A table for flower offerings was set up Wednesday in a park in the city of Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, ahead of the 30th anniversary on Thursday of a sarin nerve gas attack by the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult.
The park was once the site of a company dormitory where one of the victims of the sarin attack lived.
Such an altar was prepared by two local neighborhood associations for the first time since the incident, which occurred late on June 27, 1994, killing eight residents and injuring more than 140. The altar will remain until Friday evening.