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Maarten Bommerez 2e KAN JAPANOLOGIE

JAPANSE ENCYCLOPEDIE: BIBLIOGRAFISCHE ZOEKTOCHT SEKTEN IN DE JAPANSE SAMENLEVINGEN IN HET BIJZONDER HET GEVAL VAN “AUM SHINRIKYO”

Hoofdstuk 1 Inleiding Ik zou het in dit werk van encyclopedie willen hebben over de Japanse sekten. Het verschijnsel van de sekte bestaat zowat overal in de wereld, maar in Japan is het werkelijk een frequent fenomeen. Ik ben van plan om hier een zoektocht te ondernemen in bibliografieën en databanken naar het fenomeen Aum Shinrikyo. Wat maakt hen zo anders dan de andere sekten? Of verschillen ze niet veel? Aum Shinrikyo, gesticht in 1987 door Asahara Shôkô, maakte heel veel opgang wereldwijd en werd in 1989 zelfs een officiële religieuze beweging, beschermd door de Japanse regering 1, tot ze in 1995 een vrije val maakte. Toen pleegden sekteleden namelijk een aanval op de metro van Tokyo met 6 paketten gifgas. Twaalf mensen vonden hierbij de dood en meer dan 5000 raakten gewond. De jacht op de daders en de sekte-kopstukken was open. Twee maanden hierna werd Asahara opgepakt en in 1997 veroordeeld. Drie andere kopstukken zijn nog steeds voortvluchtig. Nu de laatste jaren de sekte weer opgang maakt, wordt ze door de Japanse overheid scherp in de gaten gehouden. Vooral het jaar 2003, door de huidige leiders aangeduid als nieuw Apocalyps-jaar, wordt angstig afgewacht…

Hoofdstuk 2 Zoekstrategie bepalen

1. Naar welke trefwoorden ga ik mij richten? Eerst en vooral zou ik het Internet willen raadplegen, om nog wat nuttige informatie te vinden in verband met het onderwerp om zodoende een lijst van trefwoorden te kunnen Voor de hand liggende trefwoorden zijn:

• Aum Shinrikyo • Japanse sekte(n) / Japanese sect(s) • Nieuwe religie / new religions • Asahara Shôkô • Sarin gas attack + 1995 + Tokyo

Via informatie gevonden op het Internet, breidde ik het lijstje uit met: • Chizuo Matsumoto 2 • Shinri Party 3

2. Met wat wil ik zoal gaan werken? Zoals ik al eerder heb gezegd, wil ik eerst en vooral het Internet raadplegen. Daarna zou ik willen nagaan of ik nergens een bibliografie kan vinden, specifiek over Aum Shinrikyo. Hiervoor ga ik o.a. in de Oost-Aziatische bibliotheek en op Internet eens zoeken. Vervolgens ga ik systematisch databanken en bibliografieën raadplegen, die te vinden zijn via de site van de Universitaire Bibliotheek. Dit zijn o.a. Libis, Picarta, Ebsco Host, BAS (Bibliography of

1 The International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism <webmaster@ict.org.il>. "Aum Shinrikyo: Supreme truth". 21-05-2002. <http://www.ict.org.il/inter_ter/orgdet.cfm?orgid=68>. (22-05-2002) 2 Dit was de oorspronkelijke naam van Asahara Shôkô 3 De politieke partij van Aum Shinrikyo, gevormd in 1989, deelgenomen aan verkiezingen in 1990

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Asian Studies), Web of Science. Verder ga ik ook meta-bibliografieën doorzoeken, zoals Francis (Webspirs).

3. Het zoeken zelf

a) Via Internet Google vind ik circa 14.800 hits bij het zoeken op het trefwoord “Aum Shinrikyo”. Dit uitgebreide aanbod aan informatie over deze sekte geeft de enorme populariteit van het fenomeen “Aum Shinrikyo” en zijn leider Asahara, of integendeel, de enorme controversie die het opgeroepen heeft. Bij Google worden de hits gerangschikt volgens het aantal internetpagina's dat een link heeft naar de pagina in kwestie en ook volgens het aantal bezoekers van de site. Bij de 3e hit, zie ik een lijstje met artikels staan die allen verband houden met Aum Shinrikyo en de heropstanding ervan. Enkele ervan wijden te zeer uit over andere sektes over de hele wereld, maar één ervan lijkt mij een vrij wetenschappelijk verantwoord artikel: Karmon, Dr. Ely. The Anti-Semitism of Japan's Aum Shinrikyo: A Dangerous Revival. In: “Anti-Semitism Worldwide: 1998/1999”, Tel Aviv University [Dit artikel is te vinden via: http://www.ict.org.il/] Ik ervaar hier direct een typisch probleem met bronnen vinden voor een paper: het wetenschapsgehalte verifiëren. In hoeverre is een artikel van dit kaliber wetenschappelijk onderbouwd? Is de schrijver ervan voldoende onderlegd? Dit moet eerst onderzocht worden vooraleer het artikel als bron te gebruiken. In het geval van dit artikel, is de auteur professor in Haifa en in Tel Aviv, gespecialiseerd in terrorisme en anti-semitisme. Dit is natuurlijk geen garantie. Onderaan het artikel heeft de auteur wel zo’n twintig-tal cited references aan het artikel toegevoegd. Deze cited references zijn een goed weergave van het wetenschapsgehalte van het artikel. Zij geven aan dat de auteur een goede research heeft gedaan alvorens zijn ideeën op papier te zetten en geen ongeverifieerde zaken op papier heeft opgetekend. Dr. Karmon heeft zijn artikel voor het grootste deel gebaseerd op het werk van Shimazono Susumu, een autoriteit zijn op het gebied van Nieuwe Religies in Japan. Hij zou een sterke studie gemaakt hebben over Aum. 4 Dit zal ik later onderzoeken in de gepaste databanken. De bibliografie bevat o.a.

• Shimazono, Susumu. "In the Wake of Aum: The Formation and Transformation of a Universe of Belief". In: Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 223/3, 1995, pp. 381-415.

• Watanabe, Manabu. "Religion and Violence in Japan Today: A Chronological and

Doctrinal Analysis of Aum Shinrikyo". In: Terrorism and Political Violence 4 (Winter 1998), pp. 80-100 .5

• Brackett, D.W. Holy Terror: Armageddon in Tokyo. New York: Weatherhill, 1996, pp. 206.

• Devils’ Nature: "Matter" (interview met Asahara). In : Mahayana 31, 1990.

Wanneer ik iets verder zoek, vind ik direct een heel uitgebreide pagina: http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/aums.html

4 The International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism <webmaster@ict.org.il>. "The Anti-Semitism of Aum Shinrikyō: A Dangerous Revival". 15-09-1999. <http://www.ict.org.il/articles/articledet.cfm?articleid=92>. (22-05-2002) 5 Dit werk ben ik nog enkele keren tegengekomen, o.a. in Picarta.

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Hier krijgen we een overzicht op de geschiedenis en de leer van Aum. Wat belangrijk is bij dit artikel, is de uitgebreide webliografie en bibliografie onderaan de webpagina. De bibliografie bevat o.a. ook het boek van Shimazono Susumu en dat van DW Brackett, die ik overigens nog al een paar keer ben tegengekomen. Enkele belangrijke boeken en artikels uit de bibliografie:

• Kisala, Robert. J.; Mullins, Mark R. Religion and Social Crisis in Japan: Understanding Japanese Society through the Aum Affair. New York: Palgrave, 2001, pp. 240.

• Kisala, Robert. J. "The AUM Spiritual Truth Church in Japan". In: Wolves Within the Fold:

Religious Leadership and Abuses of Power. Anson Shupe, Ed. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1998, pp. 33-48.

• Mullins, Mark R. 1997. "Aum Shinrikyo as an Apocalyptic Movement". In: Millennium,

Messiahs, and Mayhem: Contemporary Apocalyptic Movements. Thomas Robbins and Susan J. Palmer, eds. New York, NY: Routledge, 1997, pp. 313-324.

• Reader, Ian. A Poisonous Cocktail? Aum Shinrikyo's Path to Violence. Copenhagen,

Denmark: NIAS Publications, 1997, pp. 116. • Reader, Ian. 2000. Religious Violence in Contemporary Japan: The Case of Aum

Shinrikyo. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2000, pp. 304. Als auteur over dit onderwerp ga ik vanaf nu uitkijken naar: R. Kisala, M. Mullins, I. Reader en S. Shimazono. Deze namen ben ik al verschillende keren tegengekomen en lijken als dusdanig vrij gespecialiseerd in het geval Aum Shinrikyo. Wanneer ik deze auteurs echter ging opzoeken in de "Arts en Humanities Citation Index", merkte ik dat Robert Kisala en Mark Mullins weinig of niet voorkwamen, terwijl Ian Reader en Shimazono Susumu dan wel veel hits opleverden.

b) Libis

• Kaplan, David; Marshall, Andrew; Van Cuijlenborg, Hans (vertaling). AUM: de sekte aan het eind van de wereld. Uitgever : Luitingh - Sijthoff Amsterdam, 1996, pp. 382.

