Well, WWF got shut down and Vince McMahon got arrested, meaning Ted Turner is instead the head of the biggest wrestling promotion in the country with WCW. Also Roddy Piper retired from professional wrestling and transitioned to acting full-time.
"To Introduce our Guest Star, that's What I'm Here to Do..." The Hensonverse Fan Contribution Thread
- Thread starter Geekhis Khan
- Start date
Yeah me too because that interview he did with HBO IOTL was pretty sad.
Well for starters, WWF has been torn apart, and WCW is back on the rise.
Aum-Man...not again!?!?
By @ajm8888
The Assassinations and April 15th Attacks
Chapter 8: A Cult of Terror in Japan Continued
Excerpt from Lost Decade/Found Decade: The Transformation of Postwar Japan from 1989 to 2009 By Daniel Ambrose [1] Retrieved via Netsite Archive [2]
April 9th Assassinations
In Akasaka there was a lunch time meeting of leaders and elders of the Liberal Democratic Party. These members of the meeting were former Prime Ministers Noboru Takeshita and Yasuhiro Nakasone, LDP Vice President Keizo Obuchi, and faction leader Kiichi Miyazawa. [3] They were at Asada, a Michelin star rated restaurant where political elites often dined. They had been discussing LDP policy and the future of the party.
The LDP President was Yohei Kono, he was serving in the majority LDP cabinet of Socialist Tomiichi Murayama. Kono served as Deputy PM and Minister for Foreign Affairs. Kono was from the Miyazawa faction but he was also from the Pro-China faction of the party. In 1993, also apologized for the atrocities Japan did in the Sino-Japanese War and World War II across all of Asia, especially in China and Korea. [4] And it was likely that Miyazawa would make a statement later in the year as well. In the House Miyazawa was working on the Fusen Ketsugi, a bill that was a quasi-apology for What Japan did before and during World War II. This was not popular with more conservative elements in the party. The LDP was really hurt by defections from the party by younger members upset by the old boy cronyism and the numerous scandals. Ichiro Ozawa, Yukio Hatoyama, and Toshiki Kaifu had left the LDP, and they were not alone. Hatoyama was a legacy, his grandfather Ichiro Hatoyama, Prime Minister from 1954 to 1956, his father Iichiro Hatoyama had been a member of the House of Councilors and a Foreign Minister under Takeo Fukuda, and also leaving the LDP was Kunio Hatoyama, Yukio’s brother. Ichiro Ozawa had been the LDP’s Secretary General, a very senior position only under the president of the party. Finally there was former Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu, the man who, like Takeo Miki, came after a corrupt Prime Minister, that man in Kaifu’s case being Noboru Takeshita.
The meeting was your usual review of polls, funds, discussion of the status of the party by party elites. Though there was a visible absence. Secretary General Yoshiro Mori had canceled at the last minute due to “pressing matters”. The actual matters were he was meeting with Yuko Inagawa, head of the Inagawa-kai yakuza.[5] The Security Police were told to be waiting a ways away from the meeting so they could not have to deal with a possible scandal. Later, Yuko Inagawa would be murdered after Mori left.
As the party luminaries left Asada, they did not know they were being followed by members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult. The goal of these cultists was to kill two former Prime Ministers and LDP leaders. The party leaders were going in different directions in Toyota Century cars, the two former Prime Ministers went in bulletproof windows and some armor on the doors, the other party leaders were not in armored cars.
The assassins were on motorcycles and followed the and disabled the following SP cars for Takeshita and Nakasone. The cars on the toll highways could not go on but they were behind the VIP cars enough that the security teams could not reach the VIPs they needed to protect.
The Security Police of Japan was formed only twenty years prior after the Secretary-General of the Japan Patriotic Party, a right wing nationalist party, punched Prime Minister Takeo Miki while he was leaving the funeral for Former Prime Minister Eisaku Sato. [6] This was 15 years after Nobusuke Kishi was stabbed in an assassination attempt and te successful assassination of Socialist leader Inejiro Asanuma. The SP of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department protects Prime Ministers (current and former), ministers of state, and many others. The SP officers were armed with collapsible batons and handguns (mostly still revolvers but more semiautomatic pistols were becoming more common in the Security Police, SIG Sauer P230 was most common though Glock 17s were reportedly used). The Security Police were not expecting this kind of assassination attempt. They expected a Japanese assassin to attack outside of a vehicle. Previous assassinations and assasination attempts had been done by blades in Post-War Japan.
The assassins on motorcycles were inspired by the assassination of Colombian Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara in 1984 by soldiers of Pablo Escobar. Though the gun wielding killers were both armed with machine pistols, the rear passenger on each bike was armed with an AK-74u carbine.
When the assassin team fired on Takeshita’s car it broke the bullet proof glass. This happened because most bullet resistant glass becomes weaker the longer it is exposed to sunlight this is a well known weakness of bullet resistant glass. [7] By sheer luck Nakasone’s car was switched out a few weeks prior when the glass got a crack from a rock that hit the windshield. Nakasone, while severely wounded from the shooting, would recover. Nakasone’s Secretary, Takeru Oe [8] was wounded but survived. The driver and another SP Officer were wounded but only minorly.
Takeshita was not as lucky, when the gun team opened fire on his car the first blast of bullets went through his head killing him instantly, the second burst ripped through Takeshita and killed his secretary Subaru Tone. The driver was severely wounded as was the other SP officer. The bullet resistant glass shattered.
For Kiichi Miyazawa, his car would flip after he was shot as his car was unarmored and several bullets went through Miyazawa and into his driver, killing him. Miyazawa’s secretary Hiragi Oshiro was unharmed in the shooting but suffered multiple broken bones when the car flipped.
Keizo Obuchi was seriously wounded but survived his shooting. The shooting did lead to the discovery of a blood clot in his leg. The doctors would move carefully to remove it. [9]
Takeshita’s death killed the last “shadow shogun” in the LDP, there were others who could claim to be a “shadow shogun” in the LDP, with most agreeing the next “shadow shogun” was not in the Liberal Democrats any more but a part of the New Frontier Party; Ichiro Ozawa The New Frontier Party Leader.. Ichiro Ozawa and Takeshita had the same political mentor, Kakuei Tanaka. Tanaka was a major power player that helped set up the ties with the Yakuza and use his position to enhance his wealth. Takeshita followed this example and after Tanaka had a stroke in 1985, Takeshita got out from under Tanaka's shadow. Though like Tanaka he was forced out by scandal. [10]
Theses killings were not the only assassinations on April 9th. Soka Gakkai Chairman Daisaku Ikeda while leaving his apartment in Shinjuku was ambushed and mowed down by two Aum cult members with a Russian PK machine gun and an RPK machine gun. His security detail had no gun as private security in Japan cannot carry guns. [11]
Official Portraits of Former Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita and LDP Faction Leader Kiichi Miyazawa, these men were assassinated April 9th. (Source: Wikipedia and the Government of Japan)
Then Chief Cabinet Secretary Keizo Obuchi with the new Era name: Heisei; January 7th, 1989. Because of this he gained the nickname Uncle Heisei. (Source: Wikipedia and the Government of Japan) [12]
Official portrait of Former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, Prime Minister of Japan from 1982-1987. He was still serving in the Diet in 1995. Portrait is from 1982. He and Obuchi survived their wounds. (Source: Wikipedia and the Government of Japan)
The other high level assassination was on Yuko or Toi Inagawa (he went by two different names), head of the Inagawa-kai Yakuza clan. He was killed leaving the restaurant that he had been dining with Yoshiro Mori with. The press reported he was leaving his apartment which was partially true as he had an apartment nearby. While it puzzled people for years why the Aum Shinrikyo cult killed Inagawa it was later discovered that their sources in the yakuza clan, many Aum members were ex-Yakuza, and the police that Inagawa was going to give the police information that would humiliate the cult leader on his past on being an illegal pharmacist and that the Inagawa-kai had given him permission and some protection for a cut of the profits. [13]
There were also failed attempts against political leaders. Ichiro Ozawa was at his party offices that Sunday when a gunman tried to enter and shoot him. The gunman was seen by Security Police and apprehended. Entering the office with a Stechkin machine pistol the gunman was stopped quickly. Another politician that avoided death was Tokyo gubernatorial candidate Yukio Aoshima. Aoshima would win the election the following Tuesday.[14]
The other failed attack which was not confirmed as an Aum Shinrikyo plot until months later was the attempt against Ryuho Okawa the leader of rival cult Happy Science. Aum had tried many, many times to kill Okawa. This time they tried to kill Okawa but the Makarov pistol the gunman in that case had jammed, and when the killer was trying to clear the chamber he put a bullet into his foot and hopped away until being caught by police.[15]
These attacks shook Japan’s upper elite who had felt they were immune to such violence. This also put scrutiny on the Security Police on why some persons were protected and why others weren’t. Sadly this was not the last hurrah of the cult.
April 15th Attacks
The Japanese government and press knew Aum was plotting something for April 15th as Shoko Asahara had said so himself. Published March 2nd his latest book claimed Tokyo would be destroyed by a large earthquake. After the Tokyo Sarin attacks, the assassination of the National Police Agency Commissioner General at the end of March, and assassinations of April 9th the country was on edge due to this warning, one Asahara restated on Aum radio before the police raids and his disappearance.
The main fear for the attacks was Shinjuku as Asahara's earthquake warning said towers falling and Shinjuku had plenty of skyscrapers at the time. The main fear was it would be a repeat of the March 20th attack. There was only one target the authorities saw for Shinjuku, a target that could kill tens of thousands at rush hour; Shinjuku Station. [16]
Accordingly, Tokyo Police and fire departments were ready for an attack at the busiest train station in the world with Paris’s Gare du Nord coming in at a close distant second. Also present were elements of the JGSDF Chemical Corps and Chemical School as well as media ready to see if an attack took place in Shinjuku.
Across Tokyo, many tourist locations had greatly reduced crowds. Tokyo Disneyland in Chiba had greatly reduced crowds, the most recent time there had been such a low crowd in recent memory was when Emperor Hirohito died. [17] Sanrio Puroland in Tama New Town, Tokyo was very sparse with visitors. This was the same at other theme parks that operated in the metropolitan area. Many tour groups had canceled events in Tokyo for the day. Families who lived in Tokyo went on holiday to other parts of Kanto if they could or went farther away from Tokyo. Despite this, and being a Saturday, Tokyo was still very busy and after 9AM it felt like nothing was going to happen.
Unfortunately Aum would strike at two targets in Tokyo. These attacks would happen at 10:17 AM and 10:31 AM.
The Old Home Affairs Ministry circa 1995, to the right is the Headquarters of the Tokyo Police, behind the building is Central Government Building Number 3, which at the time primarily housed the Ministry of Construction, in front of the building is an entrance to the Kasumigaseki Subway Station. (Source: https://blog.goo.ne.jp/asabata )
The first target was Kasumigaseki. The beating heart of Japan’s government bureaucracy. In that district of Chiyoda Ward there are a partial the following government agencies:
Next to Kasmigaseki is Nagatacho which houses the political heart of Japan. This includes the National Diet of Japan, its legislature with both the House of Representatives and the House of Councilors. There is the Kantei which is the Prime Minister’s office and at the time the annex for it. The office buildings for politicians for the National Diet. The National Diet Library was next to the Diet Building. The headquarters of the political parties were located there too.
