At risk of repeating myself (since I reviewed Tatsuya Mori's A not that long ago), I shall double post about Aum Shinrikyo. This is by far the best volume on this topic, and quite helpful in chronologically laying out most events and source materials relating to the cult, making it very easy to, as an example, decipher the issuing date of the visual materials (of which there are many sources, The Mita Archives being the most complete to my knowledge). Ian Reader's approach as an academic is commendable here for, as I pointed out before, it scrutinizes Aum as a religious phenomena, in origin and structure, going forward in the comprehension of a most important chapter in late XX century history instead of taking a far easier journalistic byway (of which have been many). While the 1995 sarin gas attack on Tokyo's subway is easy to understand on itself, as a disjointed moment in time aside from its social background (which, according to some, it can only account for the aberrant and 'monstrous mind' of its founder, Asahara Shoko [麻原彰晃]), understanding Aum's development and impressive growth during its barely 11 years of existence comprises many more things. The fact that Aum was, despite its permanent conflict with most of Japanese society around it (for reasons we'll explore further), a really popular story in Japan at largue for a number of years, has not been dealt with, really. As good a reflection upon the incident as Haruki Murakami's [村上春樹] Underground [アンダーグラウンド] may be, one can argue it does not breach the abyssal gap between a smiling Asahara meeting with the Dalai Lama at Tibet or being interviewed by Takeshi Kitano [北野 武] himself, and the sinister figure he was to become barely 3 years later.
In the same vein, treating Aum as an armed organization deploying its forces at war with Japan also misses completely its internal organization, aside from its inner circle of leadership. Aum's followship went up from 35 in 1986 to 10.000 at its peak in 1995, also including between 30.000-50.000 outside Japan (mainly in Russia). Around 10% of them were renunciant monks or shukkesha [出家者], who had donated all their belongings and chosen to devote themselves to strenunous work on behalf of Aum, living in closeted communes inspired by the Buddhist shanga. More than half of them were under 30, and not only managed the supplies, the editorial and proxy companies of Aum (such as Maha Posha, which sold ridiculously cheap computer parts) but they also practised Aum's take on tantra, meditation and 'survival challenges' to achieve liberation and enlightenment, the samādhi [समाधि]. These harsh conditions of work of hundreds of people, rewarded only by asceticism and spiritual ascension through a series of levels or ranks, can't be explained without the Aum's logical frame, and its religious overview of the world (which constituted the main attractive of the group to the minds of dissaffected youngsters). Despite the roundup and arrest of a huge amount of shukkesha, the Tokyo Tribunals could only charge those directly involved either in leadership or authorship. Strenuous sessions with low-rank monks and nuns attested to the fact that most of Aum was, indeed fully absorpt in isolated religious practise punctuated by mindless labor, and had no idea of Asahara's plans and that of his cohort of professional members. It is necessary, thus, to empathise what did Aum mean to all those people in order to understand how its recruitment system worked, and the point at which its mission took a dramatic, horrifying turn to terrorism proper.
Asahara was actually born as Matsumoto Chizuo [松本智津夫] in Kumamoto prefecture, circa 1955. It appears that he spent his early infancy in a village named Kongo, now inexistent as it was absorbed by the spreading metropolis. His family lived in abject poverty, as his father had 9 children with three women, being just a humble tatami-maker. Little is known of his infancy and early youth, aside from three facts. One, he was born almost totally blind due to infantile glaucoma, lacking all sight on his left eye, and his right one being only partially functional. Two, he had conflictive relationships with his classmates, initially as victim but then as bully himself. Three, these two were compounded when in 1961, at age six, his parents sent him to a boarding school for the blind, where he stayed for 14 years without access to his family. Apparently this experience traumatized Asahara, as he frequently spoke of those years to people close to him. His memories of the event were of rejection and loneliness. According to Ian Reader, while his blindness (stigmatized in Japan to this day, let alone the postwar years) and destituted background stranged him from Japanese society proper, this latter experience also made him lose faith in social institutions such as the family.