Het aantal hits op Libis was vrij klein, maar ik kwam er ook het reeds eerder vermelde boek van Ian Reader tegen: Religious Violence in Contemporary Japan: The Case of Aum Shinrikyo. Van Ian Reader hebben we vorig jaar een artikel gelezen bij het vak Japanse Godsdiensten van Prof. Cathrine Cornille. Hij is, vermoed ik, een autoriteit op het vlak van Nieuwe Religies in Japan.

c) Picarta Vermits Picarta drie bestaande databases combineert6, is het een database die toch nuttig om raadplegen is. Je kan er zowel boeken als artikels vinden. * BOEKEN:

• Metraux, Daniel A. Aum Shinrikyo's impact on Japanese society. Edwin Mellen Press, Lewiston, NY, 2000, pp. 165.

• Metraux, Daniel A. Aum Shinrikyo and Japanese youth. Lanham, Md : University Press of

America, 1999, pp. 130.

• Versluis, Marielle. Aum Shinrikyo : Japan geconfronteerd met de hoogste waarheid. Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam (licentiaatsdissertatie), 1997, pp. 39.

6 "Nederlandsche Centrale Catalogus", "Netfirst" en "Online Contents"

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• Terror in the heart of Japan : the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult. Tokyo: The Japan Times

(special report), 1995, pp. 39.

• Lifton, Robert Jay. Destroying the world to save it: Aum Shinrikyo, apocalyptic violence, and the the new global terrorism. New York : Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt, 1999, pp.374. 7

[review van dit boek: http://www.cesnur.org/testi/aum.htm] Ook de 2 eerder vermelde werken van Ian Reader waren terug te vinden op Picarta. * ARTIKELS

• Campbell, James. "La secte japonaise Aum Shinrikyo". In: Les stratégies du terrorisme [sous la direction de Gérard Chaliand], 1999, pp. 163-193.

• "Asia - The Aum Shinrikyo trial". In: The economist vol. 335, 1995, p. 60.

• Kitabatake, Kiyoyasu. "Aum Shinrikyo: Society Begets an Aberration". In: The Japan

Quarterly vol. 42, 1995, pp. 376-383.

• Olson, Kyle B. "Aum Shinrikyo: Once and Future Threat?" In: Emerging infectious diseases : a peer-reviewed journal vol. 5, 1999, p. 513.

• Zilinskas, Raymond A. "Aum Shinrikyo's chemical/biological terrorism as a paradigm?" In:

Politics and the life sciences : the journal of the Association for Politics and the Life Sciences vol. 15, 1999, p. 237.

• Rosenau, William. "Aum Shinrikyo's biological weapons program : why did it fail?" In:

Studies in conflict and terrorism vol. 24, 2001, pp. 289-301 .8

• Metraux, Daniel A. "Religious Terrorism in Japan: The Fatal Appeal of Aum Shinrikyo". In: Asian survey vol. 35 afl. 12, 1995, p. 1140.

• Chevrier, Marie Isabelle. "The aftermath of Aum Shinrikyo: a new paradigm for terror?" In:

Politics and the life sciences vol. 15 afl. 2, 1996, p. 194.

• Khristos, Maria Devi. "Norman Cohns opvattingen over millennisme, toegepast op de nieuwe syncretistisch millennistische beweging Aum Shinrikyo". In: Mens en maatschappij, 2000, pp. 163-176.

• Leitenberg, Milton. "Aum Shinrikyo's Efforts to Produce Biological Weapons: A Case

Study in the Serial Propagation of Misinformation". In: Terrorism and political violence vol. 11 afl. 4, 1999, pp.149-158.

Op Picarta vond ik 42 artikels i.v.m. “Aum Shinrikyo”. Omdat het in dit werk overbodig is om deze werken allemaal op te nemen, heb ik een selectie van 10 artikels gemaakt. Hiervoor heb ik enkel naar titel en trefwoorden (en auteur natuurlijk) gekeken wat er interessant leek, en op basis hiervan mijn selectie gemaakt, die dus hier en daar ongetwijfeld wel subjectief zal zijn. Voor een eindverhandeling bijvoorbeeld moet dit wel grondiger onderzocht worden. Bij de hits op Picarta zaten ook enkele book reviews tussen van eerder vermelde boeken.

7 Van dit boek vond ik veel reviews terug, o.a. ook in de New York Times. 8 Dit artikel vond ik ook terug in Full Text in Ebsco Host.

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d) Francis (WebSPIRS) [gezocht naar artikels vanaf 1995-2001]

• Repp, M. "Popular youth culture and religion in contemporary Japan". In: Japanese-religions 52 (1-2), NCC Center for the Study of Japanese Religions, Japan, 2000, pp. 105-119.

dit artikel tracht verbanden te zoeken tussen manga & anime en de nieuwe religies, hierbij voornamelijk toespitsend op Aum Shinrikyo

• Maniscalco, M.L. "Apocalisse Duemila : I tecnocrati dell'armageddon di Aum Shinrikyo". In: Sociologia 32 (1), 1998, pp. 5-31.

• Kisala R.; Repp, M. "1999 and beyond : The use of Nostradamus' prophecies by

Japanese religions; Millennial movements in East and Southeast Asia". In: Japanese-religions 23 (1-2), 1998, pp. 143-157. 9

• Castells, M.; Yazawa, S.; Kiselyova, E. "Insurgents against the global order : A

comparative analysis of the zapatistas in Mexico, the American Militia and Japan's AUM Shinrikyo". In: Berkeley Journal of Sociology 40, 1995, pp. 21-59.

• Pye, M. "Aum Shinrikyo. Can religious studies cope?" In: Religion London 26 (3), 1996,

pp. 261-270.

e) Web of Science – Citation Index

Web of Science is een handige database om artikels te vinden en tegelijkertijd het belang ervan na te gaan via de Citation Index. Hiermee kan je nagaan hoeveel en welke werken er geciteerd worden in het werk in kwestie en in hoeveel en welke werken verwezen wordt naar het desbetreffende werk.

• Nishida, K. "Aum Shinrikyo: a psychological analysis of their criminal behaviors". In: International Journal of Psychology 35, 2000, p. 252.

bij dit werk zijn zowel “Cited References” als “Times cited” nihil. Dit artikel laat ik dus even links liggen

• Kortepeter, M.G.; Cieslak, T.J.; Eitzen, E.M. "Bioterrorism". In: Journal of Environmental Health, jan. 2001, pp. 21-24.

dit werk daarentegen bevat 21 cited references wat tamelijk veel is. Nadeel hier is dat het werk niet uitsluiten over Aum Shinrikyo gaat en eerder toegespitst op het wetenschappelijke aspect van de gifgasaanval. Ook dit werk is dus niet geschikt.

• Gardner, R.A. "Lost in the cosmos and the need to know" ('A.', Mori Tatsuya's documentary of Aum-Shinrikyo). In: Monumenta Nipponica 54 (2), Sophia University, Tokyo, 1999, pp. 217-246.

dit artikel bevat maar liefst 83 cited references en kan dus een vrij wetenschappelijk verantwoord artikel zijn. Bovendien is het uitgebracht door de gerenomeerde Sophia-universiteit (Tōkyō) in de Monumenta Nipponica, een tijdschrift dat garant staat voor

9 Robert Kisala kwam ik al 3 keer eerder tegen en moet waarschijnlijk wel een vrij gerenomeerd auteur zijn in verband met dit onderwerp.

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kwaliteit.

• Lifton, Robert Jay. "Reflections on Aum Shinrikyo". In: Journal of Personal & Interpersonal Loss 3 (1), Taylor & Francis Inc., Philadelphia, januari 1998, pp. 85-97.

dit werk bevat geen cited references, maar de auteur ervan zou een jaar na publicering van dit artikel een vrij invloedrijk boek over Aum Shinrikyo op de markt brengen. Daarom is dit artikel zeker het nakijken waard.

f) Ebsco Host Ebsco Host is ook een belangrijke databank om eens een kijkje in te nemen. Ebsco Host doorzoekt talrijke magazines/tijdschriften op trefwoorden en biedt van bijna 1560 tijdschriften zelfs full-text artikels aan, verspreid over verschillende vakgebieden. Ik ga mij beperken tot het doorzoeken van de Academic Search Elite. Hier zoek ik op trefwoord 'Aum Shinrikyo'. Hier vind ik een heel deel artikels over Aum Shinrikyo, waaronder enkele in Full Text (dit heb ik weergegeven als [Full Text] vlak na de verwijzing), afkomstig uit minder wetenschappelijk Amerikaanse tijdschriften en kranten, zoals bv. Newsweek, NY Times:

• Begley, Sharon. "Study the Lessons Of Aum Shinrikyo" (cover story). In: Newsweek vol. 138 issue 19, 2001, pp. 36-37. [Full Text]

• Cameron, Gavin. "Multi-track Microproliferation: Lessons from Aum Shinrikyo and Al

Qaeda". In: Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, Vol. 22, Aflevering 4, pp. 277-310. [Full Text]

• Landers, Peter. "Despite Its Past, Japan's Aum Lives On". In: Wall Street Journal - Eastern Edition vol. 238 issue 63, 2001, p. A13.

