Aum member's appeal denied; death penalty ruling upheld
Tokyo Shimbun (13.12.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (21.12.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - In the appeal by former Aum Shinrikyo senior member Kazuaki Okazaki, 41, accused of the murder of lawyer Tsutsumi Sakamoto, his wife and baby as well as a male member of the cult, presiding Judge Yoshimasa Kawabe of the Tokyo High Court Dec. 13 upheld the death penalty that was handed down in the first trial at the Tokyo District Court and rejected Okazaki's appeal.
The judge said that his decision was based on the fact that "Despite knowing
that the act would never be acceptable, Okazaki committed the crime. He murdered four people, including a totally innocent baby, which can only be described as cruel. We can even say that he basically played the leading role."
This is the first death penalty ruling of the appellate court in a series of Aum-related crimes.
The judge at the first trial acknowledged that Okazaki turned himself in to police because of his participation in the series of crimes. Kawabe at the appeal court, however, pointed out that his motivation was not to atone for his crime, but only for "self-preservation," and found him to have no real remorse.
Aum member wins appeal in Nagoya District Court
Tokyo Shimbun (12.12.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (21.12.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - The Nagoya District Court Dec. 12 ordered Nagoya City to nullify the Naka Ward decision to reject the attempted relocation of the Nagoya branch of the cult formally called Aum Shinrikyo (now known as Aleph), and also ordered officials to pay 30,000 in compensation.
"There are no laws stipulating that possible danger from someone moving into an area can be grounds for a municipality's refusal to accept the mover's change of address notification. (Nagoya City's) action was illegal," the court said.
A 31-year-old female cult member initially claimed that it was unlawful for the ward to stop her from filing a change of address notification when the branch was transferred there. She demanded that Nagoya nullify the rejection and was seeking restitution of 1 million.
The decision showed the judge's recognition of the ward's actions, which indicated sympathy with the requests of the local residents, who were fearful of the cult. "The religious group has not yet been wiped out and influential power of its guru and other cohorts still remains.
Based on this kind of understanding, however, the judge decided, "When a mover submits a change of address notification, municipal leaders should accept the document and update its local register.
"Leaders cannot consider circumstances such as organized opposition by local residents," the judge said.
Court upholds death sentence for ex-AUM cultist
Japan Today (13.12.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (17.12.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - The Tokyo High Court on Thursday upheld a death sentence for a former senior AUM Shinrikyo member who murdered an anti-AUM lawyer, his wife and infant son and also a follow AUM member both in 1989.
Presiding Judge Yoshimasa Kawabe affirmed the Tokyo District Court's 1998 death sentence against Kazuaki Okazaki, 41, finding him guilty of killing Yokohama lawyer Tsutsumi Sakamoto, then 33, his wife Satoko, then 29, and their 1-year-old son Tatsuhiko. Sakamoto was at the time leader of a group of lawyers representing families whose relatives joined the cult.
Swindling spiritualists to be spirited away
Mainichi Shimbun (11.11.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (13.11.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - A Wakayama religious group that swindled billions of yen from its followers in the 1990's will break up in the near future, it was learned Sunday.
A spokesman for the group, Myokakuji, admitted that it has operational difficulties following a 1995 police raid in a fraud case and the subsequent jailing of its leader. However, he insisted that the decision to disband is a gesture of defiance, not a financial one.
"We are the victim of a government oppression (against religious groups), which is a part of its campaign against AUM (Shinrikyo)," the spokesman said. "We are no swindlers. Our application to disband is comparable to a ceremonial death to prove our innocence."
Myokakuji submitted an application to disband to the Cultural Affairs Agency on Sept. 28, and it was approved in early November. After sorting out necessary paperwork, the break-up will become formal before the end of January 2002.
However, this is not the first instance of the group dissolving itself. The group was originally known as Honkakuji, but changed its name to Myokakuji in the early 1990s after complaints about its operations mounted among its followers. The Cultural Agency asked the Nagoya District Court to break up the group in 1999, but the court has yet to reach a conclusion.
