Before the subway attack of March 20, 1995; Japan was hit with a
sarin gas attack in neighborhood of Matsumoto on June 27, 1994. A
little less than a year before the Tokyo attack.
Mr. Murakami points out that the question was asked repeatedly how
people of such elite standing and education could fall for a cult like
Aum. I think that this book shows that contrary to the vain hope of
academicians, education is NOT a protection against falling into a
disastrous cult.
Why have people fallen for such a cult? Both victims and Aum members
complain about the materialistic attitudes that now pervade Japanese
culture. Many years ago Methodist missionary, E. Stanley Jones, wrote
that there was a spiritual emptiness in Japan. For some, Aum was what
filled that emptiness. I am not saying that was the right choice.
I wish Japan would embrace historic Christianity. But Christianity is
not a panacea. I would simply say that Christianity provides the
right answers as to who we are, where we came from, where we are going
and how to get to the right destination.
The author did an effective job in bringing the stories of the various
people to the reader. The people in the Tokyo tragedy were not
faceless statistics. I found the mistakes and miscalculations to be
frustrating. Granted only 12 people died and 1,000 were injured. But
maybe even more lives could have been spared death or injury, if the
hospitals recognized the symptoms of sarin gas poisoning. In addition
the railway authorities definitely should have stopped the trains and
cleared of the compartments of sarin gas, which was initially in
liquid form on the floor, instead of continuing to run..
I would say there were PROVIDENTIAL situations which kept the tragedy
from being even greater. For example one of the victims Mr. Toyoda
did not wear gloves when picking up the sarin. That ironically saved
his life, because gloves would have absorbed the poison. He also
removed his jacket and washed his face. That also helped. Two of his
other co-workers were not so fortunate.
As I stated before the Matsumoto incident occurred roughly a year
before the Tokyo subway attack. Dr. Yanagisawa of Shinshu
University, had studied that incident and edited a report which as
due to be published on March 20, 1995, the same day of the Tokyo
subway attack. March 20 also happened to be graduation day, so he did
not have as many hospital duties to attend to. When he received news
of the attack from a media person, he contacted other hospitals and
started sending faxes as to treatment of the poisoning. Dr. Saito,
was one of the doctors at another hospital. When he heard of an offer
to send faxes on the poisoning, he said �fire away.� He was grateful
for the initiative taken by Shinshu Universities medical department.
I may be wrong, but I think medical types may find the accounts of Dr.
Saito (pp 215-219) and Dr. Yanagisawa (pp 220-223) to be
informative.
The earlier Matsumoto sarin gas attack (also attributed to Aum) may
have in a round about way helped the medical staff in dealing with the
Tokyo attack. Dr. Saito states: �But since ultimately sarin is a
gaseous organophosphate, doctors in Emergency Care basically know we
can treat sarin poisoning cases the same way we treat organophosphate
poisoning. It was only thanks to the Matsumoto incident that we
discovered this.� (pg 216).
I don�t know what the doctors in the United States would use. But in
Japan, the doctors used Atropine or 2-Pam. Since I am not a doctor
I have no idea if there are more effective treatments.
I should add that Dr. Yanagisawa stated that in Japan, one did not
normally send unsolicited faxes offering advice. But he mentioned
another motive for his action. One of the schools medical students
died in the earlier Matsumoto incident. That student would have been
at the graduation ceremony if not for the Matsumoto tragedy. So that
tragedy is probably what got him to overcome any reluctance to violate
social protocol. And it is a good thing he offered to help. Dr.
Saito stated that Shinshu University�s Medical department
provided �real practical help.�
While the Tokyo subway attack was a terrible tragedy; certain
incidents, circumstances and people prevented an even greater
tragedy. I may be wrong, but it looks as if there was some
providential preservation of lives in some cases. But at the same
time another lesson to be learned was that knowledge of sarin gas was
not that widespread in the hospitals. Perhaps the life of one
railroad employee could have been spared, if the seriousness of his
condition had been recognized and treated sooner.
# posted by GuyTak @ 11:26 PM