• "Two Sentenced to Death for 1995 Gas Attack on Tokyo Subways". In: New York Times

vol. 149 issue 51453, 2000, p. A10.

• Sims, Calvin. "Japan Sect's Name Change Brings Confusion and Fear". In: New York Times vol. 149 issue 51277, 2000, p. A8.

• "Japan Gas-Attack Sect Linked to Abduction". In: New York Times vol 149 issue 51275,

2000, p. A8.

• Sims, Calvin. "Japan Software Suppliers Linked to Sect". In: New York Times vol 149 issue 51315, 2000, p. A6.

Ik heb er slechts enkele uitgehaald. Er waren er immers meer dan 200. Als je de titels van de artikels in kwestie bekijkt, zie je dat het hier zuivere journalistiek betreft en dus minder relevant voor mijn werk dan academische bronnen. Natuurlijk moet de journalistiek niet volledig genegeerd worden. Er ligt immers een schat aan informatie in al die artikels. Het komt er echter op aan het kaf van het koren te scheiden en de relevante informatie dus te onderscheiden van de journalistieke kunstgrepen om het geheel aantrekkelijker te maken. Enkel verifieerbare informatie kan van enig belang zijn, gissingen van de journalist in kwestie zijn dat niet. Vooral journalist Calvin Sims van de New York Times is blijkbaar zeer actief i.v.m. Aum Shinrikyo. Ik vond van hem geregeld artikels terug.

g) Japanse bronnen: NacSis – Webcat

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• Takeoka, Toshiki (竹岡俊樹), 「オウム真理教事件」完全解読 <Aum Shinrikyō Jiken> Kanzen Kaidoku (Het Aum Shinrikyō-incident: een volledige analyse), Tōkyō, Uitgeverij Bensei, nov. 1999, pp. 286.

• Shimozato, Masaki (下里正樹), 悪魔の白い霧 : 追跡ドキュメントサリン事件とオウム真理教 Akuma No Shiroi Kiri : Tsuiseki Dokyumento Sarin Jiken To Aum Shinrikyō (De witte mist van de duivel: een diep documentair onderzoek naar het Sarin-incident en Aum Shinrikyō), Tōkyō, Uitgeverij Pocket Book, 1995, pp. 260.

• Egawa, Shōko (江川紹子 ), 「オウム真理教」裁判傍聴記 <Aum Shinrikyō> Saiban

Bōchōki (Aum Shinrikyō: Verslag van het proces) Tōkyō, Bungei Shunju, 1996.

4. Wat is nu wetenschappelijk belangrijk? Welke schrijvers/boeken zijn zeker van kapitaal belang in verband met het thema Aum Shinrikyo?

a) Een interessante book-review In de Oost-Aziatische Bibliotheek vond ik nog iets zeer interessants: Steinhoff, Patricia G. Three Paths to Enlightenment about Aum Shinrikyo. In: Journal of Japanese Studies vol. 27 issue 1, 2001, pp. 143-153 Dit is misschien niet zozeer interessant omwille van de inhoud dan wel omwille van de cited references. Het artikel in kwestie is eigenlijk geen artikel, maar een gecombineerd book review van drie basiswerken over Aum Shinrikyo (deze drie zijn al eerder vermeld in dit werk):

Lifton, Robert Jay. Destroying the world to save it: Aum Shinrikyo, apocalyptic violence, and the the new global terrorism. New York : Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt, 1999, pp.374. Dit boek wordt zeer regelmatig vermeld op het Internet en bovendien heb ik er een hele reeks book reviews van aangetroffen, o.a.

• Graf, N.W. "Destroying the world to save it. Aum-Shinrikyo, apocalyptic violence, and the new global terrorism by Lifton, RJ". In: International review for the history of religions vol. 48, Bril Academic Publishers, Leiden, 2001, pp. 224-227.

• Finan, W. "Destroying the world to save it. Aum-Shinrikyo, apocalyptic violence, and the new global terrorism by Lifton, RJ". In: Current History 99, Current Hist Inc. Philadelphia Press, april 2000, pp. 186-187

• Kristof, N.D. "Destroying the world to save it. Aum-Shinrikyo, apocalyptic violence, and the new global terrorism by Lifton, RJ". In: New York Times, NY, 1999, p. 40.

• Hupp, S.L. "Destroying the world to save it. Aum-Shinrikyo, apocalyptic violence, and the new global terrorism by Lifton, RJ". In: Library Journal, Bowker Magazine Group Cahners Magazine Division, NY, September 1999, pp. 216-217.

Reader, Ian. 2000. Religious Violence in Contemporary Japan: The Case of Aum Shinrikyo.

Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2000, pp. 304. Ian Reader is volgens verschillende websites een kenner op vlak van nieuwe religies in Japan en Aum Shinrikyo. Dit boek heb ik meer vermeld gezien op websites dan het vorige, maar een stuk minder book reviews van gevonden:

• Stockdale, J. "Religious violence in contemporary Japan: The case of Aum Shinrikyo by Reader, I." In: Journal of Religion 82 (1), Univ Chicago Press, Chicago, januari 2002, pp. 147-148.

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Metraux, Daniel A. Aum Shinrikyo and Japanese youth. Lanham, Md : University Press of

America, 1999, pp. 130. Dit laatste boek van Metraux lijkt mij iets minder invloedrijk dan de twee vorige, vermits ik het niet zo vaak ben tegengekomen. Toch heb ik er enkele book reviews van teruggevonden, o.a. in de Japan Quarterly. Daar Metraux nog enkele andere boeken/artikels heeft geschreven i.v.m. Aum Shinrikyo, beschouw ik hem toch ook als een kenner van het onderwerp.

b) Besluit Ik zou dit deel van mijn werk willen besluiten met een lijstje van enkele auteurs die ik – op basis van mijn zoektocht en bevindingen – beschouw als basisauteurs i.v.m. Aum Shinrikyo. Eerst en vooral de drie auteurs die hier boven vermeld zijn: Robert Jay Lifton, Ian Reader en Daniel A. Metraux. Verder zijn er nog Robert Kisala, David Kaplan en zeker ook Susumu Shimazono. Ik heb ook eens enkele van de belangrijkste werken gaan opzoeken bij een online-bookshop, nl. www.amazon.com. Een interessant gegeven bij deze site is de functie “Customers who bought this book also bought”. Hiermee kun je dus zien welke boeken in direct verband staan met elkaar en welke de basiswerken zijn, alhoewel dit natuurlijk geen absoluut bewijs is en zeker verre van academisch. Toch vond ik het het vermelden waard. Zo stond bijv. bij elk boek dat ik opzocht over Aum, onderaan in het lijstje het boek van Lifton vermeld. Dit boek beschouw ik daarom als hoofdwerk, wanneer het specifiek over Aum Shinrikyo gaat. Ik had vooraf een soort van plan in mijn hoofd om aan deze paper te beginnen, maar zoals het met alle werkjes is, vind je dan zaken die je op een ander spoor zetten. Dit gebeurt ook tijdens het zoekproces. De eerste dag dat ik de databanken had afgespeurd, ging ik weg met idee dat Robert Kisala en Mark Mullins zeer belangrijke auteurs waren, waar ik mij op moest concentreren. Daarna ben ik deze twee auteurs weinig of niet meer tegengekomen, en kwamen er andere auteurs op het voorplan, zoals Robert Jay Lifton, die dan ook inderdaad een echte autoriteit bleek in verband met Aum Shinrikyo.