Around 1977 Matsumoto cuts all ties with his family and acquaintances, moving to Tokyo where he sets up to become a pharmacist and acupuncturist, since these traditional 'healing' fields had long been strongly associated with blindness (as religious mediums were, also). After graduating in 1975 he also had aspired to be a lawyer and a politician (being an admirer of Mao Zedong during his childhood), studying and learning Chinese and English by himself, at a Yoyogi Seminar where he also met his wife, Ishii Tomoko [石井知子]. After adopting his family name Matsumoto, she would also become an important figure in Aum. During those first years, Matsumoto Chizuo was quite fit physically, something that would radically change around 1988. He got interested in religion, especially yoga and buddhism, and was a fervent practiser to the point of founding his own yoga seminar in 1983. Just the next year he stops practising under the new religious group AgonShu [阿含宗], creating his own approach: Aum no Kai [オウムの会] (The Aum's Association), shortly after renamed to Aum Shinshen No Kai [オウム神仙の会] (Aum Immortal Mountain Wizard Association). Interestingly, many among Aum's higher ranks were there at the very beginning. As an example, Ishii Hisako [石井久子], widely regarded within Aum as the second most powerful person, was at the time a stressed out secretary for a big insurance company in Shibuya, and only started practising yoga due to her coworker Iido Eriko [飯田エリ子], also a powerful woman within the movement. Within this first iteration of Aum, prominent themes were a strong Hindu influence, from dressing to conceptual roots (Shivaism being its most important tendence), a fascination with (and even a promise of acquiring) psychic powers of various kinds, and the project of universal salvation via the foundation of 'Lotus Villages' or communes where virtuous warrior-monks were to create Shambhala [シャンバラ] (a mythical utopic Buddhist kindgom) on Earth. These first years of the 'optimist Aum' span the period 1984-1986, puctuated by various travels to India, the creation of Aum's monastic system (requiering people to elope and abandon their families), and culminating with the first and foremost 'Lotus Village'. Ishii Hisako dedicated a passionate and optimistic speech at the time, and both her and Asahara would grow Aum Shinghen No Kai unexpectedly, via publishing and land purchasing. By 1987 it had 1300 members and dozens of shukkesha.
1987 would be a great candidate if we were to pick a year where Aum began its downfall into authoritarism. But, instead, I'll name this second period as 'the undersired Aum', for, although Asahara indeed took on a role as world savior, changed his name for Asahara Shoko [麻原彰晃] and the organization's name for Aum Shinrikyo [オウム真理教] (Aum's Supreme Truth/Teaching), stratifying the once free and personalized sistem of guru-disciple into various layers of practise and reward of vertical authority, it was unclear as if such things were illegal and condemnable per se. In this same year Aum applied to be normalized as a religious organization under the Religious Corporative Law in Japan, which had a large set of advantages; it was denied such status since many families were starting to denouce Aum as a abduction scheme. Since the coming of age was 20 years in Japan at the time, some of Aum's members were minors at all effects, and this led to the creation of Aum Victims Associations, leading efforts in the media and at the community level to denounce the cult. These clashes, compounded by Aum purchasing land via proxy companies (so the selling part did not know who the real owner was) in rural zones, would earn it a bad name among middle age and older, family-oriented people. At the same time, however, it attracted more people from urban environments, were Asahara's books were being broadly distributed.
This organised opposition rebuffed Asahara, who permanently oscillated between a charming, conversational mood and a short, often violent, temper with those who disagreed with him. A year later, in 1988, a lot of developments further strained Aum's relationship with the world at large, and its members at home. Asahara began to ramble about having apocalyptic visions of the near future, and how most of society (which, according to the 'optimistic Aum' of 1984-1986 was to be compassionately saved via Aum's efforts at Shambala) was thoroughly condemned and Aum should either not engage with it or severely reprimend them for their own good. In August of this year he dismisses both the Hinayana and Mahayana varieties of Buddhism (focus of the first iteration of Aum, and particularly Mayahana being the idea of loving all beings and help their enlightement and salvation) in favor of a personal mix Asahara called 'Tantra-Vajrayana'. Tantra of course comprises many ascetic practises of Hindu inspiration, and Vajrayana (best known via its Tibetan iteration) has its focus on the salvation of selected individuals who get to progress and dominate esoteric practises and limit experiences. According to Asahara's interpretation, it also stated there was no good nor evil, being beyond such distinction. Of course, this translated itself into Aum's rejection of universal salvation, and a new, almost fanatic, focus on ascetism and harsh practises necessary to achieve the collective salvation of the group, as 'professionals' or 'warriors' of the Truth. Therefore, this same year of 1988 normalizes violence inside of Aum, as ascetic training becomes mandatory and not optional as it used to be. Those who disented or 'slacked' got punished even physically (Asahara's wife Tomoko receiving 50 lashes and then being secluded for disobeying her duties). Other methods, such as collective insult sessions to 'purify' the practiser's ego, were borrowed from the Human Potential Movement of the 60's, whose popularity had risen worldwide.
