March 20 marks the 30th anniversary of the 地下鉄サリン事件 (chikatetsu sarin jiken, subway sarin gas incident) in Tokyo, a terrorist attack that resulted in 14人の死亡者 (jūyonin no shibō-sha, 14 fatalities) and 約6,300人の負傷者 (yaku rokusen sanbyaku nin no fushō-sha, around 6,300 injured people) across 地下鉄3路線の5車両 (chikatetsu san rosen no go sharyō, five train carriages on three subway lines).
Thinking back on the sarin attack may cause some of us to reflect on how random acts of violence might affect us or the ones we love, as it happened during the victims’ morning 通勤経路 (tsūkin keiro, commuting route). In other words, a 通い慣れた道 (kayoi-nareta michi, familiar route) where they may not have had reason to fear a 事件 (jiken, incident/attack) or 事故 (jiko, accident).
The 通勤経路 is a part of millions of Tokyoites lives every day. The first kanji of 通勤 (tsūkin, commute) is used in the verb 通う (kayou, to go back and forth between), which suggests regular visits to a place for a specific purpose 毎朝会社に通う (maiasa kaisha ni kayou, [I] commute to the office every morning). The verb pops up in the term 病院通い (byōin-gayoi, hospital visits) and 通い婚 (kayoikon), a situation where a married couple lives apart but regularly visits each other.
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