The Tokyo Subway Sarin Attack: How a Cult Nearly Started WW3

Added: 2026-05-19

[00:00:00]March 20th, 1995. Rush hour in Tokyo.

[00:00:04]Thousands of people packed into subway cars heading to work. Just another normal morning. Then commuters started collapsing. Seizures, foaming at the mouth, unable to breathe. Five subway lines all hit at the same time. Members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult had released sarin gas, military grade nerve agent designed to kill. Their leader, Shoko Asahara, believed World War III was coming. He wanted to start it himself.

[00:00:30]The cult had been testing chemical weapons on their own followers, building a sophisticated laboratory, planning mass destruction. When the gas hit, chaos erupted underground. People stumbled blind through the tunnels. 14 died. Thousands were poisoned. Hazmat teams flooded the subway system. The biggest manhunt in Japanese history began. Investigators discovered the cult's true plan. This wasn't their end game. It was just the beginning. They were preparing for chemical warfare against millions of innocent civilians.

[00:01:01]The Tokyo subway attack remains Japan's worst act of domestic terrorism. A glimpse into the mind of a madman who nearly succeeded.