ABSTRACT
The 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack and the earlier sarin attack in Matsumoto in 1994 by Aum Shinrikyo using sarin are well known throughout the world. Aum Shinrikyo was a new religious group set up by cult leader Shoko Asahara in Japan in 1984. One characteristic of Aum Shinrikyo was its highly educated members. It actively recruited its members from college campuses, often via yoga training classes. Asahara dreamed of overthrowing the Japanese government and being the head of a new government led by Aum Shinrikyo. On the night of June 27, 1994, toxic gas was released in the city of Matsumoto. The laboratory of Nagano Prefecture's Public Health Institute struggled to identify the poison. Since there was no such compound in Japan, and researchers wanted to make sure their findings were absolutely correct, they examined the sample in gas chromatography. Aum Shinrikyo's sarin terrorist attack is considered to be the biggest crime in the history of Japan.