However, Asahara punished himself, for he became overweight and his mental balance steadly declined from then on, becoming more aggressive and paranoid; in fact a theory states his abandonment of ascetic practises caused him to release this inwardly-oriented aggressiveness he always had upon others around him. Regarding the new, harsh ascetic practises, a disgrace was bound to happen; most of Asahara's learning had come from books and speeches, and therefore he had no idea of how to deal with accidents and overworking during said practises, which had had a trackrecord of deaths since antiquity. While most Zen monks engaged in retirements and ordeals had a certified status as consultats to avoid catastrophe Asahara had not, and in September 1988 a practiser, Majima Terayuki (ex-drug addict) died during a 100 days training in Fujinomiya city. Despite all efforts to save him in the medical unit at the Aum center, the death took place, and Aum chose not to report it since it still awaited its approval as religious organization.
The Majima case was to become a dark chapter in Aum's development, causing it to devolve into a criminal structure at a faster and faster pace. Asahara's mind could not rest assured knowing anybody could ever found such secret, and his paranoia and aggressiveness would react to Majima's death exactly as it had reacted to the Aum opposition movement. Just during February of next year 1989 (which, to my mind, opens the third stage of Aum's development, which can be called the 'criminal phase') one member, Taguchi Shūji, expressed his troubled concerns about hiding Majima's death, which he had witnessed first person (by this point, his body had been disposed of). He was considering to leave the movement, and Asahara could not permit it. He sent Hideo Murai [村井秀夫] and other Aum members to stop him. They abducted Taguchi, and 'for his own good', killed him. As Reader states:
The killing of Taguchi created a stronger bond -and a darker secret- within Aum's upper echelons, making it more even fearful of investigation.
At this point Asahara himself created a doctrinal justification for violence, as he and other Aum members were capable of leading a disincarnated soul, sure to accumulate bad karma during its terrenal existence (and Aum stated pretty much everything created evil karma, to exponentially higher levels than any other religion), to higher and purer realms of existence as mystic guru. The doctrinal
From this point onwards it becomes difficult to keep up with Aum's timeline, if you research beyond the present volume. For indeed, 1989 was a packed year for Aum. It inaugurates its headquarters at Kamikuishiki [上九一色村], creating a microsociety near Mount Fuji. In August it finally reaches its official recognition as a religious movement; by July of that same year Asahara starts a political project, creating his own party (Shinritou, or Party Of The Truth [真理党]) and setting up to contend elections the next year. However, during October of the same year, the anti-Aum organizations are invigorated by a series of journalistic investigations and reveals on Aum, and they hire a lawyer, Sakamoto Tsutsumi [坂本堤]; Sakamoto's researching was indeed very professional, and dangerous to Aum. He gets a premiere apparition in the massive Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS), and is ready to inflict a fatal blow on Aum's reputation. However, by November 4 Sakamoto, his wife and his son disappear from their home. Only later would Aum assume its responsability for the murderings, compounded by the conscious decision of burying the three bodies in the mountains of
three different prefectures so as to deflect police investigations on the subject. In conclusion, just as Aum reached its goal of becoming an official religion, they commited their worst crime to date. Without corpses nor evidence, however, Aum could not be charged. But public opinion swayed against Aum, clearly perceiving how it erased its foremost adversary on the media just before a great reveal. Aum's official response was to claim conspiratorial jargon, assuring some evil organization had assaulted poor Sakamoto in order to blame its religion. Aum's disregard for life was becoming too casual at this point, and Asahara seemed completely incapable of learning from past experiences; Majima's accidental death, at first traumatic for the movement, was only the first: many others took place as Aum agumented its thirst for exotic ordeals such as the 'underground shamadi', involving being buried with limited oxygen.