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Hoofdstuk 3 Bespreking van een artikel

a/ Opdracht In dit deel ga ik proberen mij specifiek toe te leggen op één artikel en proberen na te gaan wat de auteur juist wil bewijzen met de tekst in kwestie, wat hij/zij uiteindelijk bewezen heeft, hoe dat bewijs is opgebouwd. Welke theorie(ën) heeft hij/zij hierbij gebruikt en vanuit welk standpunt wordt het thema aangepakt?

b/ Zoeken naar artikels Artikels waren er in overvloed. Maar een geschikt, academisch verantwoord artikel over dit onderwerp vinden is niet zo gemakkelijk. Over het gebrek aan academisch materiaal i.v.m. Aum wordt ook geklaagd in het eerste deel van het artikel dat ik uiteindelijk gekozen heb: “As a small-scale group of about 10,000 members, Aum has not been extensively studied. Aside from the media coverage that has reported Aum's various scrapes with the law since 1989, and mostly since the subway attack, Aum's own publications, a couple of "instant books" rushed out since the police investigation began, and a single book by the investigative reporter Shoko Egawa, no literature of volume or substance is available on Aum. There is no work of an academic nature, and the experience of journalists covering Aum has arguably had a chilling effect on scholars who might otherwise have taken up the subject. After publishing a mildly critical work on Aum, Egawa was subjected to personal attacks by members of the religion and her apartment was gassed. In the absence of academic research, scholars, no less than the general public, have been heavily dependent on media representations for their understanding of this religion and the nerve gas attack.”10

c/ Bespreking van het artikel Het artikel in kwestie is van de hand van Dr. Helen Hardacre, professor in Japanse Religie en Samenleving aan het Reischauer Instituut voor Japanse Studies van Harvard University. Ze heeft ook enkele jaren research gedaan in Japan en heeft gewerkt aan de universiteit van Princeton. Artikel: Hardacre, Helen. Aum Shinrikyo and the Japanese Media. A Publication of the Japanese Policy Research Institute. Ik vond het op volgende URL: http://www.jpri.org/public/wp19.html (laatst bezocht op 27-05-2002) De tekst heb ik achteraan in dit werk bijgevoegd. Zoals de titel al laat uitschijnen, wil Dr. Hardacre het hebben over de link die er bestaat tussen de media en Aum Shinrikyo. Hoe hebben de media het zo ver laten komen? Op welke manier heeft Aum de pers misbruikt zonder dat de journalisten het zelf beseften? Waar zijn de media zelf bewust of onbewust in de fout gegaan? Hoe hebben zij zich concreet uitgelaten over Aum-activiteiten? Was er veel infiltratie van Aum-leden aan de top van de media ? Dr. Hardacre formuleerde het zo: “How did the structure of news-gathering in Japan come to bear on coverage of the Aum incident? This is a question that can be addressed by examining the coverage of the religion since its founding.”

10 Hardacre, Helen. Aum Shinrikyo and the Japanese Media. A Publication of the Japanese Policy Research Institute, p. 2

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De schrijfster gaat dus inderdaad stap voor stap na hoe de acties van Asahara en zijn Aum Shinrikyo driester werden en hoe de media daarop reageerden: passief of actief? Zo vermeldt ze o.a. het eerste voorval waarmee Aum in de publieke belangstelling kwam. De Sunday Mainichi had Aum gelinkt met de verdwijning van een advocaat en zijn familie. Dit kwam de krant en zijn hoofdredacteur niet ten goede en zij werden gedurende maanden gepest en belachelijk gemaakt door Asahara's simpele ontkenningen van alles – een techniek die trouwens de vaste verdedigingstechniek was van Asahara. Volgens de auteur is de toegeving die de media hier gedaan hebben om Asahara te ontzien, achteraf gezien een kapitale en quasi onvergeeflijke fout gebleken. De kranten en tijdschrijften hebben toen – om zichzelf te beschermen – geen zelfstandig onderzoek uitgevoerd naar de feiten en zo maar op passieve wijze aanvaard wat de politie hen vertelde. Dr. Hardacre claimt dat ze, indien ze dit wel gedaan hadden, Aums terroristische activiteiten een halt hadden kunnen toeroepen vooraleer deze escaleerden. De media hebben niet enkel een fout gemaakt door passief verslag te brengen (ook in de Matsumoto-gasaanval, waarbij ze de op niets slaande verdachtmaking van een lokaal burger zo maar voor waar aannamen) en niet naar de waarheid te zoeken, maar ook door Asahara te vernederen. In de nationale verkiezingen van begin de jaren '90 werd de Shinri Party van Aum schandelijk vernederd (Asahara zelf werd zelfs verslagen door zijn protégé). Toen hij een maand na deze nederlaag een bijeenkomst organiseerde voor 1000 Aum-leden op een eiland, liep deze volledig in het honderd omwille van massale tussenkomst van de pers, die dacht dat een collectieve zelfmoord op til was. Zo werd Asahara tweemaal vernederd en dit versterkte enkel zijn idee dat hij de Messias was en dat hij de wereld moest redden van de ondergang. Na de Tokyo-gasaanval was er een onderzoek ingesteld naar Aum. Maar om de aandacht van de media af te leiden van het hele voorval, plande Aum de moord op één van haar topfiguren rechtstreeks op tv buiten aan het hoofdkwartier van Tokyo. Aum schoof deze moord in de schoenen van een onbekende organisatie, speelde zelf het slachtoffer en leidde zo de media-aandacht af van het onderzoek. Dr. Hardacre vraagt zich ook af wat de rol van de regering en de politie is geweest. Er zijn heel wat onduidelijkheden geweest i.v.m. bewijsstukken die niet vermeld werden, onderzoeken die geboycot of zelfs niet aangevat werden. Ook van de regering heeft Aum lange tijd bescherming genoten en met allerlei wetten slaagden ze erin om via het nationale rechtssyteem hun gedachten door te drukken. De publieke opinie vandaag in Japan is over het algemeen van mening dat, indien de media vanaf het begin onafhankelijke onderzoeken ingesteld hadden naar de Aum-praktijken, de terroristische activiteiten van Aum misschien rapper aan het licht waren gekomen. Zo had men waarschijnlijk de Tokyo-catstrofe kunnen vermijden De media hebben ook aan zelfkritiek gedaan en hebben achteraf zelf toegegeven dat ze te belust waren geweest op sensatie (zoals bv. die georchestreerde moord op tv) en op die manier misbruikt waren geweest door Aum Shinrikyo. Op het einde probeert Dr. Hardacre nog een verklaring te vinden voor de opkomst en het succes van dergelijke Apocalypspredikende doemsektes. Volgens haar ligt die verklaring in de talrijke sf-reeksen en sf-films van de jaren '70, '80 en '90. Hier een duidelijke theorie in terugvinden is vrij moeilijk . Maar je zou kunnen stellen dat Hardacre uitgaat van een zeer typisch, modern concept, nl. dat onze huidige informatiewereld fel beïnvloed wordt door de media (kranten, televisie, tijdschriften), internet, dvd, etc. Het laatste decennium is de mens er meer en meer van overtuigd dat een groot deel van onze wereld, van ons denken, … quasi gemanipuleerd wordt door de media. Ook een element in haar logica aangaande deze sekte en haar expansie is het feit dat ze de schuld van alle terroristische daden en andere misdaden niet enkel en alleen legt bij diegene die ze uitgevoerd heeft of laten uitvoeren heeft, maar ook bij diegenen die ze hadden kunnen vermijden (in dit geval de media, de regering). Dit is een element dat regelmatig terugkomt in onze maatschappij. Wanneer er bv. een grote massamoord in voormalig Joegoslavië aan het licht

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komt, moet premier Kok verdwijnen, want hij had het kunnen tegenhouden. Wanneer Dutroux ontsnapt, moet de Minister van Justitie aftreden, want hij had voor betere faciliteiten en diensten kunnen zorgen zodat zoiets niet kon gebeuren … De reeks verkeerde tussenkomsten en nalatigheden van de media die hier door de auteur worden opgesomd werpen inderdaad een heel ander licht op het uitgroeien en ongestraft kunnen opereren van Aum. De schuld voor het paranoïde gedrag van Asahara volledig op de schouders van de media schuiven, is wellicht overdreven, maar Hardacre toont in elk geval overtuigend aan dat de media een beschamende hoofdrol speelden in het morbiede succesverhaal van Asahara en zijn sekte.

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Maarten Bommerez 2e KAN JAPANOLOGIE

AUM SHINRIKYO EN DE MEDIA

Enkele jaren geleden was Japan volledig in de ban van de sekte Aum Shinrikyo en zijn leider Asahara Shôkô. 11 De sekte zette Japan in rep en roer door in 1995 een nooit eerder geziene terroristische aanslag uit te voeren op Japanse bodem. Een aanslag die het leven kostte aan twaalf mensen. Maar Aum had naast de gifgasaanval in de metro van Tokyo nog veel meer misdaden op zijn geweten. Hoe was het mogelijk dat deze sekte jaren ongestraft kon moorden en misdaden plegen? 12

De meeste van deze misdaden waren onbekend bij het grote publiek of werden door de media totaal verkeerd geschetst. Dikwijls waren de media te mild voor de sekte.13 Daarom is de publieke opinie in Japan er ook van overtuigd dat de media niet helemaal vrijuit mogen gaan in het geval Aum Shinrikyo. Dit geldt ook voor de politie en overheid, die misschien wel beïnvloed werden door verborgen Aum-leden met belangrijke functies.

