A fearful cheer.

AFTER 257 HEARINGS, three changes of defense team, 160 witnesses and nearly nine years in court, Shoko Asahara was found guilty of several counts of murder, including the gassing deaths on the Tokyo subway in 1995. As everyone fully expected, the bearded guru was sentenced to death. But he will be appealing. He has at least two higher levels of appeal, which means that this lengthy case could easily drag on for at least another six years.

It may have been years ago, but Japanese feeling on the matter remains strong, albeit stoked by the media. More than 4,000 people lined up to get into the courtroom to hear the words of judgment (many of them being paid to do so by the Japanese TV networks), 13 helicopters buzzed above the courtroom and the weekly magazines were full of little else in the weeks leading up to the date of doom. We stood in the middle of Ginza as the news flashed on the dot-matrix screen--and were not totally surprised to hear a cheer from the crowd as it learned Asahara would probably hang.