The Aum Shinrikyo cabinet [18] picked Kasumigaseki as it would create chaos in the response to the cult, cause problems with the government at large, and show their power and the weakness of the Japanese Government.
The question was how to strike? The answer: they already had a large amount of explosive ready for the planned coup for November, not the amount they wanted but enough for their purposes. A plan from Australia was if they could not make a proper nuclear bomb they would make a radiological device. Hideo Murai figured that would be easier and cheaper than trying to build a nuclear bomb.
As for the explosives? Ammonium Nitrate and fuel oil can make a mixture called ANFO which is used as a common explosive. There is no law limiting the purchase of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil. And to get the explosives into the capital, trucks. The Kasumigaseki bomb would have 10,000 kilograms of ANFO, ten metric tons. It would be in a Nissan Diesel Big Thumb Truck for delivery.
And delivery was how it got into a protected district. While there was an increased police presence in Kasumigaseki, most of the emergency services and military were in Shinjuku (at the Shinjuku Station Bus Terminal as a command post). But trucks came all the time to deliver materials to ministries. From the Japan Post to Segawa Express, or some local repair service, it is not uncommon in the streets of Tokyo to see trucks parked along the sides with their hazard lights blinking.
This is how Aum approached the attack in Kasumigaseki. They would use a delivery truck to detonate a bomb in large truck. The means of detonation would be a simple fuse that once lit would give the driver about a minute and a half, maybe two to run.
The Perpetrator to this attack was Akira Yamagata, Asahara’s bodyguard and a man who had killed for the cult before. He was going to be picked up by Hideo Murai, the chief chemist of Aum and main planner for this attack. Murai was in too deep and while he debated turning himself over to authorities, Asahara was enthused with this plan after reading the translated copy of that American book again [19]. He wanted to recreate the ending but was sadly missing a nuclear weapon. But if it brought about World War III, Asahhara thought it was justified, as this would allow him to become King of Japan and Emperor of the world. [20]
Yamagata parked the truck next to the Home Affairs Ministry on Sakuradori Ave, Yamagata exited the truck, he opened the rear doors, and he grabbed a box and used that excuse to light the fuse and run. He was picked up by Murai. Yamagata and Murai drove excessively fast to be as far from the blast and then after the blast they were driving close to the speed limit. They went north, then west, then south along rail lines that weren’t as heavily used and they wore surgical masks on the trains. They would take several days on slow trains to Kitakyushu and leave Japan via ferry to Korea on false passports and from there only Yamagata was found in 2001 in Australia. Hideo Murai is still at large. [21]
At 10:17:31 the ANFO in the Nissan Big Thumb exploded. This was ten tons of the ANFO going from solid matter to energy via a chemical reaction. The Home Affairs Ministry Building was destroyed, there was so little left of the building.. The Kasumigaseki Subway Station collapsed. Tokyo subway stations were not terribly deep; the underground tunnels were crushed under the forces of the explosion and then after the explosion water began to fill them. .The Tokyo District Courthouse across the street from the bomb would partially collapse after the blast. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the south, which was undergoing a remodel, was partially destroyed. The Tokyo Police Headquarters was destroyed, its antenna fell off of the building and rolled into the Imperial Palace moat. The National Police Agency Headquarters was damaged severely. The Justice Ministry’s new buildings were severely damaged and the Justice Ministry’s Red Brick building was severely damaged, its southeast corner collapsed. The Ministry of Health and Welfare and Ministry of Labor building was severely damaged as were countless other neighboring ministry buildings and non-government buildings in the area were either destroyed or severely damaged.
Outside of Kasumigaseki, the political district of Nagatacho was heavily damaged with broken windows, damaged buildings and missiles from destroyed vehicles near the bomb blast would rain down. The skylights in the National Diet Building’s chambers were shattered and glass fell into the chambers of both the House of Councillors and House of Representatives. In the main hall of the Diet Building glass and debris fell on a small tour group that was getting a Saturday tour. A Diet Guard giving the tour was killed by falling debris. There was damage to the Emperor’s Room in the Diet building. The various office buildings for the Diet were damaged as was the Diet Library. The Kantei (the Prime Minister’s Office) suffered damage as some ceiling tiles fell in the annex building press briefing room, windows were broken and some structural damage occurred. Kokkai-gijidomae Station had flooding. From broken subway tunnels and water mains.
Casualties were lower than it would have been on a weekday, but were still very high. Bureaucratic offices are open on a Saturday in Japan. Many government workers were at home with families but those who didn’t have kids or had adult children were working. This is why several hundred died in various government offices. The highest ranked members of the government to die were the administrative vice ministers of Home Affairs, administrative vice minister of finance was confirmed killed later (all they found was his car), and the administrative vice minister of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry would die from his wounds. Though one group of high ranking bureaucrats that was nearly utterly wiped out was the PSEC (Public Security Examination Commission) as they were meeting in the Old Red Brick Building in the Ministry of Justice, the southeast corner where the meeting took place, collapsed. [22] But a majority of the deaths came from the Home Affairs Ministry, the Tokyo Police Headquarters, the District Court House, the Construction Ministry, the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the Justice Ministry, the National Police Headquarters, the street, and the Kasumigaseki subway station. Over 400 of deaths came from that station as a train pulled in at 10:17 another was still loading on a separate platform. In total the bombing killed over 1327 people.
Many people in the streets offices of Tokyo were injured by debris and glass, the Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank Headquarters had its windows blown in on people working that Saturday causing severe injury to countless people and had some of the glass hit them in their face and eyes. All windows within a kilometer of the blast were blown out. And a majority of windows within two kilometers blown out and windows blown out as far as Shinjuku on occasion, typically many were cracked. There were pedestrians hit by cars that were being driven by panicked drivers. A nearby underground toll highway had suffered damage and flooding while the subway lines had to deal with broken water, gas, sewer and electric lines. The crater for the blast was 20 meters deep. The blast also downed trees in Hibiya Park behind the Justice Ministry and other ministries to the east. With such a massive blast strange things happen.
Some interesting things the blast did was throw a radio mast from the Ministry of Construction over the Diet Park and that mast landed in the parking lot of the Diet Building on the east side. News helicopters would find remnants of a bus chassis on the roof of Hibiya Hall. [23] Several cars were found in the Imperial Palace moat. On the roof of Tokyo station engine pistons of a car were discovered. Near Tokyo Tower, a mirror of a taxi was allegedly found. Though the most interesting missile was the microwave mast from the Home Affairs Ministry, After the blast a mangle mess of metal that was the mast flew over the Construction Ministry, over the moat of the Imperial Palace grounds, the Three Palace Sanctuaries where the enthronement of emperors and royal weddings take place, and finally landing in front of the new imperial palace residence.
Retired Imperial Guard officer Hidetora Umesaka remembered hearing the blast while on foot patrol with his partner Nishikawa.[24] “It was a dreadful sound then it seemed like ten to fifteen seconds after the big explosion there was a terrible crash near me and Nishikawa. We ran towards it and to our horror from the pond to the yard in front of the new palace [25] was a mangled mass of metal that looked like a radio tower. Nishikawa and myself along with others were running towards the mast. I think we were all in disbelief. Then I heard a voice ask, “What is that? I saw it land.” I knew the Emperor was in residence, I did not know however the Emperor and the Empress were in the tea room of the new palace. The Emperor walked up and touched it. He was in as much shock as the rest of us. I remember he asked if it what just blew up was a small nuclear bomb. I could not give him an answer. After that the Emperor’s security team took him and the Empress to Akasaka Palace to evacuate him out of the city via helicopter.” The Emperor was taken out of Tokyo to Kyoto.
As for the Government immediately after the bombing all ministers in Tokyo were flown or driven to the JGSDF Tachikawa Base where in 1988 the Tokyo Government and cabinet had set up the Tachikawa Wide Area Disaster Center where government officials from Tokyo could run disaster operation if another Great Kanto Earthquake hit. It was as Murayama was being evacuated he got reports of a bomb blast at Yokota Airbase.
A victim of glass debris near the Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank Building awaiting medical aide with help of good samaritans in Uchisaiwaicho Subway station [In actuality a victim of the Tokyo Sarin attack] (Source: Shutterstock)
The Yokota Airbase attack was carried out by Kentaro Miyake. [26] Miyake had little information about him pre-attack. He was son of a mortuary worker and therefore a Burakumin, the cult had lower class members and often used them for labor. He had issues getting work but when he joined the cult he found his purpose in life.
Miyake was in a Toyota Hiace Quick Delivery 100 approached the supply gate and presented the United States Air Force Security Police guard, Airman First Class Brent Elton his delivery order. Airman Elton looked at the delivery form and Airman Elton looked over his list of allowed deliveries but the name of the delivery company. As Airman Elton asked in his limited Japanese to look at the delivery form Miyake Miyake produced a Makarov pistol and fired twice at Airman Elton, Elton had reached for his M9 Beretta pistol, sadly he was not fast and was shot in the left shoulder and right lung.
As Miyake left, Airman Francesca “Frankie” De Silva, fired several shots at the van as it broke through the barrier. Miyake was pursued by officers of the USAF Security Police. He drove the van right into the green space in front of the headquarters of US Forces Japan. As various USAF Security Police officers approached, Miyake was seen entering the back of the truck after that there was a gunshot and an explosion.
The Quick Delivery bomb was 150 kilogram of ANFO but more importantly was surround by over two hundred kilos of ballbearings, nails, screws, bolts, nuts, and all sort of assorted metal projectiles in paint cans. [27] It killed 13 USAF Enlisted, 11 Officers, and 14 civilians on base. It was one of the worst terrorist attacks on US Military personnel since the Beirut Bombing of 1983.
Yokota Airbase Gate, Picture taken during Friendship Day (Source: Wikipedia)
After the attacks began one of the largest search and rescue efforts in modern Japanese history, since the Kobe Earthquake. While plenty of people all over Tokyo came to Chiyoda ward to help look for the survivors and help the injured. Japanese paramedics and firefighters were allowed onto Yokota Airbase grounds by USAF Lieutenant General Richard Myers, who was at Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa with Ambassador Walter Mondale [28]. They were informed of the attacks and put all US bases in Japan under lockdown.
For the city itself, Tokyo once again ground to a halt. Concerts for that Saturday night were canceled. All amusement parks across the Tokyo Metropolitan area were closed for the rest of Saturday. Tokyo Disneyland reopened Monday. Many night clubs did not open and those that did open had next to no customers. Easter events were toned down in the Catholic community of Tokyo. The small number of Japanese Jews were worried but still had their mass. Almost all regular broadcasting on Japanese TV was interrupted for news stories.
A massive rescue operation was underway in Kasumigaseki with thousands of injured flooding Tokyo and Kanto hospitals. It was necessary that the square in front of the Imperial Palace was made into a medivac point for various helicopters to send the severely wounded to hospitals all over Tokyo and beyond. Many local parks and streets that weren’t full of rubble were made into medical stations. Once again local hospitals were swamped but they were more preparation this time.
