:00:33. > :00:39.Hello and welcome to this special edition of Witness with me, Mariko
:00:40. > :00:43.Oi. I'm here in Tokyo to introduce you to five people who've
:00:44. > :00:47.experienced extraordinary moments in Japanese history first-hand. We'll
:00:48. > :00:54.meet a doctor who treated thousands of the injured at Hiroshima. Two
:00:55. > :01:00.brothers who were among the first to learn the Suzuki method of playing
:01:01. > :01:06.the violin. And a cameraman who captured Japan's royal wedding in
:01:07. > :01:11.the nineteen fifties. But first, in 1995, this city's busy subway system
:01:12. > :01:16.was brought to a standstill when the deadly nerve gas sarin was released
:01:17. > :01:31.at this station behind me. It later transpired it had been released in
:01:32. > :01:34.five locations across the network by the cult.
:01:35. > :01:39.At the height of the morning rush-hour in the world's most
:01:40. > :01:43.crowded underground system, the madness of indiscriminate murder.
:01:44. > :01:50.More than 3000 subway passengers were affected.
:01:51. > :01:56.TRANSLATION: At 8:12am I was told there was a suspicious object on the
:01:57. > :02:01.train which had just arrived, so I went up to the platform upstairs and
:02:02. > :02:06.I saw a train stopped right there. Several people had been seen
:02:07. > :02:11.plotting packages at stations and on a number of trains. I saw a package
:02:12. > :02:17.wrapped in newspaper, it was leaking, said this man, then the
:02:18. > :02:20.stinging fumes hit my eyes. TRANSLATION: My colleague was
:02:21. > :02:26.communicating with headquarters from the driver's cab. Another colleague,
:02:27. > :02:33.Mr Takahashi, was wiping the platform with newspaper. I saw a
:02:34. > :02:39.trail of spots. It looked like oil spilt as it had been carried out of
:02:40. > :02:43.the train onto the platform. I put the crumpled newspapers which had
:02:44. > :02:49.been used to wipe the floor in a plastic bag. The three of us put all
:02:50. > :02:52.the newspapers in the bag. I was worried that these things might
:02:53. > :03:02.explode so I took the bag downstairs to the office. Then I heard Mr
:03:03. > :03:06.Takahashi had collapsed. The unseen chemicals striking people
:03:07. > :03:12.down in a matter of seconds. They tripped and vomited, some were
:03:13. > :03:17.blinded and paralysed. One of the first confirmation is that a deadly
:03:18. > :03:21.nerve gas had caused the poisoning was given by this Doctor. It is
:03:22. > :03:28.sarin, he said, it is one of the worst of all poisons. TRANSLATION:
:03:29. > :03:32.by then my body had started shivering. I tried to make a report
:03:33. > :03:38.about the A12 a.m. Train but my hand was shaking and I couldn't even
:03:39. > :03:43.write eight -- 8:12am. So I took of my cap and uniform and washed my
:03:44. > :03:50.face. I guess I was trying to pull myself together. Then I collapsed.
:03:51. > :03:56.When I woke up I was in hospital. My staff were there. Because I knew Mr
:03:57. > :04:02.Takahashi had collapsed, I was wondering how he was doing. I wanted
:04:03. > :04:06.to ask but I had to sit in my mouth, so I got a pen and paper and wrote
:04:07. > :04:18.his name. One of the staff made a sign like this. Then I wrote Mr He
:04:19. > :04:28.Zi Numa's name. The worker made the same sign. Out of the three of us
:04:29. > :04:31.only I have survived. My colleagues told me after I collapsed they
:04:32. > :04:37.carried me upstairs together and they evacuated all of the passengers
:04:38. > :04:42.from Kasumigaseki Station. There were no passengers killed at that
:04:43. > :04:47.station. The leader of a Japanese cult has
:04:48. > :04:52.been sentenced to death for masterminding a gas attack in Tokyo
:04:53. > :05:01.nine years ago. He ordered the release of sarin into the
:05:02. > :05:08.underground system. TRANSLATION: The pain never stops coming after me
:05:09. > :05:17.because two of my subordinates died and me, the supervisor, survived. I
:05:18. > :05:24.wish I'd known about salary and how to deal with it. I could have made
:05:25. > :05:27.them washed their hands and faces. I feel I simply wasn't good enough as
:05:28. > :05:40.the person in charge. Speaking to us from his home in
:05:41. > :05:47.Tokyo. And next, in the post-war era, this musician developed a new
:05:48. > :05:55.method of teaching the violin. The system would later catch on around
:05:56. > :06:04.the world. The brothers were two of his first students.
:06:05. > :06:12.I started the violin at the age of ten. I'm one of the first teachers
:06:13. > :06:19.of the Suzuki method. I studied at the age of four. My brother was
:06:20. > :06:37.already listening to my practice. The idea here is that from the age
:06:38. > :06:42.of three, Japanese children can be taught to play simple tunes by ear.
:06:43. > :06:46.As the Japanese teacher Suzuki says himself, they learn to speak with
:06:47. > :09:52.the violin at the same time as they learn to speak their mother tongue.
:09:53. > :10:01.Hideya and Toshiya there, still playing the violin 50 years later.
:10:02. > :10:05.In 1956 reports came to urge about what became known as Japan's worst
:10:06. > :10:12.case of industrial pollution in the town. These two were among those
:10:13. > :10:23.devastated by the disaster. TRANSLATION: I can't tell you just
:10:24. > :10:31.how much I hate a chemical factory. The corporation devastated the ocean
:10:32. > :10:33.and our people. I just hate it. People used to say that life in the
:10:34. > :10:46.town was wonderful. The corporation was the only company
:10:47. > :10:49.in the town. We are still frightened by the awfulness of the mercury that
:10:50. > :10:57.was leaked from the factory. It poisoned the fish and then people
:10:58. > :11:01.who ate the seafood got disease. There had been no poisoning before a
:11:02. > :11:11.chemical factory was built in the Bay. But the company denied all
:11:12. > :11:24.responsibility and continued to pump its waste into the sea. TRANSLATION:
:11:25. > :11:30.People went blind and danced round and round like crazy. Soon it was
:11:31. > :11:39.clear that people were suffering as well.
:11:40. > :11:41.TRANSLATION: She was my first daughter.
:11:42. > :11:47.She couldn't eat fish well because she was only three years old, but
:11:48. > :11:53.she could eat prawns by herself, so I let her eat a lot of prawns. We
:11:54. > :12:00.thought something might be wrong with her. We thought she might have
:12:01. > :12:07.the disease when her hand started shaking. I realised she had the
:12:08. > :12:12.disease. She became unable to walk properly, unable to speak.
:12:13. > :12:19.Doctors from the local university filmed the shaking fits. They
:12:20. > :12:24.suspected metal poisoning. TRANSLATION: When I visited her in
:12:25. > :12:32.hospital she had lost her sight, but she could still hear. I said to her,
:12:33. > :12:38.your mum is here, you don't have to cry any more.
:12:39. > :12:43.She gave me a sweet smile. It was her last smile. On January the third
:12:44. > :13:07.of 1958, she died. By 1958 win you it was caused by the
:13:08. > :13:18.company, by waste water pumped into the bay by the factory. They tried
:13:19. > :13:22.to hide it. My second child is Shinovu. She contracted the disease
:13:23. > :13:28.in the room. I didn't think it was possible. But three months after she
:13:29. > :13:45.was born I noticed something was wrong with her. Shinobu is now 59
:13:46. > :13:47.years old. In 1959, the corporation offered some consolation money.
:13:48. > :13:48.Human life cannot be