One Day That Changed Asia

In just one day, a whole world can be transformed. An act of terror can bring neighbours to the edge of war; a religious movement can attempt to poison thousands on a subway; a natural disaster can contaminate the soil, earth and air for generations; and traditional religious rivalry can suddenly burst into violence and change the future of a country.

In this series, we look at how the two Koreas’ game of brinkmanship in the 1980s resulted in a plane crash that reverberates to this day. In Japan, some 10 years after a nuclear reactor goes into meltdown, the government is trying to do the unprecedented - repopulate whole towns in Fukushima. 

A terrifying poison gas attack on the Tokyo subway system exposes years of official failure to prevent a new religion mutating into a murderous cult. 

And in Indonesia, an unprecedented natural disaster all but destroys a society but also triggers an end to a bitter civil war.