For reasons that also remain unclear, the police were reluctant to undertake an investigation of a religious body at that time, and the media did not seriously question the police's hesitation. (...) The weight of Japanese public opinion now holds that had the police pursued the Sakamoto kidnapping more vigorously at the time, Aum would never have been able to move on to crimes of a larger scale. 14

De media zelf realiseerden zich ook dat het zeer goed mogelijk was dat ze een rol hadden gespeeld in de expansie van Aum Shinrikyo.

The media have since been self-critical of their sensationalism, and also for having allowed themselves to be used by Aum. Perhaps the most devastating conclusion is the charge that, had the media been more vigilant in independent, investigative reporting, beginning with the kidnapping of Attorney Sakamoto and his family, and also after the Matsumoto sarin gas attack, Aum's involvement in terrorist activities could have been exposed, thus averting the Tokyo subway sarin attack. 15

Dr. Helen Hardacre gaat dieper in op de link tussen Aum en de media. Hoe gebruikte de pers Aum Shinrikyo en omgekeerd? Hiervoor werkt zij enkel argumenten verder uit. Zo heeft ze het o.a. over de kidnapping van en moord op anti-Aum-advocaat Sakamoto Tsutsumi uit Yokohama en zijn familie in 1989. 16 De Sunday Mainichi had Aum gelinkt met deze verdwijning. Dit kwam de krant en zijn hoofdredacteur niet ten goede en zij werden gedurende maanden gepest en belachelijk gemaakt door Asahara's simpele ontkenningen – een techniek die trouwens de vaste verdedigingstechniek was van Asahara. Volgens Dr. Hardacre is de toegeving die de media toen

11 Zijn echte naam is Chizuo Matsumoto. Afkomstig uit een extreem arme familie uit Kyûshû en bijna volledig blind geboren, waande hij zichzelf al snel de wereldverlosser en stichtte de Aum Shinrikyo sekte in 1987. 12 In zijn boek over Aum Shinrikyo, "Destroying the world to save it", vertelt Dr. Lifton over deze misdaden de verhalen en ontwikkelingen hierond (Lifton, Robert Jay. Destroying the world to save it: Aum Shinrikyo, apocalyptic violence, and the the new global terrorism. New York : Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt, 1999, pp.374) 13 Bijvoorbeeld toen een onschuldige 'local' uit Matsumoto beschuldigd werd van de gifgas-aanval op Matsumoto (waarbij enkele rechters omkwamen) en Aum de rol van het slachtoffer speelde. Bij deze slachtoffer-rol stelde de media zich nooit vragen. cfr. Hardacre, Helen, Aum Shinrikyo and the Japanese Media. A Publication of the Japanese Policy Research Institute. <http://www.jpri.org/public/wp19.html> (27-05-2002) 14 ibid. 15 ibid. 16 voor meer informatie: CESNUR. “Aum Shinrikyo And Related Controversies”. 11-09-2000. <http://www.cesnur.org/testi/aum_037.htm> (27-05-2002)

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gedaan hebben om Asahara te ontzien, achteraf gezien een kapitale fout gebleken. De kranten en tijdschrijften hebben toen – om zichzelf te beschermen – geen zelfstandig onderzoek uitgevoerd naar de feiten en zo maar op passieve wijze aanvaard wat de politie hen vertelde.

Nog in verband met advocaat Sakamoto verscheen in 1996 in de Sunday Mainichi hetvolgende:

Tokyo Broadcasting System Inc. (TBS) executives confirmed at a news conference Monday that network employees had shown a group of AUM Shinrikyo followers a videotaped interview with anti-AUM lawyer Tsusumi Sakamoto. (...) Sakamoto and his family were abducted and murdered about a week after the tape screening, on Nov. 3, 1989, allegedly by AUM followers. Police believe that AUM leader Shoko Asahara ordered the killings after being told about the interview. (...) The taped interview, which was never aired, was supposed to have been for a TBS news report about the cult. The AUM members, including high-ranking cultist Kiyohide Hayakawa, were allowed to see the tape before the report was aired and, after protesting about it, TBS decided not to air the interview, according to prosecutors and some AUM followers.

(Mainichi Daily News, 26-03-1996) 17

Ook hier is sprake van een vrij actieve rol van de kant van de media. Er wordt zelfs bijna letterlijk gesuggereerd dat de media de schuld dragen voor de verdwijning en de moord op Sakamoto.

Toen Aum later in maart 1995 zijn meest drastische aanslag pleegde in de metro van Tokyo, lieden de media zich weer misleiden. Aum wilde de pers-aandacht afleiden van het gifgas-onderzoek en ensceneerden de moord op één van hun topmannen van de technische divisie (die de bio-bommen ontworp) op nationale televisie. De media doorzagen de leepheid van Aum niet en staarden zich blind op die moord in kwestie (de beelden ervan werden eindeloos herhaald op televisie). Zo slaagde Aum er weer in de pers naar zijn hand te zetten. 18

De reeks verkeerde tussenkomsten en nalatigheden van de media die hier worden opgesomd werpen inderdaad een heel ander licht op het uitgroeien en ongestraft kunnen opereren van Aum. De schuld voor het paranoïde gedrag van Asahara volledig op de schouders van de media schuiven, is wellicht overdreven, maar het toont in elk geval overtuigend aan dat de media een beschamende hoofdrol speelden in het morbiede succesverhaal van Asahara en zijn sekte.

17 Kanzaki, Masahide <webmaster@kanzaki.com>. “Guide To Broadcastings In Japan” 14-07-1998 <http://www.kanzaki.com/jpress/broadcast.html> (27-05-2002) 18 cfr. Hardacre, Helen, Aum Shinrikyo and the Japanese Media. A Publication of the Japanese Policy Research Institute. <http://www.jpri.org/public/wp19.html> (27-05-2002)

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Aum Shinrikyo and the Japanese Media by Helen Hardacre On March 20, 1995, an attack on the Tokyo subway was carried out using sarin gas. Eleven people died, and over 5,500 required hospital treatment. This event is the largest incident of terrorism on Japanese soil in history and one of the most destructive disasters Japan has experienced in the postwar period. Its psychological impact was magnified by having occurred during a protracted recession and close on the heels of the Kobe earthquake of January 1995, in which large areas of that city were destroyed and thousands lost their homes. The religious group, Aum Shinrikyo (Supreme Truth Sect) was quickly linked to the subway gas attack, and a full-scale investigation of the religion began on March 22. As the police investigation unfolded, jailed leaders of the sect confessed not only to the subway attack but also to a June 1994, sarin gas attack in the city of Matsumoto in which seven died and over 600 were injured; to the November 1989, kidnapping and murder of an attorney (and his wife and infant son) who was representing relatives of Aum members with various claims against the religion; to the kidnapping and drugging of would-be defectors and holding them against their will; to seizing the property of unwilling converts; to other gas attacks on train and subway stations following the March 20 attack; and to spraying defectors or enemies of the group with deadly VX gas or murdering them. Attempts at defection were frequently punished by torture and beating, and extreme punishments were meted out to members guilty of nothing more than having fallen in love with a fellow member. The investigation of the sect has also uncovered a great stash of arms, including a Russian helicopter and other military equipment, as well as a vast stockpile of chemicals for making sarin, VX gas, and mustard gas. If the confessions are to be believed, the religion's blind founder Shoko Asahara either ordered or approved all these activities, which were carried out by a small circle of youthful leaders carefully cultivated by him. Asahara has confessed that on at least one occasion murder was carried out on his orders, in his presence, by strangulation. It is alleged that other killings were carried out at his behest by drug overdoses and by submerging still conscious people in water so hot that they later died. Attempts on the lives of those sheltering Aum defectors, using the deadly VX gas, have been reported. Jailed leaders have confessed that the bodies of the dead were destroyed in special microwave ovens or buried in shallow graves. Further gas attacks on the train and subway stations of Tokyo and Yokohama continued into July. No one could fail to be shocked by the continuing tide of revelations about Aum, but the incident has also been the occasion for great soul-searching by scholars of Japanese religions. There are 184,000 registered religious groups in Japan today, and academic research documenting beliefs and activities exists for only the largest and most significant of these. Nevertheless, it is clear that Aum is a conspicuous exception to general trends in religious life in Japan as a whole. The members of most Japanese religions--including the so-called new religions--marry, work, and live in ordinary society and are distinguishable from other people only by their religious beliefs. Although some believe, like Aum, that the millennium (and an accompanying apocalypse) is near, most do not. Never before has a Japanese new religion been associated with terrorism. As a small-scale group of about 10,000 members, Aum has not been extensively studied. Aside from the media coverage that has reported Aum's various scrapes with the law since 1989, and mostly since the subway attack, Aum's own publications, a couple of "instant books" rushed out since the police investigation began, and a single book by the investigative reporter Shoko Egawa, no literature of volume or substance is available on Aum. There is no work of an academic nature, and the experience of journalists covering Aum has arguably had a chilling effect on scholars who might otherwise have taken up the subject. After publishing a mildly critical work on Aum, Egawa was subjected to personal attacks by members of the religion and her apartment was gassed. In the absence of academic research, scholars, no less than the general public, have been heavily dependent on media representations for their understanding of this religion and the nerve gas attack. Much media commentary has been devoted to the centrality within Aum of young, highly educated male leaders, especially those with post-graduate training in the sciences and technology. There is also a significant cadre of young female leaders, whose jobs in Aum seem to have involved fields as