While no claim of responsibility was made, everyone knew Aum did it. By April 18th, several high level Aum members had willingly surrendered to police. The FBI had offered their full assistance to Japan after the April 15th attack. The FBI was leading the bomb investigation for the Yokota bombing. [29]
There were immediate concerns of further attacks, and Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama in consultation with his cabinet; the outgoing governor of Tokyo, Shunichi Suzuki; the governor-elect, Yukio Aoshima; National Police Commissioner General Yuko Sekiguchi; Joint Staff Council Chairman, General Tetsuya Nishimoto (JGSDF); and many other members of the cabinet discussed a plan to deal with possible further attacks. Also present Yujiro Fukase [30] a lawyer for the Defense agency was brought from the Agency’s Roppongi Headquarters to Tachikawa
Fukase remembers being brought to the meeting to discuss the implementation of Article 78 of the 78, a security operation, which was different from Article 76 which is a Defense operation which means if Japan were invaded. [31]
“I was asked to give my legal expertise and I offered the Prime Minister the legal basis of JSDF mobilization into the city and how it is legally allowed. Murayama was hesitant to call up the military for such an action. Socialists in Japan, especially in some factions of the party, were well known back then for political hesitation to use the JSDF even in the event of natural disasters which was the use of the Self Defense Forces back then and still is. Other lawyers from other ministries provided their opinions on the issue and constitutional lawyers were present to clear up that mess if needed. But it was General Nishimoto who had the most persuasive argument, ‘Tokyo has just lost a large swath of the police force’s hierarchy. Bureaucrats, cops, lawyers, forensic scientists, and so forth either dead or incapacitated. While each Ward’s main station still functions and the police still have their Superintendent-General many of his deputies are dead or wounded. The city will need order. If there is no sign of order we risk chaos. Not only must we prevent further bombings, but crime and economic instability will follow as will likely extrajudicial actions.’ General Nishismoto insisted.
Fukase didn’t mention it but the extrajudicial actions were likely a veiled reference to the Kanto Massacre of 1923. Which was a month-long massacre of Koreans, Chinese, anarchists, leftists, and many other people following the Great Kant’s Earthquake of September 1st, 1923. This was carried out by military, police, and civilians to put blame on Koreans or perceived Koreans. So many people were killed by these mobs. The Imperial Army would kill leftists and other people that were critical of the army. It is agreed the lowest number of casualties is 6000 but it is believed the death toll is much higher. [32] This is the sort of thing the government wanted to avoid.
Murayama was persuaded. The Prime Minister made his decision, he sent it to the cabinet and they unanimously agreed to mobilize the JSDF into Tokyo to secure the city in this crisis. This plan was a modified plan hobbled together based on old plans to counter terrorsim by the Japan Red Army, the Sanrizuka Struggle, [33] the Protests of the 1960s, and a future Kanto Earthquake.
The main debate was whether or not to have tanks. As originally planned, some tanks would come to Tokyo but not many, mainly due to many tank companies being moved to Hokkaido or farther from Tokyo. Murayama and Kono, the Deputy PM, vetoed tanks as it implied a coup. APCs and IFVs would go to Tokyo along with additional 10,000 troops, mostly from the Eastern Army with units from the Central, Northeastern Armies, and Western Armies. The massive deployment was on top of a large deployment to help in rescue efforts.
At 7:47 PM on the day of the attack, The Prime Minister and the Cabinet of Japan ordered the 1st Airborne Brigade into Tokyo and they arrived by 11 PM. On Sunday, most of the rest of the forces arrived along with additional JSDF forces for rescue efforts. This was the first time a sitting prime minister had ordered Article 78 and Article 79 to be used. By the next day Type 60 Recoilless Rifle anti-tank guns were in the city along with Type 60 and Type 73 APCs, Type 89 IFVs. Type 82 Command Cars, Type 87 Reconnaissance vehicles, and a slew of other vehicles. The capital was patrolled by F-15Js and F-4J jets in the sky and air defense was being brought to the capital just in case.
As the JSDF moved into Tokyo a public figure had to assuage the public that there was a need for calm. No one expected it to be the Emperor.
Official Portrait of Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, Prime Minister from 1993-1995.(Source: Wikipedia)
A Type 73 Jeep like this was mobilized into Tokyo after Article 78 was invoked. (Source: Wikipedia)
The Emperor Speaks
Emperor Akihito speaking to his people about the events of April 15th and the Washington DC bombing of April 19th on April 30th. [The Emperor would be younger but close enough in manner of events] (Source: Imperial Household Agency)
Feeling the blast from the Imperial Palace and witnessing the mangled wreckage of the Home Affairs Ministry microwave mast landing near his residence Emperor Akihito . He and his wife, Empress Mikicho were having tea. They were thinking of the following day playing a few games of tennis, a sport both loved [34], when the explosion shattered windows in the palace. By a miracle neither the emperor or his wife were wounded. He would leave the safety of his palace and stare at the mast. He later would tell people close to him, “Memories came back from 1945, my brother and I were evacuated from Tokyo due to the fire bombing but upon our return the city looked like the moon.”
Akihito also was initially worried, like many in the public that it was a small nuclear bomb. He was worried with such a big blast initially it was a nuclear bomb. However, he realized fast, like most of the public, with various technologies working it was not nuclear. The Emperor and Empress were evacuated from Tokyo. His mother, Empress-Dowager Nagako, was at Fukiage Omiya Palace on the Imperial grounds and despite turning 92 a month prior was having memory issues and difficulty breathing with her advanced age. It was reported later in international press that Nagako was unaware a bombing even happened, likely due to dementia. [35]
But upon arriving in Kyoto, Emperor Akihito saw the damage unfold on television and from reports he got. The Imperial Household Agency had informed him of the total destruction of the Sakurada Gate, the damage to the Three Palace Sanctuaries, numerous trees that were felled by the blast on palace grounds, fires on the palace grounds, the communications antenna from the Tokyo Police Headquarters that was in the moat, concerns on the structural safety of the Seimon Ishibashi Bridge and Nijubashi Bridge, damage to Chowaden Reception Hall, the damage to Akasaka Palace, and the rest of Chiyoda. The damage horrified Akihito who remembered the vast devastation from World War II and was horrified when he and Empress Michiko saw the devastation of Kobe by the earthquake of January 11th. Akihito wanted to do something but was worried if he acted it would undermine the government and get the wrong response in the press. Also legally what could he do? The 1947 constitution had severely curtailed the powers of an Emperor, his father had given up divinity. But his son would come up with the solution.
Crown Prince Naruhito came from Katsura Imperial Villa to the palace, which was 8 kilometers away, to talk with his father. Naruhito had told his father how horrified his wife was as Crown Princess Masako was formerly a diplomat and many of her friends still worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Headquarters. Naruhito insisted his father make a statement about the attack a few days after it occurred. Naruhito wanted his father to make some sort of statement to the public and the bureaucrats at the Imperial Household Agency resisted it. It was unprecedented and the last time an Emperor spoke to his people directly was when Hirohito announced the surrender of Japan over the radio. Some of the bureaucrats worried it would set a dangerous precedent, others were concerned they’d lose power over the Imperial family. [36] But ultimately, the April 19th Attack in America convinced the Emperor to make the message on April 20th.
The message was covered on NHK, Fuji TV, TBS, and pretty much every Japanese broadcaster who could carry it as well as CNN, CSPAN, and other international networks. It was a short address but it was written to give the people hope.
The message began with the Emperor in his summer residence at the Kyoto Imperial Palace, bowing to the camera, “I am deeply saddened by the devastating situation in the areas hit by the April 15th terrorist attacks in Japan. The number of casualties claimed by the attacks continues to rise by the day, and we do not yet know how many people have lost their lives. I am praying that the safety of as many people as possible will be confirmed. My other grave concern now is the serious fear of further attacks by this group and groups inspired by this cult.”
“I must extend my heartfelt condolences to the American service members who died at Yokota Airbase and the victims of the Attack in Washington DC. President Gore has my deepest condolences as do other members of his government. However, I hope despite this tragedy trying to divide our two nations, we must show these groups, our unity and come closer together. Only through an equal and frank partnership and an understanding that despite different cultures we share the same desires to help and protect our peoples from harm. And we must take down blockages to this unification of our goals.” [37]
The message continued on but the speech was positively received by the Japanese Press. Even the Communist newspaper thought it was good, though still opposed to the emperor system. Western press was unsure what to make of the speech but they saw it as rather flat but it inspired his people. But everyone agreed that the
The Emperor invited President Gore to Japan later in the Spring of 1995.President Gore would arrive at the start of May 1995.
Meanwhile the Imperial Family was visiting victims in hospitals and touring Kasumigaseki with Prime Minister Murayama. The support of the Imperial Family bolstered feelings of hope in the Japanese public. And as the US-FBI Investigation began, they had a more supportive public, the cult was rapidly falling apart but even as they did a new wrinkle would begin.
The Knife Attacks
As the joint FBI-NPA investigation hit a snag due to the April 19th attack in America, a series of Knife attacks occurred in Japan in areas mostly outside of Tokyo. These attacks were done by the “monks” of Aum or were diehard believers in Shoko Asahara and believed killing the people they murdered would save them from hell. These people had been fanaticized by Aum and had been brainwashed. And while Aum had used guns most of their weapons had been found or went missing after April 9th. But one thing that any Japanese person could get was a kitchen knife from any 100 yen shop or a better knife for a couple of thousand yen from a department store or cooking supply store. [38]
These attacks were fueled by the dwindling number of fanatics and amphetamines like PCP. These attacks were not an organized affair. Later evidence found that this was done mostly by individual members of the cult or copycats. The first knife attack that kicked the week of knives off was Beppu Tower on April 21st. Hiroshi Tanaka [39], another lower ranking cult member from a poor family, went to the landmark, Beppu Tower, in Beppu, Japan and went on a spree killing over 17 people in the landmark tower before killing himself. Over thirty were injured with cuts and two died in the human crush trying to leave the observation deck.
The next day there were three attacks; two failed, the two that failed were in Tokyo Tower (security guards caught a man acting odd) and an attempted attack near Nara Dreamland in Nara (the man dropped his knife in front of a police officer). The successful attack was on the paddle boat Michigan as it steamed around Lake Biwa in Central Japan. This attack was not linked to Aum but perpetrator Yuji Sahara, a recently fired businessman from Otsu with no connection to the cult, may have been inspired by the cult’s actions. He killed 9 but was charged with the drowning of three people who tried to escape his slashes. He attempted suicide but was saved by a security guard he wounded. Sahara’s whole attack was recorded by BBC, Biwa Broadcasting Company, a local independent broadcast, filming for a pre-recorded segment for their local morning program “Good Morning Biwako!”. The incident's reporting caused much confusion in the British Press. The event did get Biwa Broadcasting Company international recognition. [40]
Then came Bloody Knife Sunday. Numerous knife attacks occurred all over Japan, some of these were done by teenagers. In Nagoya, a Koban [41]had two officers stabbed to death; it remains unsolved. In Osaka, a knife wielding madman went into a Yakuza office and was later found dead floating in Dotonbori Canal, where a picture of the corpse floating in front of the Glico sign was taken. There was an attack on some yakuza Kitakyushu that resulted in a dead yakuza and the attacker dying from his wounds. Plenty of attacks had no fatalities; attacks in Fukuoka, Toyama, Sendai, Aomori, and Sendai had plenty of other attacks that failed due to alert police or citizens. The most famous failed attack was the Tokyo Disneyland Knife attack. While this attack never occurred in the park it happened outside the train station many families that are going to the theme park arrive from. The knife wielder there had gotten his knife from a Hundred Yen shop, the perpetrator in this attack was a homeless man. The Chiba Police had a riot squad ready and the officers swarmed the knife wielding subject. The incident was quickly caught on video tape and was quickly seen on the national and international news. There were no injuries except a cut on one security guard and the beating the homeless man got from the police.[42]
Investigation
The day the bombs went off in Tokyo was when the investigation in the attacks began with the NPA leading the investigation along with the Tokyo Police helping with other aspects of the investigations. The JSDF was also key in the investigation as they found parts of the Kasumigaseki bomb with their explosives detection equipment and the fine eye of American FBI and ATF agents in assistance.
