Why she can keep her heart burning [with video] December 24 15:55

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It was too sudden a breakup for her. The "Subway Salin Case", where citizens were targeted indiscriminately. The station worker's husband wiped out the deadly sarin for passengers and exhausted. His wife, Shizuo Takahashi, continues to speak on behalf of victims and bereaved families, even now, 25 years after the incident. For husband who can never meet again. And to prevent a similar tragedy. I wrote this article because I wanted to convey her wish. (Yasuyo Mabuchi, Social Affairs Reporter)

“I wanted to say thank you.”

March 20, 1995. Shizu Takahashi was in a private room of a hospital, close to Kasumigaseki Subway Station. I don't remember how I got through the hospital corridor crowded with many injured people and opened the doors of the hospital room.

When I realized, I was standing in front of a white curtain. Opening the curtains and jumping into my eyes, I saw the eldest son sitting on the left sofa. On the other side is a bed.

Shiz ヱ turned up a terrible towel blanket. Lying was a familiar man in uniform. It was my husband Kazumasa Takahashi (then 50).

No matter how cold she struck her face or touched her limbs, Kazuma, who was cold, did not open her eyes again.

Shiz ヱ had a sworn heart for a long time. When one of them dies, be sure to tell your husband "Thank you. I was happy." I can no longer fulfill that oath.

When I left the hospital, the sky was lush. Mr. Shiz ヱ still can not forget the scene of walking to the police where her husband's autopsy is performed.

People who travel as usual, as if there were no incidents. For some reason at this time, everyone was walking towards this side, and the only one walking in the opposite direction was a mysterious feeling as if they were in a different world.

Calm and happy days

His husband Kazumasa was called “Isho-san” by his colleagues at the station. Everyone was longing for her softness.

Mr. Shiz ヱ, two, was married because their parents knew each other.

It was his first impression that Mr. Shiz ヱ saw a cute smile. Immediately after giving birth to a child, a marriage began in Kitasenju, where Kazumasa's home is located, while being hunted for raising children.

Still, on the first day of the shift, they made lunch and ate on the riverbed of Arakawa, cycling along the endless banks, and valued their time. It was a calm and happy day, like a spring day.

Even if opinions differed, Kazumasa warmly embraced Shiz ヱ -san.

When we talk, things go in the right direction. Kazumasa was such a husband.

5 days ago, thanks to my father

In the spring of 1995, when the incident occurred, the two decided to go on a trip to Hokkaido in May, the anniversary of their wedding. In the year when the youngest graduated from high school, child-raising was settled down and the couple's life should begin.

March 15th. Shiz ヱ was calling his father who had reached his birthday. While talking, the topic is Kazuma-san.

Shiz ヱ said, "I'm very happy to marry my dad. I'm really happy that my dad recommended marriage."

I usually don't talk about that, but for some reason I wanted to convey my feelings. I never imagined that the loved one would be killed five days later.

Husband for passengers

March 20. Kazumasa, who was on duty, was on the Chiyoda Line platform and was guiding passengers during the rush hour. It was the usual morning. Until the train arrives.

After 8:00 am, a passenger told me that there was something suspicious in the leading car. On the floor of the vehicle was an unfamiliar envelope, with liquid seeping out and spreading around.

Immediately, Kazuma removed the package from the car, took the newspaper out of the trash, and, just while stopped, began wiping suspicious liquid spilling on the floor.

At this time, the inside of the car was obviously unusual, with passengers crawling around and holding his mouth with handkerchiefs. Perhaps Kazuma-san was feeling something dangerous.

Still, he managed to wipe out the liquid in the car in an attempt to manage the situation where the passengers were uncomfortable. Then he suddenly lost his consciousness and collapsed on the spot when he walked to get newspapers to wipe the liquid that had spilled onto his home. It was poisoned by liquid spilled on the floor and deadly sarin.

My colleague called for an ambulance but did not arrive easily. Aum Shinrikyo, the religious group that caused the incident, wore sarin not only on the Chiyoda Line, but also on the Marunouchi and Hibiya lines. The subway was flooded with people complaining of sarin poisoning and was in great confusion.

Kazumasa, who was brought to the ground, was taken to a hospital by a nearby news car, but had no help yet. Thirteen people have died, including Kazumasa and one of his colleagues. Approximately 6,300 people were affected, unprecedented violence.

“Thanks to Takahashi-san”

For Shizu-san, Kazama-san was like a big tree who could never fall down if he leaned.

After his death, Shiz ヱ had to deal with funerals and interviews, listen to trials, and do everything alone.