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diverse as accounting, medicine and nursing, overseeing factory work, and the daily administration of communes housing hundreds of "ordained" members. Scientific experiments to manufacture chemical and biological weapons have been carried out on Aum properties by Aum's "scientists" since at least 1992. These carefully recruited young scientists, engineers, active members of the Self-Defense Force, a few members of the police who were Aum believers, as well as the religion's medical personnel, mostly in their twenties and thirties, have been arrested and charged with a variety of criminal offenses. As Aum leaders, they are among the ordained of the religion, and most of them joined while still university students, or at even younger ages. The final disposition of all the criminal charges against them and Aum's founder could take years and could result in the death penalty for seventeen people. How did the structure of news-gathering in Japan come to bear on coverage of the Aum incident? This is a question that can be addressed by examining the coverage of the religion since its founding. Before 1989, there was virtually none. The founder, Asahara, took his present name late in life. He was born as Chizuo Matsumoto in rural Kyushu, the son of a tatami-maker. The family was extremely poor--a poverty unusual in Japan by the time of Asahara's birth in 1955. Several of Asahara's six siblings were born blind, and he himself has only about 30 percent vision in one eye and is completely blind in the other. He was technically eligible to attend public school, but the family passed him off as completely blind in order to receive the public assistance granted to the families of handicapped children. Residing at a blind school from the age of five or six, Asahara easily became a leader, as the one pupil who could see at all and thus escort the other students into town. There he could also indulge in small pleasures, such as the coffee shop, for which the others paid. He developed high ambitions and predicted that he would eventually become Prime Minister. When he failed to be admitted to a university, however, Asahara trained as a masseur--a traditional occupation for the blind in Japan--and eventually moved to Chiba (within an hour's train ride to the center of Tokyo), where he established a massage business-cum-pharmacy and married his present wife, Tomoko. He was interested from childhood in various types of divination and astrology, but expressed no interest in organized religion until after he was arrested in 1982 for manufacturing a fake medicine made of tangerines. Soon thereafter, Asahara became a follower of the new religion Agon Shu for about two years, leaving it to study with a guru in India*. This resulted, in Asahara's judgment, in his achieving full enlightenment in 1986, when he returned to Japan and proclaimed himself to be the only fully enlightened master in Japan. Asahara established his sect with a group of about fifteen devotees of yoga. In 1987, the group was renamed Aum Shinrikyo, and in 1989 it registered with Metropolitan Tokyo as a religious body, giving it tax exempt status. At the time it claimed about 4,000 members, of whom 380 were "ordained" (shukke), meaning that they lived communally, took vows of celibacy, and cut off contact with the outside world, usually donating all their assets to the religion. Almost no Japanese new religious movements other than Aum live communally, cutting all ties with the outside. In Aum's case, the ratio of "ordained" to non-ordained members is very high (much higher than in traditional temple Buddhist sects, where it ranges from 0.17 in the Nara schools to 0.65 percent in the Tendai sect). The approximate ratio of the ordained to the non-ordained members of Japanese Christian churches is 1.1 percent.

Media Clashes Aum would probably have remained unknown had it not been for its confrontation with the weekly newspaper Sunday Mainichi in the autumn of 1989. On October 2, the newspaper began to run sensational interviews with six families who claimed that Asahara had "stolen" their children--he same sort of charges that earlier newspaper exposes had leveled against the new religions Genri Undo and the Jesus Ark in the 1970s and 1980s. Whereas other religions subjected to press attack had largely reacted passively, defensively, or not at all, Aum shocked the press by going on the offensive. Aum fought back against Sunday Mainichi, and this resistance incited other tabloids, television, and radio to join in the attack against the religion. Asahara and top Aum leaders demanded a meeting with Sunday Mainichi's editor, Taro Maki, and informed him that they planned to retaliate. They lined up cavalcades of cars outside Maki's private residence and papered his neighborhood with leaflets criticizing him and his paper. These leaflets were also pasted up in the toilets of Sunday Mainichi's offices and throughout the building the paper

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shared with other companies. Aum followers besieged Maki's house with unending telephone calls. Handbills calling Maki a muckraker and worse were distributed in every place he might be embarrassed. Eventually, this strategy yielded sufficient media coverage so that Aum leaders were invited to be interviewed on TV to present their side of the story. In this and many subsequent encounters with the media, Aum developed an ability to use criticism as a chance for self-promotion, defending itself vigorously and never compromising or admitting wrong-doing. This meant that if an announcer leveled a charge of some kind at the religion, the Aum leader simply denied the charge. Almost never were the interviewers sufficiently well-prepared with their own information so that they could effectively counter such a denial. In other words, the media lost all authority in live interviews with Aum leaders, as many media figures themselves have pointed out. The clash with the Sunday Mainichi received a novel interpretation within Aum. The religion is highly syncretic and declares that it contains the essence of all religions. In this syncretism, Buddhism plays the largest role, and Aum holds that the ideal path for believers is to progress through Theravada and Mahayana forms to the ultimate "stage," Tantrism--its own adaptation of Tibetan Buddhism. At the same time, however, and not always reconciled with Buddhist ideas, Hindu and Christian motifs are also very prominent. Asahara considers the Hindu deity Shiva, Lord of Destruction, to be his supernatural guru, but Christian ideas have arguably come to equal the Buddhist doctrinal component. Thus the narrative of Jesus' election, persecution, and sacrifice came to play a central role, and in this case the slander of the religion by the tabloid was taken as a fulfillment of the prophesy in Matthew 24:9 ("Then they will hand you over to be tortured and will put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name.") Slander at the hands of the tabloid came to be understood as proof that, besides being the only fully enlightened being in Japan, Asahara was also the Lamb of God. To return to the history of Aum, events began to unfold very quickly in late 1989. A group of parents sought to force the religion to produce their "children" or to return assets that had been acquired illegitimately through forced "donations." They formed an organization and acquired legal representation through a group of attorneys in Yokohama, headed by Tsutsumi Sakamoto. Sakamoto had had several angry meetings with Aum leaders and their attorney, and Sakamoto's group had accumulated much testimony as to parental grievances, seizure of assets, strange rituals, and other information certain to discredit Aum. In the early morning of November 4, 1989, Sakamoto, his wife, and infant son vanished without a trace. When colleagues managed to enter his residence, they found an Aum badge, and discovered that the three--and their bedding--had disappeared, but not their wallets, coats, or other items a person would ordinarily take when going out. Although the furniture was in its usual place, there was blood on the walls. The Sakamotos' whereabouts remained a mystery for six years, until June 23, 1995, when several arrested Aum leaders confessed that they had kidnapped the family, murdered them, and buried them in three separate locations. During the six-year interval, the initial police investigation had stalled for reasons that are not entirely clear. Although Sakamoto's connection with Aum was immediately suspected as having led to the family's disappearance, Asahara and other group leaders were allowed to leave Japan freely for overseas travel, showing that they were never seriously targeted by the police. For reasons that also remain unclear, the police were reluctant to undertake an investigation of a religious body at that time, and the media did not seriously question the police's hesitation. The Sunday Mainichi debacle a mere month earlier was probably sufficient to intimidate the most intrepid investigative reporter, and the reporters at the press clubs merely acted as mouthpieces for the police. The weight of Japanese public opinion now holds that had the police pursued the Sakamoto kidnapping more vigorously at the time, Aum would never have been able to move on to crimes of a larger scale. By early 1990, Aum's membership had grown to about 5,000, of whom around 800 (or sixteen percent) were "ordained" and living communally, supported by donations, the assets they signed over to the religion, and the proceeds of various businesses the group acquired. Asahara's next venture was to have the bulk of the membership register their official residence in metropolitan Tokyo. In the February 1990 general election, Asahara and twenty-four of his leaders stood for election to the Diet from the political party he had formed for this purpose, the Supreme Truth Party. The party's anthem consisted chiefly of a repetition of Asahara's name set to music, and he campaigned with followers

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who wore elephant masks or papier mache likenesses of his own head. He seemed to be genuinely shocked when all of Aum's candidates went down to ignominious defeat and--to make matters worse--Asahara's handsome spokesman, Fumihiro Joyu, got more votes than Asahara himself. When he learned of his humiliating defeat, Asahara attributed it to a conspiracy against him by the Japanese government. Clearly it was time to regroup. In April 1990, Asahara took 1,000 members to a remote island in the Okinawan chain--Ishigakijima--for a retreat-style seminar. This large-scale movement of the religion's members so soon after its unanticipated electoral defeat led the media to suspect that Asahara was planning a mass suicide, a la Jonestown. Thus the 1,000 Aum members were joined on the tiny island by hundreds of journalists. The local inns were equipped for only a few hundred people, and the rest spilled onto the beaches. The result was a disaster so complete that the retreat had to be called off, even though each Aum attender had coughed up 300,000 yen for the trip. Writing in Declaring Myself the Christ, Asahara reflected on the double humiliation of the election and the failed Ishigakijima retreat, and says that on October 23, 1991, he realized that he was the Messiah. He revealed that in the last days of the world a small remnant of his followers might be saved but that he himself would be sacrificed for all humanity.