The investigation found many interesting things like a translated version of ‘The Turner Diaries' that were popular with cult leaders. It would probably be a twisted irony that the Neo-Nazi author of the book would have a following of his book in a doomsday cult in Japan were the leader was a fan of Hitler. [43] It had an alternate ending that was Aum Shinrikyo friendly and there was an effort to make an anime from it, but it never got beyond early stages. The investigation was surprised when they detected a radio signal from Russia on April 17th in which a voice which was believed to be Asahara threatening more attacks. That motivated the Russians to act.
The USR Government on April 18th, 1995 revoked the religious protections Aum Shinrikyo had received years earlier. The USR government had only originally planned to revoke the protections but after the April 15th Attacks, they were going to make an example of Aum. In a massive feat of logistics, across all of the USR, Internal Troops, SOBR (Russian SWAT), OMON (Riot Police), and Militsiya raided various Aum facilities in Russia within a two hour period. As an aide of Gorbachev called it, “A Hollywood raid”, with all the troops and drama. Most Russian Aum members had already left the cult and either joined other yoga groups or fell for the slew of post Soviet mysticisms. The radio broadcast from Vladivostok was discovered to have come from Japan. Any Japanese member of the cult was detained and would be sent back to Japan. All information on purchases and other properties were sent to Japanese and Americans.
The Americans and Japanese went to work on high ranking cult members that either turned themselves in or were caught. The current goal was to get Asahara.The one who revealed the secrets was Tomomitsu Niimi, the cult’s Minister of Internal Affairs. While he was loyal he knew he was facing the death penalty, which in Japan is by hanging. Niimi revealed what he knew and told authorities where he last knew Asahara was, they did not find him there but police had information he had been there recently. Niimi revealed the penetration of the Japanese police, military, and other groups by the cult.
One thing the investigation discovered was what happened to the Sakamoto family. Kazuaki Okazaki who left the cult in 1990 had pictures of where the Sakamoto family members were buried. They were unearthed and it was reveal the mystery of how they were murdered, despite it being years later. Okazaki’s trial would begin in 1998 and it would be a major mess. [44]
Though it was through more former cultists that they were informed of hidden rooms at the Kamikuishiki compound. When American FBI technicians and Japanese police officers investigated, they found Asahara alive and well, hidden in a secret room at the Satyan Complex on April 29th, 1995. His arrest put many Japanese people at ease and many Japanese people celebrated his arrest.
The FBI got payback against Asahara as it was confirmed one FBI agent based in Tokyo, Assistant Legal Attaché (ALAT) FBI Agent Gary Samuels [45], was killed in the Kasumigaseki attack. He was identified through his left hand. The FBI had taken two hits with the April 15th Attacks in Tokyo killing one agent and April 19th Attack in Washington DC killing 13 employees. The Bureau had proven it was able to counter terror like this. And when President Gore visited the FBI gave him good news.
The Japanese police needed this arrest as the public were not happy for failures that had not prevented the attacks of March 20th and April 15th. This arrest was a PR win for the Japanese police. Asahara was taken to Shinjuku Station and interrogated from 9 in the morning until midnight and returned to his cell and then they would repeat. Asahara babbled and never admitted anything. It was not needed, he recorded his guilt on a series of audio tapes in the hidden room while he was hidden there for over a month. [46] These tapes were meant for posterity and to show how he became “King of the World.” But The Japanese system prefers a confession, they never got one but they had enough to charge him.
On June 5th, 1995 Shoko Asahara was taken to the Hachioji annex of the Tokyo District Courthouse to be charged for his crimes. He never got to set foot in the courtroom. [47]
[1] Fictional author
[2] Counterpart to our world’s Internet Archive
[3] Miyazawa never became PM here in this world, The attempts to oust Toshiki Kaifu failed
[4] Kono made a pro-China speech in the LDP, it was not popular with the right wing groups in his own party, what different times.
[5] Ah Mori, god you had so many problems. You dined frequently with Yakuzas. Also the gaffed left and right.
[6] Pre POD so it happened, yeah Miki was unpopular as the reformist who followed Tanaka. The Lockheed Scandal happened heavily during his tenure. Also there was protection for a Prime Minister except for local police.
[7] A real weakness of bullet resistant glass and the resistance level for the glass was not rated for an AK-74u.
[8] Takeshita’s and Nakasone’s secretaries are fictional as I could not find evidence of their aides at the time.
[9] Being shot ironically saved Keizo Obuchi from dying from a stroke later on. He will be a leader in the LDP later in the decade.
[10] Tanaka, a man who had been dead since 1993 but his influence on the LDP was still felt. He avoided prison for over a decade due to his declining health despite being guilty of bribery. He was a major player in the LDP presidential election of 1982 which made Nakasone PM. Ozawa was an understudy of Tanaka. Even if Tanaka was a crook he exuded power.
[11] Ikeda was a target of the cult in OTL several times. Here he was unlucky as for Security guards, only police can legally carry guns for security. Killing Ikeda serves a purpose for the story later on, spoilers.
[12] Can’t see why this wouldn’t happen. Also a good picture.
[13] Asahara operate an illegal pharmacy in Chiba, a spot the Inagawa had a lot of influence in and you don’t operate an illegal pharmacy without paying a “tax”.
[14] Yukio Aoshima, a comedian who turned to politics. He ran for governor and as governor Aum tried to kill him with a parcel bomb.He ran on a platform of canceling the costly The World City Exposition in Odaiba. He was not the only comedian elected in 1995 Japanese local elections “Knock” Yokoyama won his election in Osaka.
[15] Ryuho Okawa, a stock broker turned cult leader (no I am not making it up), is amazingly lucky in our world and the world of the Hensonverse. Asahara HATED him. The shooting here proves that the guns they got from Russia aren’t all good.
[16] The police here figure that the busiest station in Japan is a major cult target. And while it was hit before hitting Kasumigaseki again seemed unlikely to the police.
[17]
[18] Aum Shinrikyo had a cabinet. It was a group of high ranking members led by Asahara.First formed in 1994, this is also something I am copying from our world.
[19] I wonder what book it is? Hmmm….
[20] Guess what he wanted to rule the world. Asahara had been reported saying such since his childhood.
[21] Where is he? Call our tip line!
[22] The loss of the PSEC is major. They were called in for a special session. Only one member survived due to an unrelated fender bender.
[23] Hibiya Hall, where Socialist Party Leader Inejiro Asanuma was killed during a televised debate by Otoya Yamaguchi (17) on October 12th, 1960. A picture of his stabbing won a Pulitzer. Yamaguchi killed himself November 2nd, 1960 His suicide is celebrated by right wing every year in Hibiya Hall.
[24] Umesaka and Nishikawa are fictional they are used as eyewitnesses
[25] Built in 1993 for the new Emperor so he didn’t have to live in his father’s palace. Also the Empress and the Emperor’s mother hated one another (the empress dowager was very cruel to Empress Michiko)
[26] Kentaro Miyake is fictional as are the airmen mentioned.
[27] It is a car bomb version of an IRA pipe bomb. The means of detonation was via a pistol shot like how Timothy McVeigh had as a backup for OKC in our universe.
[28] Myers who in OTL was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs from 2001 to 2005 was the commander of US Forces Japan from 1993 to 1996. Mondale was the OTL Ambassador to Japan and after talking to JPJ we saw little reason to change it.
[29] FBI is usually the lead on these sorts of things while the United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations will lead the military investigation the FBI takes lead since they are usually the point agency on most attacks against US military facilities in peacetime. The CIA will also be involved in the investigation as will Japanese authorities.
[30] Fictional but needed a witness.
[31] These are under the Self Defense Law Chapter 6 outlining mobilization and use of force.
[32] Sadly a real event that a century on Japan is still dealing with. Right wing groups will both celebrate and deny the massacre, while only recently has the Japanese government acknowledged it, they’re still quiet. Akira Kurosawa saw the whole thing happen when he was a boy. Soldiers, police, and angry mobs killed Koreans, Chinese, Ryukens (Okinawa natives), Socialists, leftists, reporters, and anyone they did not like. This was like the Tulsa Massacre on steroids.
[33] The Sanrizuka Struggle was about building the Narita International Airport and the government taking land from locals without telling them about the plan until they announced it. Riots, violence, and protests would last from 1968 to the 1980s.
[34] Akihito and Michiko met while playing tennis and she did not pull her swings.
[35] It has never been confirmed but the rumors of dementia in Empress Nagako, called Kojun posthumously. Nagako hated her daughter-in-law because she was a commoner despite being from a wealthy family.
[36] The Imperial Household Agency is a lot of palace intrigue and bullying people who want to change things. They bullied Crown Princess/Empress Masako.Typical issues in Japanese bureaucracy.
[37] The speech is inspired by Emperor Akihito’s speech on the 3/11 Tohoku Earthquake, Tsunami, and the Fukushima Reactor disaster. The speech here is different with the equal and frank partnership bit. Also lacking any mention of a nuclear power plant as none were attacked.
[38] The above is more inspired by problems in 2000s-2010s Japan had with stabbings.
[39] All attackers in this section are fictional
[40] The paddle boat and Biwa Broadcasting are real. Biwa Broadcasting does get more business thanks to the attack as the Lake Biwa area is beautiful.
[41] Police box. Often officers in Kobans are bored to tears. When they aren’t ignoring sexual assault and domestic abuse. (Oops my partiality came through)
[42] Some of the knife attacks were by Aum members; many others were copycat attacks. The Tokyo Disneyland Attack was heavily recorded because many families had camcorders with. As stated above, the knife wielding man did not get into the park.
[43] AJM8888 here, I know I have stated it several times but Asahara was a fan of Hitler. A Man Hitler’s Germany would have likely killed due to his blindness.
[44] Much like OTL Aum Shinrikyo trials, our world trials will be a mess.
[45] Fictional
[46] Hostage justice system and they won’t stop until you confess you are guilty. Japan has it be guilty until proven innocent is the unofficial version.
[47] Cliffhanger
The Assassinations and April 15th Attacks
Chapter 8: A Cult of Terror in Japan Continued
Excerpt from Lost Decade/Found Decade: The Transformation of Postwar Japan from 1989 to 2009 By Daniel Ambrose [1] Retrieved via Netsite Archive [2]
April 9th Assassinations
In Akasaka there was a lunch time meeting of leaders and elders of the Liberal Democratic Party. These members of the meeting were former Prime Ministers Noboru Takeshita and Yasuhiro Nakasone, LDP Vice President Keizo Obuchi, and faction leader Kiichi Miyazawa. [3] They were at Asada, a Michelin star rated restaurant where political elites often dined. They had been discussing LDP policy and the future of the party.