The 1990 February parlamentary elections were, of course, an unmitigated disaster. Aum's popularity was at an historical low after the Sakamoto murders, and the bizarre spectacle devised by Asahara (and incredibly carried out by everyone else) would make a mockery of Aum for years to come. Despite all efforts by its idol band 'Aum Sisters' [オウムシスターズ], the parades wearing either Ganesha elephant-hats [ガネーシャの帽子] or even wilder, darker stuff, and Asahara himself singing his own signature repetitive themes praising himself, all candidate members of the Party Of Truth (who also inscribed themselves with their 'sacred holy names' of Indian origins) got crushed at the polls. Funnily enough none got crushed as hard as Asahara himself, as candidate Fumihiro Joyu [上祐 史浩] surpassed him; Joyu was a quite articulate young man acting as spokesperson for Aum, and therefore the public had been exposed to him for years, thus granting him more -probably trolling- votes. This shameful event would cause Asahara's explosive, ego-driven personality to completely recede from society at heart, despite a brief reclutation campaign and media-assault between 1991-1992, banking on scandals commited by other new religious groups.
Internally, the election failure propelled a spike of bunker mentality among Aum followers; this would only worsen during this same year of 1990, when Aum got in trouble while purchasing rural land at Namino [波野村]. Fierce opposition by the inhabitants and a legal trouble earning Hisako some jail time in October futher fostered Aum's condemnation of modern society. This consolidated in sermons during March, with Asahara seemingly peddling hardcore conspiracy kool-aid to his base. The Masonic Order, the Illuminati and of course the Jews were to blame not only for Aum's defeat at the polls but for the disappearance of the Sakamoto family and for the rural agitators. Other specifically Japanese forces behind the curtains would be pro-American forces inside the Government, religious political parties such as Kōmeitō [公明党] and USA educated members of the Royal Family. Asahara's persecution complex and paranoid behavior also was at display when he identified himself with Christ in 1991, as a persecuted religious leader hated in his own land but widely revered in the world [meaning Russia]; he also began to claim American planes stationed in Japan were flying over the Kamikuishiki commune, while spraying Aum with hazardous chemicals such as sarin. This may have been a cover, deflecting blame for its own failed experiments with said substances, which soon began and not only raised suspicion due to leaks and gas explosions in some Aum centers, but in fact caused some Aum members to get inadvertedly poisoned.
Around 1993, Aum virtually ended its recruitment campaign and diverted internal resources towards military buildup in secret, restricted Saitans such as Number 7, where chemical weapons were being engineered by savy Aum members. It also purchased Banjawarn in the Australian Desert around this time, where mysterious non-confirmed events took place. It managed to smuggle an AK-74 rifle from Russia, and attempted to replicate it with rudimentary methods; it also got to legally purchase a MI-26 military helicopter via Azerbaijan, which arrived to Japan in 1994. Aum had already attempted a mass
attack in Tokyo using botulinum toxin in 1990, which had had almost no effect due to its rudimentary delivery system; however, the new resources allowed for the production of many substances ranging from weapons such as sarin or VX gas to drugs such as LSD, mescalin or amphetamine derivates which Aum members started to ingest in various initation rituals (with or without previous knowledge of it). Aum got its hands on many regulated substances via its own pharmaceutical businesses (managed by certified doctor members), and it appears to also have relied upon the Japanese underground mafia, the yakuza, to obtain some materials in exchange for large sums of money.
During these last years of Aum's last 'criminal period', its media silence led some experts to worry in case it was preparing for mass suicide. However, Aum's development did not had such trajectory; Asahara's signature attempts to deflect his failures or mistakes to external forces propelled Aum to the path of terrorism, of an unusual kind. Its first exitous attack was the 1994 Matsumoto Attack, during which it released sarin gas from a modified van in order to stop a judicial process taking place against itself; it worked, as various jury members died or got severely injured. Just as the Sakamoto murder had done, it prevented Aum from being legally harmed, but it increased suspicions against it. During this same year Aum attempted to steal weapon blueprints from major defense manufacturers such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, using its members related to the army and security fields.