Courts have ruled that the group's priests squeezed money out of its followers by telling them through their fraudulent "spiritual vision" that if they did not pay up, their lives would be ruined by their ancestors' or stillborn babies' curse.
Over 320 people, many of them housewives, sued Myokakuji demanding the return of the money. The group settled the case by paying out 1.1 billion yen to them in December 1998. Executives of Myokakuji were hit with prison terms in 1999, but are appealing their cases at the Nagoya High Court.
Aum bio-attacks opened Pandora's box
by Akihiko Misawa
Daily Yomiuri (26.10.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (30.10.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - Among the items found in the New Jersey apartment of one of the men suspected of taking part in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the United States was a copy of a U.S. weekly magazine that featured a report on the 1995 sarin nerve gas attacks on the Tokyo subway system, according to a recent press report.
This news comes on top of the rash of incidents involving anthrax-tainted mail in the United States.
On Oct. 5, an American woman who was a passenger aboard one of the Tokyo trains attacked with sarin nerve gas described her harrowing experience at a U.S. House of Representatives hearing.
The Aum Supreme Truth cult, which is responsible for the sarin gas attacks, is one of 28 groups mentioned on a list of foreign terrorist organizations kept by the U.S. State Department.
The list, released Oct. 5, is updated every two years. The Japanese Red Army, a group that shook the world with its radical antiestablishment violence, has been taken off the list, but the Aum Supreme Truth cult remains on it.
This means that Aum, in the eyes of the U.S. government, should still be regarded as a highly dangerous terrorist organization even after the 1995 arrest of Aum leader Chizuo Matsumoto, also known as Shoko Asahara, and the change of the name of Aum to Aleph in January 2000.
It seems that the terrorist group headed by Osama bin Laden has carried out its terrorist activities following the model of crimes committed by Aum.
Investigations have shown that Aum had plans to stage terrorist attacks using not only chemical agents, such as sarin, VX gas and phosgene, but also biological weapons such as anthrax and botulin.
It is natural for the United States to have been highly alarmed by Aum's activities.
When seen from abroad, it seems difficult to understand why the cult is still allowed to continue its activities in this country despite the spate of appalling crimes it committed.
Aum embarked on its campaign of bioterrorism in April 1990.
In February that year, Matsumoto and other high-ranking members of the cult had all been soundly defeated in a general election and were on the verge of losing the support of cult adherents.
It was later reported that Matsumoto around that time drew in his horns for the first time, telling his associates it might be advisable to disband the cult.
It was the idea of resorting to bioterrorism that resuscitated Aum.
As part of his bioterrorism strategy, Matsumoto claimed to be a prophet at an Aum-sponsored seminar on Ishigakijima island, Okinawa Prefecture, telling those attending the seminar that there would be a horrific incident in Japan in the near future.
He went on to say that the only way they could survive was to join Aum and donate all their money and possessions to the cult.
To fulfill Matsumoto's prophecy of armageddon, Aum leaders spread botulinus bacilli in the area around the Diet building.
In 1992, the cult began culturing anthrax. The following year it spread the bacteria in an area in Tokyo, apparently with the aim of killing a large number of people.
Both the botulin and anthrax offensives ended in failure, since the cult was unaware that it had made nontoxic varieties that were used for cattle vaccination purposes.
Aum subsequently shifted to chemical weapons and began manufacturing sarin.
However, the cult did not abandon the idea of using biological weapons.
Immediately before the sarin attacks on the Tokyo subway system in March 1995, Aum members set up a timed device to sprinkle botulinus bacilli in the compound of the Kasumigaseki subway station, located near a large number of central government ministries and agencies. This plan failed because the timer on the device malfunctioned.
While the outcome of these attempts was not what the group expected, Aum was the first nongovernmental organization in the world to have employed bacilli, viruses and lethal chemicals for terrorist purposes.