The LDP President was Yohei Kono, he was serving in the majority LDP cabinet of Socialist Tomiichi Murayama. Kono served as Deputy PM and Minister for Foreign Affairs. Kono was from the Miyazawa faction but he was also from the Pro-China faction of the party. In 1993, also apologized for the atrocities Japan did in the Sino-Japanese War and World War II across all of Asia, especially in China and Korea. [4] And it was likely that Miyazawa would make a statement later in the year as well. In the House Miyazawa was working on the Fusen Ketsugi, a bill that was a quasi-apology for What Japan did before and during World War II. This was not popular with more conservative elements in the party. The LDP was really hurt by defections from the party by younger members upset by the old boy cronyism and the numerous scandals. Ichiro Ozawa, Yukio Hatoyama, and Toshiki Kaifu had left the LDP, and they were not alone. Hatoyama was a legacy, his grandfather Ichiro Hatoyama, Prime Minister from 1954 to 1956, his father Iichiro Hatoyama had been a member of the House of Councilors and a Foreign Minister under Takeo Fukuda, and also leaving the LDP was Kunio Hatoyama, Yukio’s brother. Ichiro Ozawa had been the LDP’s Secretary General, a very senior position only under the president of the party. Finally there was former Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu, the man who, like Takeo Miki, came after a corrupt Prime Minister, that man in Kaifu’s case being Noboru Takeshita.
The meeting was your usual review of polls, funds, discussion of the status of the party by party elites. Though there was a visible absence. Secretary General Yoshiro Mori had canceled at the last minute due to “pressing matters”. The actual matters were he was meeting with Yuko Inagawa, head of the Inagawa-kai yakuza.[5] The Security Police were told to be waiting a ways away from the meeting so they could not have to deal with a possible scandal. Later, Yuko Inagawa would be murdered after Mori left.
As the party luminaries left Asada, they did not know they were being followed by members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult. The goal of these cultists was to kill two former Prime Ministers and LDP leaders. The party leaders were going in different directions in Toyota Century cars, the two former Prime Ministers went in bulletproof windows and some armor on the doors, the other party leaders were not in armored cars.
The assassins were on motorcycles and followed the and disabled the following SP cars for Takeshita and Nakasone. The cars on the toll highways could not go on but they were behind the VIP cars enough that the security teams could not reach the VIPs they needed to protect.
The Security Police of Japan was formed only twenty years prior after the Secretary-General of the Japan Patriotic Party, a right wing nationalist party, punched Prime Minister Takeo Miki while he was leaving the funeral for Former Prime Minister Eisaku Sato. [6] This was 15 years after Nobusuke Kishi was stabbed in an assassination attempt and te successful assassination of Socialist leader Inejiro Asanuma. The SP of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department protects Prime Ministers (current and former), ministers of state, and many others. The SP officers were armed with collapsible batons and handguns (mostly still revolvers but more semiautomatic pistols were becoming more common in the Security Police, SIG Sauer P230 was most common though Glock 17s were reportedly used). The Security Police were not expecting this kind of assassination attempt. They expected a Japanese assassin to attack outside of a vehicle. Previous assassinations and assasination attempts had been done by blades in Post-War Japan.
The assassins on motorcycles were inspired by the assassination of Colombian Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara in 1984 by soldiers of Pablo Escobar. Though the gun wielding killers were both armed with machine pistols, the rear passenger on each bike was armed with an AK-74u carbine.
When the assassin team fired on Takeshita’s car it broke the bullet proof glass. This happened because most bullet resistant glass becomes weaker the longer it is exposed to sunlight this is a well known weakness of bullet resistant glass. [7] By sheer luck Nakasone’s car was switched out a few weeks prior when the glass got a crack from a rock that hit the windshield. Nakasone, while severely wounded from the shooting, would recover. Nakasone’s Secretary, Takeru Oe [8] was wounded but survived. The driver and another SP Officer were wounded but only minorly.
Takeshita was not as lucky, when the gun team opened fire on his car the first blast of bullets went through his head killing him instantly, the second burst ripped through Takeshita and killed his secretary Subaru Tone. The driver was severely wounded as was the other SP officer. The bullet resistant glass shattered.
For Kiichi Miyazawa, his car would flip after he was shot as his car was unarmored and several bullets went through Miyazawa and into his driver, killing him. Miyazawa’s secretary Hiragi Oshiro was unharmed in the shooting but suffered multiple broken bones when the car flipped.
Keizo Obuchi was seriously wounded but survived his shooting. The shooting did lead to the discovery of a blood clot in his leg. The doctors would move carefully to remove it. [9]
Takeshita’s death killed the last “shadow shogun” in the LDP, there were others who could claim to be a “shadow shogun” in the LDP, with most agreeing the next “shadow shogun” was not in the Liberal Democrats any more but a part of the New Frontier Party; Ichiro Ozawa The New Frontier Party Leader.. Ichiro Ozawa and Takeshita had the same political mentor, Kakuei Tanaka. Tanaka was a major power player that helped set up the ties with the Yakuza and use his position to enhance his wealth. Takeshita followed this example and after Tanaka had a stroke in 1985, Takeshita got out from under Tanaka's shadow. Though like Tanaka he was forced out by scandal. [10]
Theses killings were not the only assassinations on April 9th. Soka Gakkai Chairman Daisaku Ikeda while leaving his apartment in Shinjuku was ambushed and mowed down by two Aum cult members with a Russian PK machine gun and an RPK machine gun. His security detail had no gun as private security in Japan cannot carry guns. [11]
Official Portraits of Former Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita and LDP Faction Leader Kiichi Miyazawa, these men were assassinated April 9th. (Source: Wikipedia and the Government of Japan)
Then Chief Cabinet Secretary Keizo Obuchi with the new Era name: Heisei; January 7th, 1989. Because of this he gained the nickname Uncle Heisei. (Source: Wikipedia and the Government of Japan) [12]
Official portrait of Former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, Prime Minister of Japan from 1982-1987. He was still serving in the Diet in 1995. Portrait is from 1982. He and Obuchi survived their wounds. (Source: Wikipedia and the Government of Japan)
The other high level assassination was on Yuko or Toi Inagawa (he went by two different names), head of the Inagawa-kai Yakuza clan. He was killed leaving the restaurant that he had been dining with Yoshiro Mori with. The press reported he was leaving his apartment which was partially true as he had an apartment nearby. While it puzzled people for years why the Aum Shinrikyo cult killed Inagawa it was later discovered that their sources in the yakuza clan, many Aum members were ex-Yakuza, and the police that Inagawa was going to give the police information that would humiliate the cult leader on his past on being an illegal pharmacist and that the Inagawa-kai had given him permission and some protection for a cut of the profits. [13]
There were also failed attempts against political leaders. Ichiro Ozawa was at his party offices that Sunday when a gunman tried to enter and shoot him. The gunman was seen by Security Police and apprehended. Entering the office with a Stechkin machine pistol the gunman was stopped quickly. Another politician that avoided death was Tokyo gubernatorial candidate Yukio Aoshima. Aoshima would win the election the following Tuesday.[14]
The other failed attack which was not confirmed as an Aum Shinrikyo plot until months later was the attempt against Ryuho Okawa the leader of rival cult Happy Science. Aum had tried many, many times to kill Okawa. This time they tried to kill Okawa but the Makarov pistol the gunman in that case had jammed, and when the killer was trying to clear the chamber he put a bullet into his foot and hopped away until being caught by police.[15]
These attacks shook Japan’s upper elite who had felt they were immune to such violence. This also put scrutiny on the Security Police on why some persons were protected and why others weren’t. Sadly this was not the last hurrah of the cult.
April 15th Attacks
The Japanese government and press knew Aum was plotting something for April 15th as Shoko Asahara had said so himself. Published March 2nd his latest book claimed Tokyo would be destroyed by a large earthquake. After the Tokyo Sarin attacks, the assassination of the National Police Agency Commissioner General at the end of March, and assassinations of April 9th the country was on edge due to this warning, one Asahara restated on Aum radio before the police raids and his disappearance.
The main fear for the attacks was Shinjuku as Asahara's earthquake warning said towers falling and Shinjuku had plenty of skyscrapers at the time. The main fear was it would be a repeat of the March 20th attack. There was only one target the authorities saw for Shinjuku, a target that could kill tens of thousands at rush hour; Shinjuku Station. [16]
Accordingly, Tokyo Police and fire departments were ready for an attack at the busiest train station in the world with Paris’s Gare du Nord coming in at a close distant second. Also present were elements of the JGSDF Chemical Corps and Chemical School as well as media ready to see if an attack took place in Shinjuku.
Across Tokyo, many tourist locations had greatly reduced crowds. Tokyo Disneyland in Chiba had greatly reduced crowds, the most recent time there had been such a low crowd in recent memory was when Emperor Hirohito died. [17] Sanrio Puroland in Tama New Town, Tokyo was very sparse with visitors. This was the same at other theme parks that operated in the metropolitan area. Many tour groups had canceled events in Tokyo for the day. Families who lived in Tokyo went on holiday to other parts of Kanto if they could or went farther away from Tokyo. Despite this, and being a Saturday, Tokyo was still very busy and after 9AM it felt like nothing was going to happen.
Unfortunately Aum would strike at two targets in Tokyo. These attacks would happen at 10:17 AM and 10:31 AM.
The Old Home Affairs Ministry circa 1995, to the right is the Headquarters of the Tokyo Police, behind the building is Central Government Building Number 3, which at the time primarily housed the Ministry of Construction, in front of the building is an entrance to the Kasumigaseki Subway Station. (Source: https://blog.goo.ne.jp/asabata )
The first target was Kasumigaseki. The beating heart of Japan’s government bureaucracy. In that district of Chiyoda Ward there are a partial the following government agencies:
- Ministry of Home Affairs
- Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications
- Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
- Ministry of International Trade and Industry
- Ministry of Finance
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Ministry of Justice
- Ministry of Construction
- Ministry of Transport
- Ministry of Health and Welfare
- Ministry of Labor
- Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture
- Environment Agency
- Public Security Intelligence Agency
- National Police Agency
- Tokyo Metropolitan Police HQ
- Tokyo District Court
Next to Kasmigaseki is Nagatacho which houses the political heart of Japan. This includes the National Diet of Japan, its legislature with both the House of Representatives and the House of Councilors. There is the Kantei which is the Prime Minister’s office and at the time the annex for it. The office buildings for politicians for the National Diet. The National Diet Library was next to the Diet Building. The headquarters of the political parties were located there too.
The Aum Shinrikyo cabinet [18] picked Kasumigaseki as it would create chaos in the response to the cult, cause problems with the government at large, and show their power and the weakness of the Japanese Government.
The question was how to strike? The answer: they already had a large amount of explosive ready for the planned coup for November, not the amount they wanted but enough for their purposes. A plan from Australia was if they could not make a proper nuclear bomb they would make a radiological device. Hideo Murai figured that would be easier and cheaper than trying to build a nuclear bomb.
As for the explosives? Ammonium Nitrate and fuel oil can make a mixture called ANFO which is used as a common explosive. There is no law limiting the purchase of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil. And to get the explosives into the capital, trucks. The Kasumigaseki bomb would have 10,000 kilograms of ANFO, ten metric tons. It would be in a Nissan Diesel Big Thumb Truck for delivery.