For every 'improvement' there was a severe setback, however. During this year of 1994 its promising Russia branch was outlawed by the Yeltsin government, under pressure from an orthodox- inspired anti Aum effort, which deemed it corrupting for the youth and destructive of the familiar and national fabrics of Russia. Most of its assets were captured by the government, which fined the organization in concept of reparations. This pressure increased in 1995, year during which Aum attempted various murderings (some of which were exitous) as the law's circle slowly enclosed it. It is a little known fact that it attempted a subway attack during May 5 in Shinjuku Station, releasing cyanide gas. Just as Aum spies inside the armed forces leaked the news of a raid and searching on the coming, Asahara decided to inflict the final blow. Despite various theories concerning the sarin gas attack of March 20, truth is, we don't know for sure if Asahara wanted to deflect the investigation as he has tried to do in his two major previous attacks (the Sakamoto and Matsumoto cases), or simply end it all as his statement on contemporary Japan. This well organised attack, terrible as it was, it was conceived to be much bigger. The hastened chemists, troubled by news of a police raid, were only able to purify sarin to a 30% level. This, along with the primitive releasing system (plastic bags inside newspapers), allowed for a limited bodycount of 13 (with more than a thousand related victims, some with horrific injuries). If done with completely pure sarin, it has been calculated a bodycount of thousands, and over tenths of thousands with severe, life-threatening injuries.
However, Ian Reader's volume does not get much in the post-sarin events, as these have been widely covered, and contents himself with theorising the motives, symbolism and intentions of Aum members during and after it happened. It is important to know that just two days later Japan's self-defense forces deployed in full gear to assault Aum's satians and roundup members. Asahara was captured in May 16, almost a month later. He was confined within a secret room in satian 6. The troubled and dragging judicial process ended up with a death sentence, executed in 2018. The Aum debacle became a daily news cycle worldwide, to the point of being overwhelming to Aum members themselves, testifying to foreign press of countries they had never heard from. Asahara became almost a demonic figure along the country for more than a decade to come, and many social movements were, from then on, analysed in comparison with Aum's deeds. However, little understanding of the movement was made available to the general public, as many records were kept secret. Only time and source gathering coming from academics and journalists have been able to offer a complete vision of the Aum phenomena, of which this book is a prime example.
As Aum's disbandement was legally established, it changed its name to Aleph [アレフ]; while rejecting some of the most violent Vajrayana doctrines of the late Asahara, it still worships him as guru. Thus, it has been profoundly affected by Asahara's execution. However, new splinter groups arose inside it these last years. In 2007 Fumihiro Joyu (remember, the articulated guy who earned more votes than Asahara) grew fed up with the Asahara cult of personality, considering it had no value after his attacks and arrest, and went on to found his own group Hikari No Wa [ひかりの輪] (Circle Of Light), in an attempt to create 'what Aum should have been'. Surrounded by positive imagery, a worn out Joyu now streams lessons on Buddhism and religious dialogue, and offers counseling to his viewers in his humble Youtube channel. I'd say it is an improvement. Japanese only. In 2015 the Yamadara Group [山田らの集団] sought on to liberate itself from some of the legal dispositions enforced over Aleph, and Asahara's daughters (who are still in the hot spot in Japan, especially Reika Matsumoto [松本麗華]; she has a blog). Just like Aleph, it still focuses itself on Asahara, with its leader Koichi Ninomiya [二ノ宮耕一] stating the importance of relying on the figure of the guru and his doctrine, considering that it is unrelated to the crimes, and stands as a religion nevertheless. On a less nice note, there is an underground cell informally named The Keroyon Club [ケロヨンクラブ], which separated right after the attack in 1995, refusing to accomodate to the authorities and modify itself as Aleph had done. The leader, now imprisoned until 2022 for the involuntary killing of a member during ascetic practise, is Yuko Kitazawa [北澤優子]. Deemed as a fundamentalist by other Aum members (!), her basic orientations are 'Asahara did nothing wrong' and 'I'm Asahara's successor'. The Keroyon Club has been condemned by other iterations of Aum, as it maintains the same liturgy of Aum before the attacks. Reportedly, active members oscillate between 30 and 40 and many of them are single women. Apparently it has developed new ordeal systems, at risk of (as it has already happened) causing more deaths among its own ranks.
