Police have been hunting Katsuya Takahashi since Aum Shinrikyo waged its nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system in 1995, mobilizing thousands of officers over the last 17 years.

But Takahashi, 54, the final Aum fugitive wanted in the terrorist attack, lived for a decade in a quiet residential area only about 10 minutes on foot from busy JR Kawasaki Station and just across the Tama River from the capital that was once shaken by the doomsday cult.

"I didn't know him. If I had known him, I would have got the ¥10 million reward," said a woman on a bicycle who stopped in front of the apartment in Saiwai Ward where Takahashi lived.