The Aum incidents prompted many countries to address the threat posed by terrorist use of biological and chemical weapons by stockpiling vaccines and antibiotics, improving steps to counter biological weapons and taking other measures.
Japan, however, was markedly slow in taking such action.
Legislation was passed shortly after the Aum incidents, placing a ban on production, possession and use of sarin and other chemical weapons.
However, there is no law even today to prohibit the use of biological weapons.
At the time of the spread of anthrax by Aum members, prosecutors were unable to investigate the case because of the absence of an antibioterrorist law.
In addition, the government has done little since the Aum attacks to prevent another bioterrorist assault or to improve crisis-management systems in the event of such an occurrence.
Imagine what would have happened if the anthrax Aum made had been a highly toxic strain of the disease, instead of a harmless cattle vaccine.
We must face up to the fact that we ignored the potential gravity of Aum culturing anthrax until the outbreak of anthrax-laced mail in the United States.
Though somewhat slower off the mark than other countries, the government now is working all-out to put bioterrorist countermeasures in place.
However, it is still uncertain whether a medical institution, should it detect a case of infection caused by bioterrorism, would be able to convey the information accurately and without delay to law-enforcement authorities.
Furthermore, nobody knows exactly how many doctors in this country are capable of promptly making a diagnosis and treating such diseases as anthrax and smallpox.
Clearly, Aum opened a Pandora's box of bioterrorism six years ago, and the result has been tragic for the United States.
The Japanese have spent the past six years unaware of what the Aum incidents really meant, or pretending to be unaware of the potential threats involved.
Under the circumstances, no time should be wasted in readying ourselves to face up to the challenges of bioterrorism and chemical weapons.
We must not forget the terror and sense of crisis we had at the time of Aum's sarin attacks on the Tokyo subway system.
Misawa is a deputy editor of the city news department of The Yomiuri Shimbun.
Interest in new religions mirrors social change
by Hiroshi Matusbara
The Japan Times (25.10.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (30.10.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - While the definition of "new religion" varies among scholars and religious groups, the term is generally used for groups founded sometime between the mid-19th century, when Japan started modernizing, and the mid-1970s. Religious groups founded after the 1970s, such as Kofuku-no-kagaku (Institute for Research in Human Happiness), are sometimes referred to as "new-new religions."
Many religions founded before the war were persecuted by authorities during the war and prewar years, a period in which state Shintoism was pushed. In the postwar years, however, new sects have emerged in abundance.
While many of them enshrine either Buddhist figures or Shinto gods, they usually have unique doctrines that differ from traditional religions and are tailored to fit the needs of modern-day followers.
Aside from certain antisocial cults, most maintain respect for traditional religions and enjoy relatively good relations with them, experts say.
While some lasted only a short time, others expanded rapidly along with the country's robust postwar economic growth.
Nobutaka Inoue, professor of religious studies at Kokugakuin University, said 10 percent of Japanese either belong to a new religion or have learned about them through seminars or published material.
"The situation is that everybody in this country has at least one member of a new religion among his or her close relatives," he claimed.
He said new religious groups are successful because they provide city dwellers with a spiritual base they lost when they left their hometowns and the traditional temples and shrines of their youth.
"New religious groups substituted traditional religious affiliations (represented by temples and shrines), which traditionally served a geographical community with fixed members, through the nation's urbanization phase," he said.
But Inoue believes the decline in young converts to new sects reflects the current social changes, including the rapid development of information technology.
"Information technology enables people to pick up specific doctrines or lessons they like online, and people no longer seem to feel they need a specific religion," he said.
Despite the drop in young adherents, Inoue believes young people are becoming increasingly interested in religions and spirituality, as reflected by the emergence of Aum Shinrikyo and other fanatical groups and the increasing fascination with occultism and the supernatural.