It was such a day when tears overflowed with thought of Kazuma-san when he realized that he was trying to do something. Kazumasa no longer exists. Shiz ヱ was about to be crushed by the sense of loss that the bottom could not be seen.

However, shortly after the incident, there was something that inspired Shiz ヱ -san. It is a series of letters coming from strangers. The sender was the people and their families on the subway on the day of the incident.

The letter spelled thanks to Kazumasa-san for disposing of the sarin.

"Thanks to Mr. Takahashi, I did not suffer any damage."
"If Takahashi did not remove the package, I would have died."

That day, on the Chiyoda Line, passengers were not sacrificed. The idea that not only her husband was killed but that she saved many in exchange for her life encouraged and encouraged Shiz ヱ, who was sad.

"Continuing to cry is contrary to those who have told her husband to save her life. I have to stop crying. Let's live in a way that suits her behavior."

At that time, Mr. Shiz ヱ was asked by a victim of the Sarin subway incident and a lawyer of a bereaved family to take on the representative caretaker of the "Victims' Association".

For Shiz ヱ, who was not good at socializing, it was a surprising decision.

“Strong woman”

Shiz ヱ began to speak out at the forefront of victims and bereaved families, calling for tighter regulation of Aum Shinrikyo's successor groups.

In addition, it has appealed to the need for public support for victims and bereaved families, including special legislation to secure reparations from the cult, and has achieved this.

The appearance of expressing their opinions at meetings and press conferences without hesitation is a symbol of activities to protect the rights of crime victims, and I think it has left many people's impressions.

Mr. Shizu was always asked, "Why are you so strong?"

Around you, you may have seen that "anger" or "hate" to the assailant was the driving force.

But a few years ago, I became a judiciary, and since I began to listen to Mr. Shiz ヱ more and more, I gradually came to know her true form.

Neither "anger" nor "hate"

Once, there was only one person who noticed Shizu's true feelings.

July 2005. Shiz ヱ attended a meeting held in Hokkaido to support crime victims and gave a lecture. After finishing, I was suddenly handed a letter from a psychiatrist in my mid 70s, who had little acquaintance. What was written with technical terms was an analysis of the psychology of Mr. Shizu, who was listening to the lecture.

"(Abbreviation) Why has the heart been burned so far? It is an act that originates in love for the master, and that is directly" prayed "and reaches the master. I thought it was a dialogue (Dear Logos = sharing the meaning of living).

In this talk, Shiz ヱ talks very little about Kazumasa. Nevertheless, the veteran psychiatrist seemed to have a clear sense of her husband's expression in words.

I want to do something that my husband who has protected my passengers at the expense of my life can be recognized. If you work hard and show what your husband thinks and supports if you are alive, your husband will surely watch over somewhere. I can do my best because I want you to watch.

There was a non-verbal “dialogue” in Shiz ヱ 's heart that only two people could understand.

That's why Shiz ヱ has been "burning his heart" for over 20 years.

Shizu still keeps this letter in a safe place. This is the first time that I have been able to understand my heart so accurately.

If you think back, whenever Shizu faced any difficulties with his past activities, a person who would always help would appear. And at some point things were going well. To Shiz ヱ, Kazumasa seemed to meet the people I needed.

We don't exchange specific words, but continuing to work is an irreplaceable time to feel close to Kazama.

The cult still

Last year, 13 people, including Aum Shinrikyo executives, were executed, and the series of events marked a major break. In March next year, it will be 25 years since the subway Sarin incident. But what she is concerned about is the recent movement of the cult.

The successor group, Aleph, has been active mainly in bases such as Sapporo and Tokyo, and the number of followers does not seem to decrease, acquiring new followers, mainly the young generation.

The subway sarin incident is a past event. To those who think so, especially the young people, Shizu is eager to get their situation understood. The same tragedy is not repeated.

If a loved one is killed and suddenly disappears. How are you.

Subway sarin case On March 20, 1995, a terrorist case in which highly poisonous sarin was sown on Tokyo subway vehicles used by many commuters. The Chiyoda Line, Marunouchi Line, and Hibiya Line were targeted, killing 13 people in total and about 6,300 victims. It was Aum Shinrikyo, who was increasing the number of young believers at the time. Amid a series of troubles related to leaving home, police were approaching the investigation, and under the direction of guru Akiaki Asahara and real name Tomoo Matsumoto, a former death row prisoner, a sarin created by a believer with expertise in chemistry was used for the crime. . The aftermath of Salin still afflicts victims.

Reported by Social Affairs Department Yasuyo Mabuchi Joined in 2005 Joined Takamatsu Bureau, Kobe Bureau and Metropolitan Broadcasting Center