And delivery was how it got into a protected district. While there was an increased police presence in Kasumigaseki, most of the emergency services and military were in Shinjuku (at the Shinjuku Station Bus Terminal as a command post). But trucks came all the time to deliver materials to ministries. From the Japan Post to Segawa Express, or some local repair service, it is not uncommon in the streets of Tokyo to see trucks parked along the sides with their hazard lights blinking.
This is how Aum approached the attack in Kasumigaseki. They would use a delivery truck to detonate a bomb in large truck. The means of detonation would be a simple fuse that once lit would give the driver about a minute and a half, maybe two to run.
The Perpetrator to this attack was Akira Yamagata, Asahara’s bodyguard and a man who had killed for the cult before. He was going to be picked up by Hideo Murai, the chief chemist of Aum and main planner for this attack. Murai was in too deep and while he debated turning himself over to authorities, Asahara was enthused with this plan after reading the translated copy of that American book again [19]. He wanted to recreate the ending but was sadly missing a nuclear weapon. But if it brought about World War III, Asahhara thought it was justified, as this would allow him to become King of Japan and Emperor of the world. [20]
Yamagata parked the truck next to the Home Affairs Ministry on Sakuradori Ave, Yamagata exited the truck, he opened the rear doors, and he grabbed a box and used that excuse to light the fuse and run. He was picked up by Murai. Yamagata and Murai drove excessively fast to be as far from the blast and then after the blast they were driving close to the speed limit. They went north, then west, then south along rail lines that weren’t as heavily used and they wore surgical masks on the trains. They would take several days on slow trains to Kitakyushu and leave Japan via ferry to Korea on false passports and from there only Yamagata was found in 2001 in Australia. Hideo Murai is still at large. [21]
At 10:17:31 the ANFO in the Nissan Big Thumb exploded. This was ten tons of the ANFO going from solid matter to energy via a chemical reaction. The Home Affairs Ministry Building was destroyed, there was so little left of the building.. The Kasumigaseki Subway Station collapsed. Tokyo subway stations were not terribly deep; the underground tunnels were crushed under the forces of the explosion and then after the explosion water began to fill them. .The Tokyo District Courthouse across the street from the bomb would partially collapse after the blast. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the south, which was undergoing a remodel, was partially destroyed. The Tokyo Police Headquarters was destroyed, its antenna fell off of the building and rolled into the Imperial Palace moat. The National Police Agency Headquarters was damaged severely. The Justice Ministry’s new buildings were severely damaged and the Justice Ministry’s Red Brick building was severely damaged, its southeast corner collapsed. The Ministry of Health and Welfare and Ministry of Labor building was severely damaged as were countless other neighboring ministry buildings and non-government buildings in the area were either destroyed or severely damaged.
Outside of Kasumigaseki, the political district of Nagatacho was heavily damaged with broken windows, damaged buildings and missiles from destroyed vehicles near the bomb blast would rain down. The skylights in the National Diet Building’s chambers were shattered and glass fell into the chambers of both the House of Councillors and House of Representatives. In the main hall of the Diet Building glass and debris fell on a small tour group that was getting a Saturday tour. A Diet Guard giving the tour was killed by falling debris. There was damage to the Emperor’s Room in the Diet building. The various office buildings for the Diet were damaged as was the Diet Library. The Kantei (the Prime Minister’s Office) suffered damage as some ceiling tiles fell in the annex building press briefing room, windows were broken and some structural damage occurred. Kokkai-gijidomae Station had flooding. From broken subway tunnels and water mains.
Casualties were lower than it would have been on a weekday, but were still very high. Bureaucratic offices are open on a Saturday in Japan. Many government workers were at home with families but those who didn’t have kids or had adult children were working. This is why several hundred died in various government offices. The highest ranked members of the government to die were the administrative vice ministers of Home Affairs, administrative vice minister of finance was confirmed killed later (all they found was his car), and the administrative vice minister of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry would die from his wounds. Though one group of high ranking bureaucrats that was nearly utterly wiped out was the PSEC (Public Security Examination Commission) as they were meeting in the Old Red Brick Building in the Ministry of Justice, the southeast corner where the meeting took place, collapsed. [22] But a majority of the deaths came from the Home Affairs Ministry, the Tokyo Police Headquarters, the District Court House, the Construction Ministry, the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the Justice Ministry, the National Police Headquarters, the street, and the Kasumigaseki subway station. Over 400 of deaths came from that station as a train pulled in at 10:17 another was still loading on a separate platform. In total the bombing killed over 1327 people.
Many people in the streets offices of Tokyo were injured by debris and glass, the Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank Headquarters had its windows blown in on people working that Saturday causing severe injury to countless people and had some of the glass hit them in their face and eyes. All windows within a kilometer of the blast were blown out. And a majority of windows within two kilometers blown out and windows blown out as far as Shinjuku on occasion, typically many were cracked. There were pedestrians hit by cars that were being driven by panicked drivers. A nearby underground toll highway had suffered damage and flooding while the subway lines had to deal with broken water, gas, sewer and electric lines. The crater for the blast was 20 meters deep. The blast also downed trees in Hibiya Park behind the Justice Ministry and other ministries to the east. With such a massive blast strange things happen.
Some interesting things the blast did was throw a radio mast from the Ministry of Construction over the Diet Park and that mast landed in the parking lot of the Diet Building on the east side. News helicopters would find remnants of a bus chassis on the roof of Hibiya Hall. [23] Several cars were found in the Imperial Palace moat. On the roof of Tokyo station engine pistons of a car were discovered. Near Tokyo Tower, a mirror of a taxi was allegedly found. Though the most interesting missile was the microwave mast from the Home Affairs Ministry, After the blast a mangle mess of metal that was the mast flew over the Construction Ministry, over the moat of the Imperial Palace grounds, the Three Palace Sanctuaries where the enthronement of emperors and royal weddings take place, and finally landing in front of the new imperial palace residence.
Retired Imperial Guard officer Hidetora Umesaka remembered hearing the blast while on foot patrol with his partner Nishikawa.[24] “It was a dreadful sound then it seemed like ten to fifteen seconds after the big explosion there was a terrible crash near me and Nishikawa. We ran towards it and to our horror from the pond to the yard in front of the new palace [25] was a mangled mass of metal that looked like a radio tower. Nishikawa and myself along with others were running towards the mast. I think we were all in disbelief. Then I heard a voice ask, “What is that? I saw it land.” I knew the Emperor was in residence, I did not know however the Emperor and the Empress were in the tea room of the new palace. The Emperor walked up and touched it. He was in as much shock as the rest of us. I remember he asked if it what just blew up was a small nuclear bomb. I could not give him an answer. After that the Emperor’s security team took him and the Empress to Akasaka Palace to evacuate him out of the city via helicopter.” The Emperor was taken out of Tokyo to Kyoto.
As for the Government immediately after the bombing all ministers in Tokyo were flown or driven to the JGSDF Tachikawa Base where in 1988 the Tokyo Government and cabinet had set up the Tachikawa Wide Area Disaster Center where government officials from Tokyo could run disaster operation if another Great Kanto Earthquake hit. It was as Murayama was being evacuated he got reports of a bomb blast at Yokota Airbase.
A victim of glass debris near the Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank Building awaiting medical aide with help of good samaritans in Uchisaiwaicho Subway station [In actuality a victim of the Tokyo Sarin attack] (Source: Shutterstock)
The Yokota Airbase attack was carried out by Kentaro Miyake. [26] Miyake had little information about him pre-attack. He was son of a mortuary worker and therefore a Burakumin, the cult had lower class members and often used them for labor. He had issues getting work but when he joined the cult he found his purpose in life.
Miyake was in a Toyota Hiace Quick Delivery 100 approached the supply gate and presented the United States Air Force Security Police guard, Airman First Class Brent Elton his delivery order. Airman Elton looked at the delivery form and Airman Elton looked over his list of allowed deliveries but the name of the delivery company. As Airman Elton asked in his limited Japanese to look at the delivery form Miyake Miyake produced a Makarov pistol and fired twice at Airman Elton, Elton had reached for his M9 Beretta pistol, sadly he was not fast and was shot in the left shoulder and right lung.
As Miyake left, Airman Francesca “Frankie” De Silva, fired several shots at the van as it broke through the barrier. Miyake was pursued by officers of the USAF Security Police. He drove the van right into the green space in front of the headquarters of US Forces Japan. As various USAF Security Police officers approached, Miyake was seen entering the back of the truck after that there was a gunshot and an explosion.
The Quick Delivery bomb was 150 kilogram of ANFO but more importantly was surround by over two hundred kilos of ballbearings, nails, screws, bolts, nuts, and all sort of assorted metal projectiles in paint cans. [27] It killed 13 USAF Enlisted, 11 Officers, and 14 civilians on base. It was one of the worst terrorist attacks on US Military personnel since the Beirut Bombing of 1983.
Yokota Airbase Gate, Picture taken during Friendship Day (Source: Wikipedia)
After the attacks began one of the largest search and rescue efforts in modern Japanese history, since the Kobe Earthquake. While plenty of people all over Tokyo came to Chiyoda ward to help look for the survivors and help the injured. Japanese paramedics and firefighters were allowed onto Yokota Airbase grounds by USAF Lieutenant General Richard Myers, who was at Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa with Ambassador Walter Mondale [28]. They were informed of the attacks and put all US bases in Japan under lockdown.
For the city itself, Tokyo once again ground to a halt. Concerts for that Saturday night were canceled. All amusement parks across the Tokyo Metropolitan area were closed for the rest of Saturday. Tokyo Disneyland reopened Monday. Many night clubs did not open and those that did open had next to no customers. Easter events were toned down in the Catholic community of Tokyo. The small number of Japanese Jews were worried but still had their mass. Almost all regular broadcasting on Japanese TV was interrupted for news stories.
A massive rescue operation was underway in Kasumigaseki with thousands of injured flooding Tokyo and Kanto hospitals. It was necessary that the square in front of the Imperial Palace was made into a medivac point for various helicopters to send the severely wounded to hospitals all over Tokyo and beyond. Many local parks and streets that weren’t full of rubble were made into medical stations. Once again local hospitals were swamped but they were more preparation this time.
While no claim of responsibility was made, everyone knew Aum did it. By April 18th, several high level Aum members had willingly surrendered to police. The FBI had offered their full assistance to Japan after the April 15th attack. The FBI was leading the bomb investigation for the Yokota bombing. [29]
There were immediate concerns of further attacks, and Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama in consultation with his cabinet; the outgoing governor of Tokyo, Shunichi Suzuki; the governor-elect, Yukio Aoshima; National Police Commissioner General Yuko Sekiguchi; Joint Staff Council Chairman, General Tetsuya Nishimoto (JGSDF); and many other members of the cabinet discussed a plan to deal with possible further attacks. Also present Yujiro Fukase [30] a lawyer for the Defense agency was brought from the Agency’s Roppongi Headquarters to Tachikawa
Fukase remembers being brought to the meeting to discuss the implementation of Article 78 of the 78, a security operation, which was different from Article 76 which is a Defense operation which means if Japan were invaded. [31]
“I was asked to give my legal expertise and I offered the Prime Minister the legal basis of JSDF mobilization into the city and how it is legally allowed. Murayama was hesitant to call up the military for such an action. Socialists in Japan, especially in some factions of the party, were well known back then for political hesitation to use the JSDF even in the event of natural disasters which was the use of the Self Defense Forces back then and still is. Other lawyers from other ministries provided their opinions on the issue and constitutional lawyers were present to clear up that mess if needed. But it was General Nishimoto who had the most persuasive argument, ‘Tokyo has just lost a large swath of the police force’s hierarchy. Bureaucrats, cops, lawyers, forensic scientists, and so forth either dead or incapacitated. While each Ward’s main station still functions and the police still have their Superintendent-General many of his deputies are dead or wounded. The city will need order. If there is no sign of order we risk chaos. Not only must we prevent further bombings, but crime and economic instability will follow as will likely extrajudicial actions.’ General Nishismoto insisted.