Cult brush tars modern faiths
New religions struggle against negative perceptions
by Hiroshi Matsubara
Japan Times (25.10.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (25.10.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - Almost half a year after Nissan Motor Co.'s Murayama plant was shut down, the automaker announced in July it was considering selling a large portion of the 1.39-million-sq.-meter property to a Buddhist organization.
Followers of Buddhist organization Shinnyoen listen to their local branch leader on TV.
The news was greeted with more anxiety than hope by many in communities around the property, which stretches between Musashimurayama and Tachikawa in western Tokyo. It was obvious that Shinnyoen, a Tachikawa-based sect with a 65-year history, would not be able to bring the same economic benefit as Nissan did with its fixed-asset tax payments and spending by the 2,300 workers at the plant.
Also behind some local concerns over the plan was the negative image of Japan's so-called new religious groups, most of which were founded during the last century.
"From an environmental viewpoint, I think hosting a religious facility is better than having another large factory," said a 34-year-old housewife living near the Nissan plant, which is currently being demolished. "But I'm still not happy with this area gaining the image of a home to a new religious group."
Local residents began a petition drive Monday to pressure Nissan to provide the land in manner that enhances the area, such as by selling the site to other industries.
Despite their often decades-long histories and success by some in attracting millions of members, many officials of new religions say they remain hampered by widespread negative perceptions of their groups.
"The general public still seems to have negative perceptions of many of the organizations as money hungry and untrustworthy groups," said Takashi Hirohashi, a spokesman for the Federation of New Religious Organizations of Japan, an umbrella body comprising 68 new sects.
"People tend to view religious organizations as exclusive, antisocial and often fanatical groups led by charismatic individuals, and thus terrifying," he said.
Such images were reinforced when members of cults recognized by public authorities as religious organizations were accused of a variety of crimes in recent years.
In 1995, the country was shocked by the sarin gas attack on Tokyo's subway system, which killed 12 people and injured more than 5,000, and the ensuring arrest of many followers of Aum Shinrikyo. Aum members have been tried since then for a raft of heinous crimes, including a deadly nerve gas attack the previous year in Nagano Prefecture.
In late 1999, the Shizuoka-based cult Honahana Sanpogyo came under the spotlight over a massive fraud. More than 1,200 former followers sued the group, whose leader, Hogen Fukunaga, claimed he could read people's past and future by examining the soles of their feet, luring many to pay huge sums for salvation seminars.
Reflecting such scandals, a 1999 survey conducted by the Institute of Japanese Culture and Classics at Kokugakuin University on more than 4,000 college students nationwide found that 65.8 percent find the term "religion" scary, or at least dubious.
A survey conducted by the Yomiuri Shimbun in 1998 showed that 43.8 percent of 2,015 respondents believe religious organizations collect large donations and 37.3 percent suspect such groups impose their doctrines on people through coercive means. Around 20 percent of the respondents also said such groups engage excessively in business and political activities.
To dispel such negative images, the new-religion federation plans to launch a telephone service next month to answer inquiries from the public and give advice to people who have trouble with religious organizations.
"Unlike cults, most new sects pay respect to traditional religions at the core of their doctrines and have enjoyed good relations with traditional religions and the rest of society," said Hirohashi of the federation.
The 68 member groups of the federation are estimated to have a total membership of 13 million. The federation does not include Soka Gakkai, the nation's largest lay Buddhist organization, which claims membership of some 8.21 million households.
To ease the concerns of the local community, Shinnyoen, which was founded by a Buddhist preacher in 1936 and now has some 796,000 followers, plans to build nonreligious facilities -- including parks and sports and cultural centers -- on part of the 1-million-sq.-meter plot that it plans to purchase from Nissan.
"We are hoping to make space (on the land the group plans to purchase) accessible and spiritually appealing to the public," said Minoru Shitara, a Shinnyoen spokesman.
Shitara also said he hopes the group's planned facilities at the site won't stand out too much from the local scenery.