The Communes Meanwhile, beginning in around 1988, Aum had also launched plans to build a utopia named Shambala. In the "Japan Shambala Plan," communes would be established throughout rural Japan. Each commune would be a "Lotus Village" where Aum's ideal way of life could be realized to perfection, and the communes would be models of self-sufficient agriculture. It was also thought they would attract large numbers of new converts. In order to establish the communes, however, large amounts of capital were needed, and so the membership was pressed hard to increase its donations. At this time, Aum expected that its communes would coexist peaceably with ordinary society--a hope that soon met with severe disappointment. Many of Aum's confrontations with the media have originated in disputes regarding land. Two aspects of land tenure have been most problematic, from the point of view of the local administrations affected. First, Aum's purchases of large tracts of land in rural areas have sometimes been made without the seller realizing that a religious group was the intended buyer. Sometimes the religion has tried to conceal its identity in order to forestall opposition by buying land through one of the thirty-odd companies it controls. Second, the subsequent registering of a large number of Aum believers as official residents in tiny rural hamlets has been regarded as upsetting the administration of the area, threatening to take over these local governments through the ballot box. The most notable of several clashes occurred in Namino Village in Kumamoto Prefecture and in Kamikuishiki Village in Yamanashi Prefecture, only a few hours by expressway from central Tokyo. A proposed land purchase in the city of Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, became the occasion for the June 1994 sarin gas attack in which seven people died, including two judges who were to have decided the case in court. In each area where the religion has sought, since mid-1989, to acquired large land-holdings, opposition movements of local residents have been formed to prevent it, and media coverage has generally championed the rights of long-time residents to "protect" their area from an influx of outsiders. Much like the case of the followers of the late Guru Rajneesh in Oregon, who gained control of the small town of Antelope Springs by registering large numbers of his followers as voters, democratic institutions can serve the ends of religious societies very well. In Japan, as in Oregon, local people were fearful of the intentions of an unknown sect with large numbers of (to them) crazy-looking believers living in unconventional communal arrangements. Aum now claims 10,000 members in Japan, of whom 1,200 are ordained. Aum's commune residents are mostly young people, but many have converted as married couples with children. Like unmarried ordinands, couples take vows of celibacy and live apart after their ordination, and children are separated from parents and live in special housing where they receive education within the religion. The life of the ordained adult is mostly filled by work in Aum's factories and businesses, with any spare

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time devoted to meditation and study of Asahara's writings and sermons. It has emerged through police investigation since late March that the ordained also manufactured weapons, chemicals, and poison gas in facilities resembling scientific plants. In land disputes, Aum could claim that the fears of local people rested merely upon ignorance and prejudice (since locals knew nothing of the activities of the "plants"). Each of these incidents allowed Aum to insist on its right to purchase land anywhere it wished, highlighting its skill in utilizing the legal system to press its claims. The media generally reacted as if it were an affront for a religion to be so forceful and deft in its deployment of legal claims, and so swift in replying to media critiques. In general, these incidents had the effect of escalating the confrontation between Aum and the media. But the possibility of peaceful coexistence between the Lotus Villages and local communities also receded in the wake of Aum's electoral defeat and continued publicity about its attempts at local land acquisition. In response, the apocalyptic streak that had always existed in Asahara's thinking began to loom increasingly larger. Aum's rejection by rural communities led to his ever greater conviction that he was the Lamb of God who was sure to be sacrificed. Speaking of the refusal of local administrations to register his followers as legal residents, he wrote, ". . . these are all part of the practice as a Lamb who was slain." Around the end of 1993, Asahara began to predict the destruction of his religion. Up until that time, the group's main recruitment strategy was the promise of supernatural powers to be gained through the practice of yoga. But this rhetoric was superseded by warnings of a fearful apocalypse. In October 1993, Asahara referred publicly to sarin, VX gas, and mustard gas for the first time, saying that Aum was preparing for Armageddon. He had come to believe that a great and shadowy power (which he identified variously as the U.S. or Japanese governments, the Freemasons, the Jews, or other Japanese religious groups such as Soka Gakkai) sought to create a single world government, and that a third World War was imminent. In this fiery end to the world, Mt. Fuji would explode, Japan would be attacked with nuclear weapons, and only the most advanced of his disciples would survive. "Armageddon cannot be avoided. However, if Aum produces many advanced practitioners, damage may be decreased. One quarter of the world's population will be destroyed in Armageddon, but how many others survive will depend on Aum's work for salvation." Asahara believed that it would be necessary to have 30,000 enlightened disciples in order to survive the coming apocalypse, and the group was well short of that number of ordained members. To increase their number, Aum began pressing its membership very hard to increase conversions and ordinations. Rhetoric claiming that those failing to heed the call would perish in Armageddon and burn in hell thereafter created an escalating sense of urgency. In March 1994, Asahara gave a sermon in which he predicted that if he failed to confront the state, his disciples would be destroyed.

The Gas Attacks By the time of the Matsumoto sarin gas attack of June 27, 1994, Aum seems to have renounced all hope of peaceful coexistence in society, and Armageddon replaced all thought of Shambala. If the confessions of currently jailed Aum leaders are to be believed, the religion was trying to purchase land to expand a small non-residential yoga center that it operated in Matsumoto. The seller had been under the misapprehension that he was selling to ordinary buyers, and when he discovered that Aum was the actual purchaser he attempted to have the sale annulled. The matter was being pursued in the courts, but Asahara feared the decision would go against him. Apparently to forestall an unfavorable verdict, Asahara and his top science lieutenant Hideo Murai decided to assassinate the judges presiding over the case. At midnight on the night of the attack, Asahara and around 100 leaders met at a restaurant owned by Aum in Tokyo for a special ceremony initiating a new organizational structure for the religion. Henceforward, it was to have the form of a sovereign nation, and accordingly its various functions were called "ministries." Asahara took the title "King of the Law" (law in the sense of dharma, the Buddhist teaching, ho-o). The leaders present took oaths of loyalty to Asahara, and those directly involved in the Matsumoto attack returned immediately to Kamikuishiki. There, at around 4 a.m., they set in motion the plan they took to be the new nation's first act of war.

