Japan Witness


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Hello and welcome to this special edition of Witness with me, Mariko

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Oi. I'm here in Tokyo to introduce you to five people who've

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experienced extraordinary moments in Japanese history first-hand. We'll

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meet a doctor who treated thousands of the injured at Hiroshima. Two

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brothers who were among the first to learn the Suzuki method of playing

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the violin. And a cameraman who captured Japan's royal wedding in

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the nineteen fifties. But first, in 1995, this city's busy subway system

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was brought to a standstill when the deadly nerve gas sarin was released

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at this station behind me. It later transpired it had been released in

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five locations across the network by the cult.

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At the height of the morning rush-hour in the world's most

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crowded underground system, the madness of indiscriminate murder.

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More than 3000 subway passengers were affected.

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TRANSLATION: At 8:12am I was told there was a suspicious object on the

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train which had just arrived, so I went up to the platform upstairs and

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I saw a train stopped right there. Several people had been seen

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plotting packages at stations and on a number of trains. I saw a package

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wrapped in newspaper, it was leaking, said this man, then the

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stinging fumes hit my eyes. TRANSLATION: My colleague was

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communicating with headquarters from the driver's cab. Another colleague,

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Mr Takahashi, was wiping the platform with newspaper. I saw a

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trail of spots. It looked like oil spilt as it had been carried out of

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the train onto the platform. I put the crumpled newspapers which had

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been used to wipe the floor in a plastic bag. The three of us put all

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the newspapers in the bag. I was worried that these things might

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explode so I took the bag downstairs to the office. Then I heard Mr

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Takahashi had collapsed. The unseen chemicals striking people

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down in a matter of seconds. They tripped and vomited, some were

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blinded and paralysed. One of the first confirmation is that a deadly

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nerve gas had caused the poisoning was given by this Doctor. It is

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sarin, he said, it is one of the worst of all poisons. TRANSLATION:

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by then my body had started shivering. I tried to make a report

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about the A12 a.m. Train but my hand was shaking and I couldn't even

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write eight -- 8:12am. So I took of my cap and uniform and washed my

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face. I guess I was trying to pull myself together. Then I collapsed.

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When I woke up I was in hospital. My staff were there. Because I knew Mr

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Takahashi had collapsed, I was wondering how he was doing. I wanted

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to ask but I had to sit in my mouth, so I got a pen and paper and wrote

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his name. One of the staff made a sign like this. Then I wrote Mr He

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Zi Numa's name. The worker made the same sign. Out of the three of us

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only I have survived. My colleagues told me after I collapsed they

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carried me upstairs together and they evacuated all of the passengers

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from Kasumigaseki Station. There were no passengers killed at that

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station. The leader of a Japanese cult has

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been sentenced to death for masterminding a gas attack in Tokyo

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nine years ago. He ordered the release of sarin into the

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underground system. TRANSLATION: The pain never stops coming after me

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because two of my subordinates died and me, the supervisor, survived. I

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wish I'd known about salary and how to deal with it. I could have made

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them washed their hands and faces. I feel I simply wasn't good enough as

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the person in charge. Speaking to us from his home in

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Tokyo. And next, in the post-war era, this musician developed a new

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method of teaching the violin. The system would later catch on around

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the world. The brothers were two of his first students.

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I started the violin at the age of ten. I'm one of the first teachers

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of the Suzuki method. I studied at the age of four. My brother was

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already listening to my practice. The idea here is that from the age

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of three, Japanese children can be taught to play simple tunes by ear.

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As the Japanese teacher Suzuki says himself, they learn to speak with

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the violin at the same time as they learn to speak their mother tongue.

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Hideya and Toshiya there, still playing the violin 50 years later.

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In 1956 reports came to urge about what became known as Japan's worst

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case of industrial pollution in the town. These two were among those

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devastated by the disaster. TRANSLATION: I can't tell you just

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how much I hate a chemical factory. The corporation devastated the ocean

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and our people. I just hate it. People used to say that life in the

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town was wonderful. The corporation was the only company

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in the town. We are still frightened by the awfulness of the mercury that

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was leaked from the factory. It poisoned the fish and then people

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who ate the seafood got disease. There had been no poisoning before a

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chemical factory was built in the Bay. But the company denied all

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responsibility and continued to pump its waste into the sea. TRANSLATION:

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People went blind and danced round and round like crazy. Soon it was

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clear that people were suffering as well.

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TRANSLATION: She was my first daughter.

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She couldn't eat fish well because she was only three years old, but

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she could eat prawns by herself, so I let her eat a lot of prawns. We

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thought something might be wrong with her. We thought she might have

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the disease when her hand started shaking. I realised she had the

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disease. She became unable to walk properly, unable to speak.

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Doctors from the local university filmed the shaking fits. They

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suspected metal poisoning. TRANSLATION: When I visited her in

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hospital she had lost her sight, but she could still hear. I said to her,

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your mum is here, you don't have to cry any more.

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She gave me a sweet smile. It was her last smile. On January the third

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of 1958, she died. By 1958 win you it was caused by the

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company, by waste water pumped into the bay by the factory. They tried

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to hide it. My second child is Shinovu. She contracted the disease

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in the room. I didn't think it was possible. But three months after she

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was born I noticed something was wrong with her. Shinobu is now 59

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years old. In 1959, the corporation offered some consolation money.

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Human life cannot be

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