This is the book which compiles a series of interviews that Murakami conducted with those affected by the Tokyo subway sarin release by the Aum cult in 1995, along with some reflections of his own about the event and what it suggests about the Japanese psyche.
The first part is made up of the testimonies of victims of the attack, along with those of two of the doctors who were involved, with the part divided into sections according to the different train lines on which sarin was released, each section introduced by a brief description of the two Aum members who released the sarin on that line - for these, Murakami keeps very much in the background, leaving the interviewees to speak for themselves and recording very few, if any, of the questions that he posed during the interviews. It's striking how similar many of the accounts are, from the daily routines revealed in them to the responses to the attack; although their recollections of the details vary, the broad outlines are very consistently recounted, including the relative ineffectuality of the emergency response system (at least at an overall coordinated level), and an interesting snapshot of Japanese life emerges. That part ends with a short essay by Murakami entitled 'Blind Nightmare: Where Are We Japanese Going?', reflecting on the experience of conducting the interviews and on the attack and aftermath themselves.
I found the second part even more interesting. It contains Murakami's interviews with a number of current and former cult members, and the stories of how they came to join Aum are a fascinating window into the problems faced by the disaffected and misfits in Japanese society, including some who outwardly appear to be completely contented and successful; Murakami himself reflects on this in the preface and afterword to the part. It comes through very clearly that, while those interviewed disavowed or condemned the attacks, nearly all still hold to the underlying tenets of the cult (and its Buddhist underpinnings) and regard them as valuable; one thread running through the entire book, which Murakami makes quite explicit, pertains to the absence or lack in contemporary Japanese society which can give rise to such a space or need in people, and the possibility of any number of recurrences in the future.