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Under Murai's direction, science workers in Aum had previously prepared four special vehicles for use in attacks with sarin gas. Using small refrigerated trucks, they sealed off a compartment in the rear of the trucks so that sarin could be mixed there by remote control, operated by computer from a compartment in the front of the truck, the entire process monitored by video cameras. Once the gas was mixed and the vehicle was driven to the desired spot for release, the rear door of the truck would open by remote control, and the gas was dispersed by fans. When the gas was fully released, the truck drove away, leaving a large area covered in deadly fumes. The twelve Aum followers arrested by late July 1995, on charges connected with the Matsumoto attack say that the original plan was to attack the court building (which is shared with the Matsumoto police) during business hours, and that it was only because of a scheduling mix-up that Murai switched the target to the apartment block utilized by the District Court and set the time for late at night. The attack resulted in the deaths of seven people, including two judges and one court staff member, and injury to 600 others, as well as the deaths of domestic animals, and the withering of trees and smaller plants. The attack followed numerous reports by the residents of nearby Kamikuishiki of chemical leaks, some so foul as to require evacuation of local people and residents in Aum facilities. Unfortunately, it was not until much later that the police or the media took these reports seriously, and more than a year passed before any arrests were made in connection with the case. In the interval, the police leaked word to the media that they suspected Yoshiyuki Kono, the first local resident to report the attack. Suspicion focused on him, apparently, because he possessed agricultural chemicals and fertilizer. Aum followers at Kamikuishiki, including Asahara, immediately went on TV to claim that they were the victims of the attack, which they charged had been carried out from planes and helicopters by members of the U.S. military. Incredibly, this strategy allayed police suspicion. The police suspected instead that Kono might have accidentally produced the deadly gas while attempting to mix fertilizers, and subsequently tried to cover his tracks by phoning the police. He was never formally charged, but because the police continued to suspect him, and because they did not arrest anyone else until July 1995, he remained under a cloud. Tragically, his wife remains in a coma. The media passively accepted the police's lame suspicions about Kono and did nothing to press for an investigation of Aum at the time. As a result, police investigations remained stalled until the July 1995 confessions by Aum leaders. When these came out, every major newspaper and the regional papers published apologies to Kono for their role in his continuing ordeal. The same confessions that cleared Kono's name revealed that the Matsumoto attack was not Aum's first use of sarin gas. The group began experimenting with sarin in 1992 at Kamikuishiki, and in 1993, on an Australian sheep property some forty miles east of Perth. This activity remained secret until May 1995, when twenty-four sheep carcasses were discovered buried on the property, evidently experimental victims of sarin manufactured there. The first human target was Daisaku Ikeda, Honorary President of the largest new religion in Japan, Soka Gakkai. Aum scientists twice attempted to assassinate him with sarin before they developed the truck method of attack employed at Matsumoto. The attempts on the life of Ikeda ended in technical failure, and one of the Aum scientists had to be hospitalized for effects from the gas. After the subway attack, a massive police investigation was officially launched, but without any formal reference to the Tokyo attack. Instead, it was billed as a search for Kiyoshi Kariya, a notary public who had disappeared in the midst of a property dispute with Aum on February 28. In fact, of course, the real purpose was to collect evidence that would allow the police to make charges linking Aum to the subway attack. The media registered its collective recognition of this strategy by splicing together shots of the subway attack and the police investigation, a much stronger message than caveats to the effect that no formal charges had been made against the religion in connection with the subway attack. The media did not, however, question the legality of the investigation's strategy, its precedents, or its justification. In the midst of television's increasingly canned and repetitious coverage, the sense of horror and immediacy broke through again when, with cameras rolling, the head of Aum's Science and Technology Group, Hideo Murai, widely recognized as the second in command, was assassinated on live TV. The stabbing occurred around Aum's heavily-guarded Tokyo headquarters in the Aoyama district, when the victim was actually surrounded by TV cameramen and police escorts. The assassin turned out to be a Korean-Japanese, who said he was a member of a right-wing group outraged that Aum had, in his eyes, impugned the imperial dignity. Whoever orchestrated the assassination stole

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control of Aum coverage away from the TV networks, which were momentarily unable to stamp the event with their own interpretation. Instead (like the scene of Jack Ruby killing Lee Harvey Oswald) they simply played the tape of Murai's murder again and again. The media have since been self-critical of their sensationalism, and also for having allowed themselves to be used by Aum. Perhaps the most devastating conclusion is the charge that, had the media been more vigilant in independent, investigative reporting, beginning with the kidnapping of Attorney Sakamoto and his family, and also after the Matsumoto sarin gas attack, Aum's involvement in terrorist activities could have been exposed, thus averting the Tokyo subway sarin attack. Since the arrests and confessions, the media have attempted to analyze the appeal of Aum, particularly to young, well-educated men and women. The organizing principle frequently utilized by the media is that of social and cultural change in postwar Japan, prefaced by the phrase "the Japan which has become affluent" (yutaka ni natta Nihon). Scholars of religion in Japan regularly point out that the new religions that flourished just after 1945 recruited people who suffered from poverty, illness, and poor human relations (usually in their marriages or at work). Those new religions founded or coming into prominence since the mid-1970s differ significantly from their predecessors in that their membership is affluent, healthy, and not principally concerned with human-relations type of questions. Instead, they have sufficient leisure and material security to concern themselves with the meaning of existence, questions about the purpose of human life, and their personal spiritual potential, whether for wisdom or the acquisition of supernatural powers. While pockets of poverty may remain in Japan, the last fifty years have seen an immense growth in prosperity, and, according to this perspective, materialism has run its course. Too much consumption is empty and meaningless; now a turn to spiritual concerns becomes both possible and necessary. One thoughtful line of inquiry has sought to discover the roots of the pursuit of spiritualism in the science fiction narratives that have so pervasively influenced contemporary youth culture in Japan. Since the 1970s, a number of immensely popular science fiction narratives have been produced on television and film, which young Aum members would have encountered as children and adolescents. These tales share a dystopic setting in the future, after a great apocalypse in the form of war and/or environmental destruction. "The Voyage of the Battleship Yamato" is representative. Set in the year 2199, the earth is under attack from the mysterious planet Gamilus, bombarded with meteors, and facing imminent destruction from radiation pollution. Earth receives a message from Stasha, of the planet Iscandar, in the Mazeran galaxy, some 148,000 light years away. Stasha promises to bestow on earth a device to cleanse it of nuclear pollution: the Cosmo Cleaner. (This is also the term used in Aum for the air filters installed in the science plants.) Earth's greatest warriors construct the battleship Yamato, using a blueprint for an engine that can achieve warp speed. Setting out for Iscandar to retrieve the promised Cosmo Cleaner, they fight a terrible battle with Gamilus. Finally arriving at Iscandar, they find that it is actually a double star, joined to Gamilus, and that both planets have reached the end of their existence. The Yamato defeats Gamilus in a final battle and returns to earth with the Cosmo Cleaner. While the Battleship Yamato emphasizes a dystopic future, apocalyptic confrontations, and the spectre of total extinction, it also features a principle of evil which is unimaginably strong, and whose motives are unknowable. This evil force is bent on destruction, and only a complete commitment to destroy it can save the earth before the righteous themselves are destroyed. One side or the other must perish; coexistence is impossible. Aum's portrayal of immense forces bent on its destruction--whether the Jews, the Freemasons, or other imagined enemies--clearly parallels this motif. Because the earth must be saved from pollution, the war against evil is also a struggle for purity, which in this narrative is to be won through science. Aum uses purification rituals to "remove bad karma." These include drinking huge quantities of water, cleaning the nose by pouring in quantities of salt water and expelling it from the mouth, and purifying the internal organs by having devotees swallow long strips of cloth which are then pulled back out of the body to remove impurities. Ideas about purity also play a central role in Asahara's concept of himself as a savior. While he requires celibacy and a strict vegetarian diet of his disciples, he is married, has six children, and eats meat. He believes that the initiations he bestows on disciples constitute an exchange in which he infuses them with his spiritual energy but takes into himself all their sins and pollutions. Thus he atones for the misdeeds of all humanity by bearing their results in his person, in the form of blindness and a variety of physical ailments from which he claims to suffer, including liver cancer.

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The media may be satisfied with this explanation for Aum's appeal. But for scholars and the rest of society, other issues remain. What are the rights of children and the young in matters of religious freedom? How can these be reconciled with the claims of parents demanding unrestricted access to and supervision over their progeny who have withdrawn from society to follow a religious regimen? How can communal religious associations coexist with local communities, each exercising the full range of democratic rights, without either misusing democratic institutions to subjugate the other? How can religious organizations enjoy freedom of religious belief and practice while the state exercises its obligation to protect the young and vulnerable? How can society simultaneously uphold the rights of privacy and religious freedom on the one hand, while protecting itself from terrorist attack on the other? These questions are central to the conduct of all democratic societies, and, seen in this light, there is little here that is uniquely Japanese, or that does not have a counterpart in the recent history of religions in the United States. * Editor's Note: For the founder of Agon Shu's response to Asahara's activities, see Kiriyama Seiyu, Oum shinrikyo to Agon Shu (Tokyo: Hirakawa Shuppansha, 1995). ** Editor's Note: As this Working Paper was going to press, further, quite shocking details were coming to light in Tokyo about Aum Shinrikyo's manipulation of the media. In late October 1989, just prior to the disappearance (and, as we now know, murder) of lawyer Sakamoto and his family, TBS television was successfully pressured by Aum not to air an interview with Sakamoto in which he detailed some of the evidence he had accumulated against the cult. It now appears from notes taken by a high-ranking member of the cult that several of them were actually shown the videotape at TBS and that they told the broadcasters they would not make public this fact. TBS also kept quiet and informed neither Sakamoto (who might have taken greater steps to protect himself) nor the police after Sakamoto and his family disappeared. HELEN HARDACRE is director of the Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies and the Reischauer Institute Professor of Japanese Religions and Society at Harvard University. She is the author of many books on Japanese religion, including Shinto and the State, 1868-1988 (Princeton University Press, 1989). A longer version of this paper was published as an East Asian Institute Report by Columbia University.