New religions had experienced steady increases in membership since the end of World War II, but after the 1995 sarin attacks, many groups said they suffered membership declines -- though small -- for the first time in their histories.
For example, Rissho Kosei-kai, the nation's second-largest new sect, had grown from 970,000 households in 1971 to 2.2 million in 1991, but is currently down to 2.15 million.
Also, a problem shared by many is the plunge in the number of younger converts, pushing up the average age of their members.
Hirohashi of the federation said crimes by antisocial cults and money scandals involving profit-oriented groups are not the only factors that induce public distrust in new religions.
"Public distrust in new religions must be a product of our decades of neglect to make collective efforts to win social recognition and respect," he said.
"But also behind it is the declining public respect for religions in general in Japan, which has made religious groups and their sincere followers appear something odd in society."
Yoshiyuki Yamanaka, a spokesman for Rissho Kosei-kai, said established new sects should learn a lesson from the rise of cults such as Aum in recent years.
"Today's people, especially younger generations, expect different things from religions than people used to, and it is doubtful that we have successfully responded to their needs," Yamanaka said.
He added that poverty, illness and personal conflicts were the main troubles that made people knock on the group's door in the early postwar period, when new sects flourished.
"But today's young people seem to be interested in religions in search of their identity or a richer life than a simply materialistic one," he said. "It is questionable whether established groups like ours have given a helping hand to those youths desperate for spiritual guidance, including those who entered Aum."
Japan still hasn't learned from Aum anthrax attempt
by Linda Sieg
Japan Today (13.10.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (15.10.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - Japan got a wake-up call nearly a decade ago to the threat of assaults using biological weapons against civilians when a doomsday cult tried to make their prophecies of Armageddon come true by dispersing anthrax.
Even so, experts say that Japanese officials failed to learn the lessons of the botched attempt by the Aum Supreme Truth cult.
"It is impossible to totally prevent such attacks ... but you can limit the impact," said Keiichi Tsuneishi, an expert on bio-terrorism at Kanagawa University.
"But in Japan, there is no overall system to deal with this."
Experts have been warning of the possibility of chemical or biological assaults for years, but concerns have mounted since the devastating Sept 11 attacks in America and the U.S.-led retaliation in Afghanistan.
In Florida, an employee of a publishing company died on Friday from exposure to anthrax and two more have tested positive for exposure to the bacteria.
The probe into the infection is now being handled as a criminal investigation, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.
The Aum cult made horrific history in March 1995 when its members released the deadly nerve gas sarin on crowded subways in Tokyo, killing 12 people and making nearly 6,000 ill.
What attracted rather less attention was the fact that Aum cult members had two years earlier sprayed anthrax into the air above their Tokyo headquarters.
The fact that it was a harmless strain designed to be used as a vaccine for cattle prevented a disaster from occurring, Tsuneishi said.
"There were complaints from those living nearby about a strange smell," he said. "If this had been a strain from which a bio-weapon could be made, it would have been far more serious."
Perfect weapon
Officials at Japan's National Institute of Infectious Diseases, who received a sample of the anthrax bacteria used by Aum after police raids in 1995, declined to comment.
But Northern Arizona University researcher, Paul Keim, who also obtained a sample, said the anthrax strain was a harmless one imported from the United States and designed for use as a vaccine for cattle, the Daily Yomiuri newspaper reported.
Anthrax has long been known as a disease of farm animals, and in its most common form — a skin infection — is not especially lethal.
But the bacteria that causes anthrax can form spores, which can be sprayed by something like a crop-dusting plane or released by a home-made aerosol.
Some experts have cited Aum's botched attempt as pointing to the difficulties of executing successful biological attacks.
"If Aum had taken more time and been more proficient it might have killed thousands or even tens of thousands," said an article which appeared in Jane's Intelligence Weekly in June 1999.
"In short, chemical, biological and nuclear weapons are harder for terrorists to obtain and to make than some reports would suggest," the article said.