Thus, the Aum phenomena is still a sociological trend in modern Japan, and one filled up with controversy and fears of a resurgence. The last violent act commited in the name of the movement came from a non-affiliated member in January 1 of 2019: Kazuhiro Kusanabe [日下部和博]. Interested in Asahara via his books and the internet, he rammed his vehicle into a crowd in the famous fashion spot of Harajuku, hurting eight people -there were no fatalities. He claimed he had done such a thing in order to protest the death penalty in Japan, and the particular execution of various people (the last ones being Aum's higher ranks and Asahara himself). The 'official' branches, however, are being strictly monitored by the Japanese government, and are forced to disclose all movements and earnings, also paying reparations to families victimized by the 1995 attack. Thus, I'd argue a true revival of Aum as an organized threat seems very unlikely. The most radical faction is the smallest in size, and one can argue groups such as Joyu's are fed up with a problematic time of their biographies they wish to erase forever at this point. Now, the real risk of Aum-inspired acts of terrorism will probably sporadically arise from isolated, radicalized people via the internet. Not only has this been the case with almost all terrorist organizations of the XXI century, but Aum's profound mythos and futher demonization has ensured it'll forever be a powerful reference to dissaffected people in Japan, resenting the same social problems Aum was born to capitalize on. As these cause problems go unsolved (rampant materialism, profound urban solitude -even among young people-, endless competitive relationships at work, lack of spiritual substance), Aum will receive energy still for decades to come. At least, it will forever lack the scope and resources it once had on its hands.
three different prefectures so as to deflect police investigations on the subject. In conclusion, just as Aum reached its goal of becoming an official religion, they commited their worst crime to date. Without corpses nor evidence, however, Aum could not be charged. But public opinion swayed against Aum, clearly perceiving how it erased its foremost adversary on the media just before a great reveal. Aum's official response was to claim conspiratorial jargon, assuring some evil organization had assaulted poor Sakamoto in order to blame its religion. Aum's disregard for life was becoming too casual at this point, and Asahara seemed completely incapable of learning from past experiences; Majima's accidental death, at first traumatic for the movement, was only the first: many others took place as Aum agumented its thirst for exotic ordeals such as the 'underground shamadi', involving being buried with limited oxygen.
The 1990 February parlamentary elections were, of course, an unmitigated disaster. Aum's popularity was at an historical low after the Sakamoto murders, and the bizarre spectacle devised by Asahara (and incredibly carried out by everyone else) would make a mockery of Aum for years to come. Despite all efforts by its idol band 'Aum Sisters' [オウムシスターズ], the parades wearing either Ganesha elephant-hats [ガネーシャの帽子] or even wilder, darker stuff, and Asahara himself singing his own signature repetitive themes praising himself, all candidate members of the Party Of Truth (who also inscribed themselves with their 'sacred holy names' of Indian origins) got crushed at the polls. Funnily enough none got crushed as hard as Asahara himself, as candidate Fumihiro Joyu [上祐 史浩] surpassed him; Joyu was a quite articulate young man acting as spokesperson for Aum, and therefore the public had been exposed to him for years, thus granting him more -probably trolling- votes. This shameful event would cause Asahara's explosive, ego-driven personality to completely recede from society at heart, despite a brief reclutation campaign and media-assault between 1991-1992, banking on scandals commited by other new religious groups.
