this zombie world even if we experience a life threatening attack? Do we prefer to continue on to our jobs, even if we cough, even if our vision is seriously troubled, even if our fellow travellers are left on the ground, mortally wounded? This is what struck me most, how these people had their routines, and wanted to stick to it to the utter end. And now, most of them find it hard to talk about this event, because most of all, they want to forget, continue the old routine.

What fascinated me more, however, was the second part of the book containing interviews with Aum followers and former followers. The interviewees were not involved in the Sarin gas attack, not even indirectly, but they were part of this cult. Who were these people? Were they really the monsters that were described in the media? It struck me - and it feels a bit cruel to say this - that these people were so much more interesting characters. It seemed to me that Murakami really did his uttermost best to write down the statements of the victims with a lot of respect, and that he sincerely detests the gas attack, let me be clear about that. But in the end, he too was more interested in the people who committed the crimes, or were at least part of the organization responsible for the attack.

Having read several of Murakami's novels I am not amazed by his interest in the Aum followers. These people seem to have more than a few characteristics in common with Murakami's main characters. Most of all, they wonder about the world, about the meaning of life, they feel they cannot adapt to the routine of daily life, they do not feel at home in a capitalist and materialistic world, they are looking for a kind of spirituality that they can't find in the standard religions. They feel they need to retreat from the "normal world" to find a deeper truth within themselves. This reminded me strongly of the guy in the Wind up bird chronicles, the guy who sat at the bottom of an empty well for I don't know how many days.

It seemed to me that in the short notes of the author, the preface, the conclusions, Murakami is visibly searching for answers within himself, answers to questions like: why do I - and my main characters - have so much in common with these people, could I have committed a crime as horrific as this gas attack, where did it all go wrong? How did all these intelligent and sympathetic people end up in a crazy movement? In the end, he seems rather happy to have found at least one difference, which is that he accepts the confusion and the illogic ways of reality, that he uses them in a positive (literary) way, instead of turning away from them like the Aum followers did. Still, he isn't that sure, ending his book with the sentences: "That might very well be me. It might be you." ( )

Honestly, I haven't read many nonfiction books, but out based on my general concept of them, Murakami's Underground is not your average nonfiction. Sorry to stereotype but apart from your average boring book, Murakami really gets into the story. Based upon interviews he himself made, including personal information, Murakami never lets you forget that these are REAL people that stumbled upon REAL and terrifying event. Upon reading the book you realize and understand the situations the people were in and how they feel now. Surprisingly the peoples' feelings about the attack, and their psyche are a bit different from what I expected.

Fascinating book following the events surrounding the ‘Sarin’ nerve gas attacks that took place on 20th March 1995 on the Tokyo underground train system, carried out by members of the Japanese cult AUM.
Murakami has done an excellent job in his documentation of the event, speaking to both victims and perpetrators alike, in order to get the full picture of this terrifying and senseless act. Providing an insight into the considerable aftermath these events have had on the consciousness of the Japanese people as a whole. Very sensitive handling of his material, written from a highly personalized perspective, he manages to get to the heart of the matter without resorting to sensationalism or tabloid mentality. Well researched, with much persistence in some cases in getting the victims to come forward to talk.

Second Murakami book I read after 'Kafka On The Shore' and pleasantly surprised by his none fiction writing. ( )

A nonfiction from Murakami, the book is divided into two parts: interviews from gas attack victims and interviews from members of the terrorist group, Aum Shinrikyo. This combination creates an odd balance, although I preferred reading the first section (it was difficult to empathize with the cult members in part 2). A dark and emotional read that gives life to the stark TV images I remember watching after the 1995 Tokyo subway attack. ( )

"Underground" consists of two parts (published in Japan as separate volumes): 60 interviews with victims of the 1995 Tokyo sarin gas attack - mostly survivors, with some family members of the victims and a couple of medics - followed by interviews with eight former or current members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult.

Murakami's aim in the first part (explained in a final chapter) was, firstly, to humanise the stories of the victims, and secondly to understand whether there was anything within Japanese society which made the cult, and the attack, possible. He also wanted to work on something specifically Japanese, to mark his return from living in the US.

He certainly succeeded in his first aim - the stories of what individuals actually experienced on the day may seem quite similar, but they gradually build up a very effective picture of the horror of the events of that day, all the more terrifying for the everyday setting.

I'm not so sure about the second. Some of the details certainly seem to me to be typically Japanese - the fact that people carried on struggling to get to work even though they could hardly see or walk, the small number of voices who were angry at the unco-ordinated reaction of the emergency services, the fact that very few of the interviewees talk about their personalities when describing how they reacted to events - but most of it could have happened anywhere.

Even the cult members interviewed are recognisable personalities - the nihilistic teen, the woman who turns to spirituality after starting to question whether there's more to life than parties, karaoke and meeting men. I found their stories more interesting than those of the victims - partly because it's an experience which I can't imagine ever having (and a good insight into the way that people were brainwashed), and partly because the stories themselves are more varied. But what they all have in common is that they were attracted to the cult because its worldview was easier to deal with than the contradictions and confusions of the real world - life within the cult was tough, but there was a clear system of rewards and punishments for your actions - very seductive when you are used to it, and probably the reason why it was possible to order adherents to carry out such horrific crimes.