Fukase didn’t mention it but the extrajudicial actions were likely a veiled reference to the Kanto Massacre of 1923. Which was a month-long massacre of Koreans, Chinese, anarchists, leftists, and many other people following the Great Kant’s Earthquake of September 1st, 1923. This was carried out by military, police, and civilians to put blame on Koreans or perceived Koreans. So many people were killed by these mobs. The Imperial Army would kill leftists and other people that were critical of the army. It is agreed the lowest number of casualties is 6000 but it is believed the death toll is much higher. [32] This is the sort of thing the government wanted to avoid.
Murayama was persuaded. The Prime Minister made his decision, he sent it to the cabinet and they unanimously agreed to mobilize the JSDF into Tokyo to secure the city in this crisis. This plan was a modified plan hobbled together based on old plans to counter terrorsim by the Japan Red Army, the Sanrizuka Struggle, [33] the Protests of the 1960s, and a future Kanto Earthquake.
The main debate was whether or not to have tanks. As originally planned, some tanks would come to Tokyo but not many, mainly due to many tank companies being moved to Hokkaido or farther from Tokyo. Murayama and Kono, the Deputy PM, vetoed tanks as it implied a coup. APCs and IFVs would go to Tokyo along with additional 10,000 troops, mostly from the Eastern Army with units from the Central, Northeastern Armies, and Western Armies. The massive deployment was on top of a large deployment to help in rescue efforts.
At 7:47 PM on the day of the attack, The Prime Minister and the Cabinet of Japan ordered the 1st Airborne Brigade into Tokyo and they arrived by 11 PM. On Sunday, most of the rest of the forces arrived along with additional JSDF forces for rescue efforts. This was the first time a sitting prime minister had ordered Article 78 and Article 79 to be used. By the next day Type 60 Recoilless Rifle anti-tank guns were in the city along with Type 60 and Type 73 APCs, Type 89 IFVs. Type 82 Command Cars, Type 87 Reconnaissance vehicles, and a slew of other vehicles. The capital was patrolled by F-15Js and F-4J jets in the sky and air defense was being brought to the capital just in case.
As the JSDF moved into Tokyo a public figure had to assuage the public that there was a need for calm. No one expected it to be the Emperor.
Official Portrait of Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, Prime Minister from 1993-1995.(Source: Wikipedia)
A Type 73 Jeep like this was mobilized into Tokyo after Article 78 was invoked. (Source: Wikipedia)
The Emperor Speaks
Emperor Akihito speaking to his people about the events of April 15th and the Washington DC bombing of April 19th on April 30th. [The Emperor would be younger but close enough in manner of events] (Source: Imperial Household Agency)
Feeling the blast from the Imperial Palace and witnessing the mangled wreckage of the Home Affairs Ministry microwave mast landing near his residence Emperor Akihito . He and his wife, Empress Mikicho were having tea. They were thinking of the following day playing a few games of tennis, a sport both loved [34], when the explosion shattered windows in the palace. By a miracle neither the emperor or his wife were wounded. He would leave the safety of his palace and stare at the mast. He later would tell people close to him, “Memories came back from 1945, my brother and I were evacuated from Tokyo due to the fire bombing but upon our return the city looked like the moon.”
Akihito also was initially worried, like many in the public that it was a small nuclear bomb. He was worried with such a big blast initially it was a nuclear bomb. However, he realized fast, like most of the public, with various technologies working it was not nuclear. The Emperor and Empress were evacuated from Tokyo. His mother, Empress-Dowager Nagako, was at Fukiage Omiya Palace on the Imperial grounds and despite turning 92 a month prior was having memory issues and difficulty breathing with her advanced age. It was reported later in international press that Nagako was unaware a bombing even happened, likely due to dementia. [35]
But upon arriving in Kyoto, Emperor Akihito saw the damage unfold on television and from reports he got. The Imperial Household Agency had informed him of the total destruction of the Sakurada Gate, the damage to the Three Palace Sanctuaries, numerous trees that were felled by the blast on palace grounds, fires on the palace grounds, the communications antenna from the Tokyo Police Headquarters that was in the moat, concerns on the structural safety of the Seimon Ishibashi Bridge and Nijubashi Bridge, damage to Chowaden Reception Hall, the damage to Akasaka Palace, and the rest of Chiyoda. The damage horrified Akihito who remembered the vast devastation from World War II and was horrified when he and Empress Michiko saw the devastation of Kobe by the earthquake of January 11th. Akihito wanted to do something but was worried if he acted it would undermine the government and get the wrong response in the press. Also legally what could he do? The 1947 constitution had severely curtailed the powers of an Emperor, his father had given up divinity. But his son would come up with the solution.
Crown Prince Naruhito came from Katsura Imperial Villa to the palace, which was 8 kilometers away, to talk with his father. Naruhito had told his father how horrified his wife was as Crown Princess Masako was formerly a diplomat and many of her friends still worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Headquarters. Naruhito insisted his father make a statement about the attack a few days after it occurred. Naruhito wanted his father to make some sort of statement to the public and the bureaucrats at the Imperial Household Agency resisted it. It was unprecedented and the last time an Emperor spoke to his people directly was when Hirohito announced the surrender of Japan over the radio. Some of the bureaucrats worried it would set a dangerous precedent, others were concerned they’d lose power over the Imperial family. [36] But ultimately, the April 19th Attack in America convinced the Emperor to make the message on April 20th.
The message was covered on NHK, Fuji TV, TBS, and pretty much every Japanese broadcaster who could carry it as well as CNN, CSPAN, and other international networks. It was a short address but it was written to give the people hope.
The message began with the Emperor in his summer residence at the Kyoto Imperial Palace, bowing to the camera, “I am deeply saddened by the devastating situation in the areas hit by the April 15th terrorist attacks in Japan. The number of casualties claimed by the attacks continues to rise by the day, and we do not yet know how many people have lost their lives. I am praying that the safety of as many people as possible will be confirmed. My other grave concern now is the serious fear of further attacks by this group and groups inspired by this cult.”
“I must extend my heartfelt condolences to the American service members who died at Yokota Airbase and the victims of the Attack in Washington DC. President Gore has my deepest condolences as do other members of his government. However, I hope despite this tragedy trying to divide our two nations, we must show these groups, our unity and come closer together. Only through an equal and frank partnership and an understanding that despite different cultures we share the same desires to help and protect our peoples from harm. And we must take down blockages to this unification of our goals.” [37]
The message continued on but the speech was positively received by the Japanese Press. Even the Communist newspaper thought it was good, though still opposed to the emperor system. Western press was unsure what to make of the speech but they saw it as rather flat but it inspired his people. But everyone agreed that the
The Emperor invited President Gore to Japan later in the Spring of 1995.President Gore would arrive at the start of May 1995.
Meanwhile the Imperial Family was visiting victims in hospitals and touring Kasumigaseki with Prime Minister Murayama. The support of the Imperial Family bolstered feelings of hope in the Japanese public. And as the US-FBI Investigation began, they had a more supportive public, the cult was rapidly falling apart but even as they did a new wrinkle would begin.
The Knife Attacks
As the joint FBI-NPA investigation hit a snag due to the April 19th attack in America, a series of Knife attacks occurred in Japan in areas mostly outside of Tokyo. These attacks were done by the “monks” of Aum or were diehard believers in Shoko Asahara and believed killing the people they murdered would save them from hell. These people had been fanaticized by Aum and had been brainwashed. And while Aum had used guns most of their weapons had been found or went missing after April 9th. But one thing that any Japanese person could get was a kitchen knife from any 100 yen shop or a better knife for a couple of thousand yen from a department store or cooking supply store. [38]
These attacks were fueled by the dwindling number of fanatics and amphetamines like PCP. These attacks were not an organized affair. Later evidence found that this was done mostly by individual members of the cult or copycats. The first knife attack that kicked the week of knives off was Beppu Tower on April 21st. Hiroshi Tanaka [39], another lower ranking cult member from a poor family, went to the landmark, Beppu Tower, in Beppu, Japan and went on a spree killing over 17 people in the landmark tower before killing himself. Over thirty were injured with cuts and two died in the human crush trying to leave the observation deck.
The next day there were three attacks; two failed, the two that failed were in Tokyo Tower (security guards caught a man acting odd) and an attempted attack near Nara Dreamland in Nara (the man dropped his knife in front of a police officer). The successful attack was on the paddle boat Michigan as it steamed around Lake Biwa in Central Japan. This attack was not linked to Aum but perpetrator Yuji Sahara, a recently fired businessman from Otsu with no connection to the cult, may have been inspired by the cult’s actions. He killed 9 but was charged with the drowning of three people who tried to escape his slashes. He attempted suicide but was saved by a security guard he wounded. Sahara’s whole attack was recorded by BBC, Biwa Broadcasting Company, a local independent broadcast, filming for a pre-recorded segment for their local morning program “Good Morning Biwako!”. The incident's reporting caused much confusion in the British Press. The event did get Biwa Broadcasting Company international recognition. [40]
Then came Bloody Knife Sunday. Numerous knife attacks occurred all over Japan, some of these were done by teenagers. In Nagoya, a Koban [41]had two officers stabbed to death; it remains unsolved. In Osaka, a knife wielding madman went into a Yakuza office and was later found dead floating in Dotonbori Canal, where a picture of the corpse floating in front of the Glico sign was taken. There was an attack on some yakuza Kitakyushu that resulted in a dead yakuza and the attacker dying from his wounds. Plenty of attacks had no fatalities; attacks in Fukuoka, Toyama, Sendai, Aomori, and Sendai had plenty of other attacks that failed due to alert police or citizens. The most famous failed attack was the Tokyo Disneyland Knife attack. While this attack never occurred in the park it happened outside the train station many families that are going to the theme park arrive from. The knife wielder there had gotten his knife from a Hundred Yen shop, the perpetrator in this attack was a homeless man. The Chiba Police had a riot squad ready and the officers swarmed the knife wielding subject. The incident was quickly caught on video tape and was quickly seen on the national and international news. There were no injuries except a cut on one security guard and the beating the homeless man got from the police.[42]
Investigation
The day the bombs went off in Tokyo was when the investigation in the attacks began with the NPA leading the investigation along with the Tokyo Police helping with other aspects of the investigations. The JSDF was also key in the investigation as they found parts of the Kasumigaseki bomb with their explosives detection equipment and the fine eye of American FBI and ATF agents in assistance.
The investigation found many interesting things like a translated version of ‘The Turner Diaries' that were popular with cult leaders. It would probably be a twisted irony that the Neo-Nazi author of the book would have a following of his book in a doomsday cult in Japan were the leader was a fan of Hitler. [43] It had an alternate ending that was Aum Shinrikyo friendly and there was an effort to make an anime from it, but it never got beyond early stages. The investigation was surprised when they detected a radio signal from Russia on April 17th in which a voice which was believed to be Asahara threatening more attacks. That motivated the Russians to act.
