A paper at the first annual Teaching in the Community Colleges Online Conference in 1996, the first large-scale wholly online academic conference, which continues today, based at the University of Hawaii. In 1995 peaceful post-War Japan was struck by the Great Hanshin Earthquake and the Tokyo subway sarin terrorism incident by the home-grown Aum Shinrikyo cult. The Ministry of Education had just allowed the diminution of general education requirements in higher education. A remarkable Asahi Shimbun editorial, translated by the author in this paper, drew a line from the vocationalization of universities to one of the world’s first indiscriminate attacks with a weapon of mass destruction. The author took this as an opportunity for educators of foreign languages and other general education subjects to profess the importance of a well-rounded education for all professions.