/ Yoshiyuki Kono.

(From Asahi Shimbun)

We have no right to banish ex-Aum followers While the voice of the people may not have the force of the law in an official sense, it can actually be more powerful. It is beyond description how my family and I suffered at the words of neighbors who told us to leave town. I feel sad that society has not learned the lessons of the Matsumoto tragedy. The sarin gas attack in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, in June 1994 left my wife in a coma. Her heart and lungs stopped when she inhaled the poisonous gas, and she had to be admitted to an institution providing round-the-clock care

Although she survived the attack, she twice fell into critical condition. But she made it both times, and this year she was able to spend the …