The USR Government on April 18th, 1995 revoked the religious protections Aum Shinrikyo had received years earlier. The USR government had only originally planned to revoke the protections but after the April 15th Attacks, they were going to make an example of Aum. In a massive feat of logistics, across all of the USR, Internal Troops, SOBR (Russian SWAT), OMON (Riot Police), and Militsiya raided various Aum facilities in Russia within a two hour period. As an aide of Gorbachev called it, “A Hollywood raid”, with all the troops and drama. Most Russian Aum members had already left the cult and either joined other yoga groups or fell for the slew of post Soviet mysticisms. The radio broadcast from Vladivostok was discovered to have come from Japan. Any Japanese member of the cult was detained and would be sent back to Japan. All information on purchases and other properties were sent to Japanese and Americans.
The Americans and Japanese went to work on high ranking cult members that either turned themselves in or were caught. The current goal was to get Asahara.The one who revealed the secrets was Tomomitsu Niimi, the cult’s Minister of Internal Affairs. While he was loyal he knew he was facing the death penalty, which in Japan is by hanging. Niimi revealed what he knew and told authorities where he last knew Asahara was, they did not find him there but police had information he had been there recently. Niimi revealed the penetration of the Japanese police, military, and other groups by the cult.
One thing the investigation discovered was what happened to the Sakamoto family. Kazuaki Okazaki who left the cult in 1990 had pictures of where the Sakamoto family members were buried. They were unearthed and it was reveal the mystery of how they were murdered, despite it being years later. Okazaki’s trial would begin in 1998 and it would be a major mess. [44]
Though it was through more former cultists that they were informed of hidden rooms at the Kamikuishiki compound. When American FBI technicians and Japanese police officers investigated, they found Asahara alive and well, hidden in a secret room at the Satyan Complex on April 29th, 1995. His arrest put many Japanese people at ease and many Japanese people celebrated his arrest.
The FBI got payback against Asahara as it was confirmed one FBI agent based in Tokyo, Assistant Legal Attaché (ALAT) FBI Agent Gary Samuels [45], was killed in the Kasumigaseki attack. He was identified through his left hand. The FBI had taken two hits with the April 15th Attacks in Tokyo killing one agent and April 19th Attack in Washington DC killing 13 employees. The Bureau had proven it was able to counter terror like this. And when President Gore visited the FBI gave him good news.
The Japanese police needed this arrest as the public were not happy for failures that had not prevented the attacks of March 20th and April 15th. This arrest was a PR win for the Japanese police. Asahara was taken to Shinjuku Station and interrogated from 9 in the morning until midnight and returned to his cell and then they would repeat. Asahara babbled and never admitted anything. It was not needed, he recorded his guilt on a series of audio tapes in the hidden room while he was hidden there for over a month. [46] These tapes were meant for posterity and to show how he became “King of the World.” But The Japanese system prefers a confession, they never got one but they had enough to charge him.
On June 5th, 1995 Shoko Asahara was taken to the Hachioji annex of the Tokyo District Courthouse to be charged for his crimes. He never got to set foot in the courtroom. [47]
[1] Fictional author
[2] Counterpart to our world’s Internet Archive
[3] Miyazawa never became PM here in this world, The attempts to oust Toshiki Kaifu failed
[4] Kono made a pro-China speech in the LDP, it was not popular with the right wing groups in his own party, what different times.
[5] Ah Mori, god you had so many problems. You dined frequently with Yakuzas. Also the gaffed left and right.
[6] Pre POD so it happened, yeah Miki was unpopular as the reformist who followed Tanaka. The Lockheed Scandal happened heavily during his tenure. Also there was protection for a Prime Minister except for local police.
[7] A real weakness of bullet resistant glass and the resistance level for the glass was not rated for an AK-74u.
[8] Takeshita’s and Nakasone’s secretaries are fictional as I could not find evidence of their aides at the time.
[9] Being shot ironically saved Keizo Obuchi from dying from a stroke later on. He will be a leader in the LDP later in the decade.
[10] Tanaka, a man who had been dead since 1993 but his influence on the LDP was still felt. He avoided prison for over a decade due to his declining health despite being guilty of bribery. He was a major player in the LDP presidential election of 1982 which made Nakasone PM. Ozawa was an understudy of Tanaka. Even if Tanaka was a crook he exuded power.
[11] Ikeda was a target of the cult in OTL several times. Here he was unlucky as for Security guards, only police can legally carry guns for security. Killing Ikeda serves a purpose for the story later on, spoilers.
[12] Can’t see why this wouldn’t happen. Also a good picture.
[13] Asahara operate an illegal pharmacy in Chiba, a spot the Inagawa had a lot of influence in and you don’t operate an illegal pharmacy without paying a “tax”.
[14] Yukio Aoshima, a comedian who turned to politics. He ran for governor and as governor Aum tried to kill him with a parcel bomb.He ran on a platform of canceling the costly The World City Exposition in Odaiba. He was not the only comedian elected in 1995 Japanese local elections “Knock” Yokoyama won his election in Osaka.
[15] Ryuho Okawa, a stock broker turned cult leader (no I am not making it up), is amazingly lucky in our world and the world of the Hensonverse. Asahara HATED him. The shooting here proves that the guns they got from Russia aren’t all good.
[16] The police here figure that the busiest station in Japan is a major cult target. And while it was hit before hitting Kasumigaseki again seemed unlikely to the police.
[17]
[19] I wonder what book it is? Hmmm….
[20] Guess what he wanted to rule the world. Asahara had been reported saying such since his childhood.
[21] Where is he? Call our tip line!
[22] The loss of the PSEC is major. They were called in for a special session. Only one member survived due to an unrelated fender bender.
[23] Hibiya Hall, where Socialist Party Leader Inejiro Asanuma was killed during a televised debate by Otoya Yamaguchi (17) on October 12th, 1960. A picture of his stabbing won a Pulitzer. Yamaguchi killed himself November 2nd, 1960 His suicide is celebrated by right wing every year in Hibiya Hall.
[24] Umesaka and Nishikawa are fictional they are used as eyewitnesses
[25] Built in 1993 for the new Emperor so he didn’t have to live in his father’s palace. Also the Empress and the Emperor’s mother hated one another (the empress dowager was very cruel to Empress Michiko)
[26] Kentaro Miyake is fictional as are the airmen mentioned.
[27] It is a car bomb version of an IRA pipe bomb. The means of detonation was via a pistol shot like how Timothy McVeigh had as a backup for OKC in our universe.
[28] Myers who in OTL was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs from 2001 to 2005 was the commander of US Forces Japan from 1993 to 1996. Mondale was the OTL Ambassador to Japan and after talking to JPJ we saw little reason to change it.
[29] FBI is usually the lead on these sorts of things while the United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations will lead the military investigation the FBI takes lead since they are usually the point agency on most attacks against US military facilities in peacetime. The CIA will also be involved in the investigation as will Japanese authorities.
[30] Fictional but needed a witness.
[31] These are under the Self Defense Law Chapter 6 outlining mobilization and use of force.
[32] Sadly a real event that a century on Japan is still dealing with. Right wing groups will both celebrate and deny the massacre, while only recently has the Japanese government acknowledged it, they’re still quiet. Akira Kurosawa saw the whole thing happen when he was a boy. Soldiers, police, and angry mobs killed Koreans, Chinese, Ryukens (Okinawa natives), Socialists, leftists, reporters, and anyone they did not like. This was like the Tulsa Massacre on steroids.
[33] The Sanrizuka Struggle was about building the Narita International Airport and the government taking land from locals without telling them about the plan until they announced it. Riots, violence, and protests would last from 1968 to the 1980s.
[35] It has never been confirmed but the rumors of dementia in Empress Nagako, called Kojun posthumously. Nagako hated her daughter-in-law because she was a commoner despite being from a wealthy family.
[36] The Imperial Household Agency is a lot of palace intrigue and bullying people who want to change things. They bullied Crown Princess/Empress Masako.Typical issues in Japanese bureaucracy.
[37] The speech is inspired by Emperor Akihito’s speech on the 3/11 Tohoku Earthquake, Tsunami, and the Fukushima Reactor disaster. The speech here is different with the equal and frank partnership bit. Also lacking any mention of a nuclear power plant as none were attacked.
[38] The above is more inspired by problems in 2000s-2010s Japan had with stabbings.
[39] All attackers in this section are fictional
[40] The paddle boat and Biwa Broadcasting are real. Biwa Broadcasting does get more business thanks to the attack as the Lake Biwa area is beautiful.
[41] Police box. Often officers in Kobans are bored to tears. When they aren’t ignoring sexual assault and domestic abuse. (Oops my partiality came through)
[42] Some of the knife attacks were by Aum members; many others were copycat attacks. The Tokyo Disneyland Attack was heavily recorded because many families had camcorders with. As stated above, the knife wielding man did not get into the park.
[43] AJM8888 here, I know I have stated it several times but Asahara was a fan of Hitler. A Man Hitler’s Germany would have likely killed due to his blindness.
[44] Much like OTL Aum Shinrikyo trials, our world trials will be a mess.
[45] Fictional
[46] Hostage justice system and they won’t stop until you confess you are guilty. Japan has it be guilty until proven innocent is the unofficial version.
[47] Cliffhanger
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A block concept for Nickelodeon's Neptune Network:
Logo done by ExowareMasses
N-Gage is a teen/adult-targeted block that airs on the Neptune channel.
The channel aims at a 12-24 demographic and is a lot like the old Locomotion channel from Latin America.
It airs adult animation as well as music, gaming content and other stuff that would be cool for a animation station.
Thoughts anyone?
Logo done by ExowareMasses
N-Gage is a teen/adult-targeted block that airs on the Neptune channel.
The channel aims at a 12-24 demographic and is a lot like the old Locomotion channel from Latin America.
It airs adult animation as well as music, gaming content and other stuff that would be cool for a animation station.
Thoughts anyone?
Except it's NOT Toonami, it's their equivalent to Adult Swim, except more cooler and targeted towards teenagers and young adults.
And it airs more than just anime.
How do you think of my N-Gage concept Geekhis Khan?
I came up with some comics divisions for Nickelodeon.
Splat Comics
Founded in 1996, family-friendly comics label for Nickelodeon/DC/Time Warner/whatever
N Comics
Founded in 1998, produces comics based on N-Gage properties (and original stuff of same caliber)
Notes:
1. Splat Comics uses the Litebulb font in its logo, just like the feature animation division of Nick Movies, Splat Animation (being the only two divisions of Nick ITTL to do so)
(as seen here)
2. The N stands for N-Gage. Get your mind out of the gutter.
Any thoughts?
Splat Comics
Founded in 1996, family-friendly comics label for Nickelodeon/DC/Time Warner/whatever
N Comics
Founded in 1998, produces comics based on N-Gage properties (and original stuff of same caliber)
Notes:
1. Splat Comics uses the Litebulb font in its logo, just like the feature animation division of Nick Movies, Splat Animation (being the only two divisions of Nick ITTL to do so)
(as seen here)
2. The N stands for N-Gage. Get your mind out of the gutter.
Any thoughts?