The attacks happened on the same train I had always taken to work heading to Roppongi.
Changing trains at the Tozai Line’s Kayabacho Station for the Hibiya Line, I got on the third car from the front. It only takes 51 seconds to Hatchobori, the next station. In that short time, the air got somewhat heavy, and people moved from the front to the back of the car. The person next to me started coughing.
Maybe out of a sense that something was happening, I moved to the back of the second car from the front of the train at Hatchobori Station.
I can clearly remember the extraordinary spectacle I saw when moving from the third to the second car even now. There was liquid covering the floor in the middle of the third car, and someone sitting down having a seizure. There was also a man with torn open clothes who was seizing while releasing liquid leaning on a pole.
At Tsukiji Station, there was an announcement in the car that said there were sick people. When I looked again at the third car, sick passengers were being carried to the platform. Station staff called for stretchers and they were brought, but even the passengers carrying out the sick were falling down one after another. Station staff then called out for an emergency evacuation, and passengers escaped all at once from the ticket gates to the surface. The exit was right in front of Tsukiji Honganji Temple, and it was a very strange scene, with people even there having seizures while still standing.
I had no idea what was happening. When I reached the surface, I happened to come across my boss at my company who was riding in the first car of the same train, and we got in a taxi to work. But even in the taxi, it was hard to breathe and I opened the window. I could hear the sirens of fire engines and ambulances from all around. Even after we arrived at our company, information about the bomb or whatever had happened was still not clear.
Gradually my eyes started to hurt, my vision became dark and my nose kept running. My colleagues arranged for me to go to The Jikei University Hospital, but the hospital was like a field hospital. I waited in a long line to be examined. Although the doctor explained that my eye pain and darkened vision might be due to chemical agents, I did not receive any therapeutic treatment. After that, I went to the hospital for half a year.
I still have eye pain even now. For half a year after the attacks, I was plagued by PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and was afraid to get on the subway. Now, I think I have overcome the PTSD, but I am still anxious every day because I hear that flashbacks will occur. I also have made it a habit to check which train cars are closest to the exits of the station I am headed for.
I had participated in the activities of the Tokyo Subway Sarin Incident Victims' Association” since then, and continue to speak about the attacks to this day.
Changing trains at the Tozai Line’s Kayabacho Station for the Hibiya Line, I got on the third car from the front. It only takes 51 seconds to Hatchobori, the next station. In that short time, the air got somewhat heavy, and people moved from the front to the back of the car. The person next to me started coughing.
Maybe out of a sense that something was happening, I moved to the back of the second car from the front of the train at Hatchobori Station.
I can clearly remember the extraordinary spectacle I saw when moving from the third to the second car even now. There was liquid covering the floor in the middle of the third car, and someone sitting down having a seizure. There was also a man with torn open clothes who was seizing while releasing liquid leaning on a pole.
At Tsukiji Station, there was an announcement in the car that said there were sick people. When I looked again at the third car, sick passengers were being carried to the platform. Station staff called for stretchers and they were brought, but even the passengers carrying out the sick were falling down one after another. Station staff then called out for an emergency evacuation, and passengers escaped all at once from the ticket gates to the surface. The exit was right in front of Tsukiji Honganji Temple, and it was a very strange scene, with people even there having seizures while still standing.
I had no idea what was happening. When I reached the surface, I happened to come across my boss at my company who was riding in the first car of the same train, and we got in a taxi to work. But even in the taxi, it was hard to breathe and I opened the window. I could hear the sirens of fire engines and ambulances from all around. Even after we arrived at our company, information about the bomb or whatever had happened was still not clear.
Gradually my eyes started to hurt, my vision became dark and my nose kept running. My colleagues arranged for me to go to The Jikei University Hospital, but the hospital was like a field hospital. I waited in a long line to be examined. Although the doctor explained that my eye pain and darkened vision might be due to chemical agents, I did not receive any therapeutic treatment. After that, I went to the hospital for half a year.
I still have eye pain even now. For half a year after the attacks, I was plagued by PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and was afraid to get on the subway. Now, I think I have overcome the PTSD, but I am still anxious every day because I hear that flashbacks will occur. I also have made it a habit to check which train cars are closest to the exits of the station I am headed for.
I had participated in the activities of the Tokyo Subway Sarin Incident Victims' Association” since then, and continue to speak about the attacks to this day.
(December 21, 2017)
（別ウィンドウで開きます）
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