Tighter checks
Jolted into action by the Sept 11 attacks and the Florida anthrax cases, Japanese ministries have begun ordering research institutes to check up on the dangerous bacteria or viruses they possess, report on steps they are taking to control them, and tighten security as needed.
Tsuneishi said, however, that better coordination among ministries was essential, as was raising the consciousness of researchers themselves about potential for theft by terrorists.
In a display apparently intended to demonstrate preparedness, a counter-terrorism police unit recently enacted a drill before television cameras.
The unit was set up last year and has been doubled to 20 members following last month's attacks.
Japan's military, however, has been slow to boost readiness for possible biological attacks, in part due to the legacy of the Imperial Army's top-secret Unit 731, which conducted biological experiments on Chinese, Korean and Russian prisoners of war during World War II, analysts say.
"In general, the capacity to cope is very limited," defence expert Tomohisa Sakanaka told Reuters recently. "It has been thought that for the military even to do research on such things is itself dangerous...We have learned too much from history."
Ex-AUM cultist pleads mind control in death sentence appeal
Kyodo News Service (13.09.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (14.09.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - Defense lawyers for a former senior AUM Shinrikyo cultist asked the Tokyo High Court on Thursday to overturn a ruling sentencing him to death for killing a family and fellow sect member, arguing their client was under mind control by his guru.
The lawyers for Kazuaki Okazaki, 40, pled for leniency in their closing argument of an appeal of the Tokyo District Court's death sentence handed down on Oct. 23, 1998. The ruling was the first death sentence handed down in trials of members of the doomsday cult.
Okazaki admitted that he and other AUM members killed anti-AUM lawyer Tsutsumi Sakamoto, 33, his wife Satoko, 29, and their 1-year-old son Tatsuhiko in November 1989. Okazaki was also convicted of killing former AUM member Shuji Taguchi, 21, in February 1989.
In the appeal, his lawyers asked for leniency, arguing Okazaki was under mind control of the cult's founder Shoko Asahara, 46, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, at the time he committed the killings and that his confession contributed to solving the crimes.
A decision by the Tokyo High Court is expected to be handed down on Dec.13.
Taguchi had threatened to kill Asahara if he was not allowed to quit the cult, according to the district court ruling. Sakamoto was helping parents get their children out of the cult and preparing a lawsuit against it.
Kyodo News Service (29.06.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (29.06.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net The Sapporo District Court on Friday ordered the Unification Church and its affiliates to pay 29.5 million yen to 20 former followers who claimed that their youth was ruined by the church because the church illegally enticed them to join.
Presiding Judge Yoichi Sato acknowledged the mental suffering of the former followers, who are all women, and determined that the church's systematic enticement program is illegal because those who recruit followers ''take advantage of people's weakness while concealing their true purpose of spreading religious teachings.''
''The (enticement) system uses methods which deviate from socially-accepted levels and is feared to violate people's freedom of belief,'' Sato said.
He also said that enticement leads to ''deprivation of followers' properties and unpaid work'' for the church and that it is based on ''unjust purposes'' of increasing the numbers of followers who are destined to suffer the same conditions.
The plaintiffs had sought 91.5 million yen.
Since the Sapporo suit was originally filed in 1988 by one plaintiff, similar suits have been filed at seven other places across Japan. One of those led to compensation payments to plaintiffs and three led to out-of-court settlements.
According to the ruling, the 20 were enticed by Unification Church followers between 1985 and 1991 through questionnaire surveys conducted on the street and seminars. They joined the church when they were students and young company employees.
The women engaged in door-to-door sales of seals and donated money as part of their church activities.
The church has denied that it is engaged in profit making, saying it is a religious body and that its methods of attracting new followers is different from brainwashing.
Masaki Gouro, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, lauded the ruling as the first among similar cases to refer to freedom of belief.
Unification Church officials said that the ruling was ''based on prejudice'' and was ''unjust'' and that it was tantamount to ''profanation'' of those who have faith in the church's teachings. They said the church will appeal the ruling.