Internally, the election failure propelled a spike of bunker mentality among Aum followers; this would only worsen during this same year of 1990, when Aum got in trouble while purchasing rural land at Namino [波野村]. Fierce opposition by the inhabitants and a legal trouble earning Hisako some jail time in October futher fostered Aum's condemnation of modern society. This consolidated in sermons during March, with Asahara seemingly peddling hardcore conspiracy kool-aid to his base. The Masonic Order, the Illuminati and of course the Jews were to blame not only for Aum's defeat at the polls but for the disappearance of the Sakamoto family and for the rural agitators. Other specifically Japanese forces behind the curtains would be pro-American forces inside the Government, religious political parties such as Kōmeitō [公明党] and USA educated members of the Royal Family. Asahara's persecution complex and paranoid behavior also was at display when he identified himself with Christ in 1991, as a persecuted religious leader hated in his own land but widely revered in the world [meaning Russia]; he also began to claim American planes stationed in Japan were flying over the Kamikuishiki commune, while spraying Aum with hazardous chemicals such as sarin. This may have been a cover, deflecting blame for its own failed experiments with said substances, which soon began and not only raised suspicion due to leaks and gas explosions in some Aum centers, but in fact caused some Aum members to get inadvertedly poisoned.Around 1993, Aum virtually ended its recruitment campaign and diverted internal resources towards military buildup in secret, restricted Saitans such as Number 7, where chemical weapons were being engineered by savy Aum members. It also purchased Banjawarn in the Australian Desert around this time, where mysterious non-confirmed events took place. It managed to smuggle an AK-74 rifle from Russia, and attempted to replicate it with rudimentary methods; it also got to legally purchase a MI-26 military helicopter via Azerbaijan, which arrived to Japan in 1994. Aum had already attempted a mass
During these last years of Aum's last 'criminal period', its media silence led some experts to worry in case it was preparing for mass suicide. However, Aum's development did not had such trajectory; Asahara's signature attempts to deflect his failures or mistakes to external forces propelled Aum to the path of terrorism, of an unusual kind. Its first exitous attack was the 1994 Matsumoto Attack, during which it released sarin gas from a modified van in order to stop a judicial process taking place against itself; it worked, as various jury members died or got severely injured. Just as the Sakamoto murder had done, it prevented Aum from being legally harmed, but it increased suspicions against it. During this same year Aum attempted to steal weapon blueprints from major defense manufacturers such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, using its members related to the army and security fields.
However, Ian Reader's volume does not get much in the post-sarin events, as these have been widely covered, and contents himself with theorising the motives, symbolism and intentions of Aum members during and after it happened. It is important to know that just two days later Japan's self-defense forces deployed in full gear to assault Aum's satians and roundup members. Asahara was captured in May 16, almost a month later. He was confined within a secret room in satian 6. The troubled and dragging judicial process ended up with a death sentence, executed in 2018. The Aum debacle became a daily news cycle worldwide, to the point of being overwhelming to Aum members themselves, testifying to foreign press of countries they had never heard from. Asahara became almost a demonic figure along the country for more than a decade to come, and many social movements were, from then on, analysed in comparison with Aum's deeds. However, little understanding of the movement was made available to the general public, as many records were kept secret. Only time and source gathering coming from academics and journalists have been able to offer a complete vision of the Aum phenomena, of which this book is a prime example.
Thus, the Aum phenomena is still a sociological trend in modern Japan, and one filled up with controversy and fears of a resurgence. The last violent act commited in the name of the movement came from a non-affiliated member in January 1 of 2019: Kazuhiro Kusanabe [日下部和博]. Interested in Asahara via his books and the internet, he rammed his vehicle into a crowd in the famous fashion spot of Harajuku, hurting eight people -there were no fatalities. He claimed he had done such a thing in order to protest the death penalty in Japan, and the particular execution of various people (the last ones being Aum's higher ranks and Asahara himself). The 'official' branches, however, are being strictly monitored by the Japanese government, and are forced to disclose all movements and earnings, also paying reparations to families victimized by the 1995 attack. Thus, I'd argue a true revival of Aum as an organized threat seems very unlikely. The most radical faction is the smallest in size, and one can argue groups such as Joyu's are fed up with a problematic time of their biographies they wish to erase forever at this point. Now, the real risk of Aum-inspired acts of terrorism will probably sporadically arise from isolated, radicalized people via the internet. Not only has this been the case with almost all terrorist organizations of the XXI century, but Aum's profound mythos and futher demonization has ensured it'll forever be a powerful reference to dissaffected people in Japan, resenting the same social problems Aum was born to capitalize on. As these cause problems go unsolved (rampant materialism, profound urban solitude -even among young people-, endless competitive relationships at work, lack of spiritual substance), Aum will receive energy still for decades to come. At least, it will forever lack the scope and resources it once had on its hands.
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