This book is, in many ways, Murakami's response to this argument - the accreted detail of seventy lives explicitly stands against the totalitarian logic of a cult like Aum. It is a deeply humane work, much more than simple reportage. ( )

http://www.schlaikjer.net/reviews/021... ( )

Harrowing emotional accounts of the Tokyo sarin gas attacks.
( )

http://pissandvinegar.vox.com/library... ( )

As a quietly disturbing chiller that makes you confront the reality that the universe is a pitiless place where devestation can happen at any time to anybody, Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche by Haruki Murakami outranks much of the alleged horror being published today. As a document about religious fanaticism and mass killing as a spiritual act, it beats out anything I personally have read on the September 11th attacks or the London and Madrid bombings....

more ( )

The story of the Tokyo subway bombing as told by the victims and some members of Aum. Very redundant, it took me a while to appreciate how he told the story. I was a little freaked getting on the subway after finishing the book. ( )

Abridged translation of Murakami's two non-fiction works on the Sarin Subway attack of 1995. ( )

An analysis of sorts about the Tokyo sarin gas attack by the Aum cult in 1995. The interviews were done about a year later.

It's an amazing piece of work. I've mentioned before how the first half totally blew me away, where it brings you through a whole range of emotion through each chapter. Where each chapter tells the story of a certain victim - introduces you to them, then let them take you through the events that happened, their recovery/survival, the after effects (physical, emotional etc).

The middle part of the book - although it was more towards the end, was an analysis by the author or more like a summary of what one 'learnt' from the interviews with the victims or how the attack showed how the Japanese society/people dealt with a disaster such as this. For example, most of them seemed to have this intense drive to get to work that day, to not want to inconvenience anyone by not showing up, this amazing work ethic which seems silly to most people because it was in complete disregard to their health or well-being. Or how no one noticed the packages or people collapsing or the seriousness of the situation.

The final part was in my opinion, the least interesting. The book does feel a little disjointed because of these segments, or how it is segregated. I do understand that the book (in Japanese, when it was originally released) only ran up to the summary by the author (Part II) and the final part was a compilation of the monthly magazine pieces. It should have been the most interesting, to get into the mind of Aum members (present or former) .. but I didn't really get into it as much as the first part of the book. ( )

I read this book just after moving to Tokyo. My reading time was usually on the train, so I think this book terrified me more than it should have. It was a great way to learn more about the culture, detatchment, and a certain desire for spirituality I saw in Japan. Murakami's non-fiction is as gripping and questioning as his fiction. ( )

A very interesting read. The first (and longer) half is verbatim interviews with survivors of the gas attacks in Tokyo over 10 years ago. A fascinating view into Japanese society - especially the salaryman, as most of the victims were.

Several of the survivors mentioned that the passersby didn't help them (some did, others just went on their way to work). So while we saw the footage of commuters sick and dying on the side of the road, on the other side were commuters just walking to work as usual.

But would I have stopped? (I'd like to think that I would, and I think that I definitely would now after reading this book.) The not-knowing what was happening, the assumption that other people would look after it, the not knowing how to help, etc.

Also very interesting was their opinions of the media following the stories, and the manipulation made in the chase for a good story.

The second (shorter) half is about Aum itself. This was less satisfactory. I felt some members were trying to use it to push their philosophy (which was complete gobbledygook), and I don't think we ever got to the bottom of what really happened. (I don't think we'll ever get to the bottom of it.)

But an interesting view of people who don't fit into a "standard" society. None of them were particularly "normal", which probably made them more susceptible to the Aum cult.

[Actually, while I was reading this, I remembered that many years ago in High School, my best mate and her mum got into a Japanese religion - I have since forgotten its name. I went along to an event there, but was not at all convinced that they were channelling light out of the palms of their hands to help toxins flow from me. I think I'm immune to strange religions. :) ] ( )

I first heard about this book when NPR's This American Life read excerpts from it in one of their shows. It sounded fascinating. Murakami lets his interviewees tell their own stories, which gives the reader an authentic feel for their experiences and personalities. Unfortunately, because he does this without benefit of a unifying narritive voice, the book doesn't flow very well. Each story is told in its entirety, becoming its own plot unto itself. I can understand that he wanted to make each victim's experience as important than the overall event, but for me it made the book feel redundant. With each successive interview, that morning in March, 1995 began over and over again.

While frustrating, Underground paints an interesting portrait of the Japanese psyche. For the same reasons it failed as a documentary, I thought it was excellent as a social commentary. You get a feel for the personalities (and idiosyncracies) of the victims, and what drove many of them to remain in the subway that morning after it was clear that something was horribly wrong.

Also, I would also recommend that anyone unfamiliar with Tokyo geography keep a good map of handy. ( )