“Victims have gradually come to terms with their mental and physical problems,” group head Shinsuke Kimura, 80, said last week. “We decided to disband at the 30-year milestone.”

The Tokyo subway attack occurred on the morning of March 20, 1995, when sarin gas was released in train cars heading in five directions on three subway lines.

The Recovery Support Center was established in March 2002 to improve medical examinations for victims and research the impact of sarin on people’s health. Volunteer doctors had been providing checkups since 1996, but the center was created as many victims complained of problems with their eyes even five years after the examinations began.

“The symptoms of sarin poisoning were believed to be temporary but were actually persistent,” Kimura said. “There needed to be a system to check on victims over the long term.”

Neuro-ophthalmologists and psychiatrists came together to create the group. Kimura, who had been supporting people related to the lawyer and his family killed in Aum Shinrikyo’s 1989 attack, assumed the center’s leadership.

The center provided annual checkups, including eye examinations and counseling, as well as seminars on aromatherapy and acupressure massages. It also created spaces for victims to socialize.