In an unusual move, Sato said before handing down the ruling that the court would face criticism for the lengthy hearing of the case, which was originally presented more than 13 years ago.
Rising nationalism impacts Christians
Religious Liberty Prayer List (16.05.2001) HRWF International Secretariat (17.05.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - Japan has a long history of militaristic nationalism based on the Shinto Emperor system, under which Christians suffered persecution. At the end of World War 2 (WW2), Japan surrendered unconditionally on 15 August 1945 and was given a democratic constitution. This included an article renouncing war and arming for aggression.
Japan's Yasukuni Shrine, founded in 1869 by Emperor Meiji, has long been a spiritual centre for the militaristic regime. It is dedicated to the 'souls' of all those who have fallen in Japanese conquests since 1869. After the war, the Allied Command stripped the Shrine of its national identity and it became just another of Japan's religious institutions. This has been a bone of contention with Japan's nationalists.
The Shrine is controversial because it venerates and deifies not only all of Japan's war dead, but also war-time Prime Minister General Hideki Tojo and six other convicted war criminals whose remains are enshrined there. In 1996, nationalist Prime Minister Hashimoto made what he said was a private visit to the Shrine on his birthday.
Japan's new Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi, recently declared that he will make an official visit to the Shrine on 15 August, the anniversary of the Japanese surrender. This will have immense political nationalist significance. As a right wing nationalist, PM Koizumi is actively behind the rewriting of Japanese history books and is seeking to change the constitution so that the 'Self Defence Force' can become an Army with an offensive capability.
All this comes on top of growing Japanese nationalism. Combined with Japan's desperate desire to find its identity in the modern world, the death of war time emperor Hirohito and the enthronement of the new emperor Akihito in 1990 fed this nationalist zeal. On 9
August 1999, a bill was passed that moved Japan away from its 1946 Constitution and back towards its former system of Emperor worship. This legislation recognised the 'Kimigayo' anthem, honouring the Emperor's rule, and the 'Hinomaru' flag, honouring the sun goddess and emperor of the sun. (It still symbolises Japanese aggression.)
Local governments in Japan have tightened their demands for teachers and students to participate in flag and anthem ceremonies -something that amounts to idol worship for a Christian. Teachers refusing to co-operate have suffered pay cuts, been transferred to
isolated locations or fired. The lines between the Japanese State and the Shinto religion are becoming increasingly blurred. On 2 May 2001, evangelical leaders met in Tokyo to discuss the situation. Only 0.8% of Japan is Catholic or Protestant Christian.
The spectre of the Aum Shinri Kyo looms again
Victims of the sarin gas attack are still nursing their wounds
CIP (06.04.2001) / HRWF International Secretariat (08.05.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - The moral wounds inflicted on the Japanese people by the sect Aum Shinri Kyo are far from healed, despite the six years that have passed since the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway that left 12 dead. The Aum sect is still alive and well, report different press agency dispatches. Despite the US$50,000 of promised damages, the police are still searching for three of the individuals thought to be responsible for the attack and the case against the leader of the sect is still dragging on.
The verdict is not expected for several years. It seems to be going on for ever, I dont think I will live long enough to see the end of it, lamented Shizue Takahashi whose husband, the stationmaster was asphyxiated by the deadly gas. On the 19th March 1995, 5,000 people were poisoned in the subway and 12 were killed after members of the sect pierced plastic bags containing the deadly gas. Their aim : to trigger a reaction that would result in a chain of events capable of bringing about the apocalyptic end called Harmageddon preached about and promised by their guru, Shoko Asahara.
A case that will drag on
Seven members of the sect were sentenced to death for crimes committed in 1994, which had resulted in the death of seven people, even then involving sarin gas. As for the case against 45-year old Shoko Asahara, it is running its course and the court has currently reached its 180th hearing. Experts predict that will take at least another 10 years of hearings and appeals before a verdict is reached.
The length of the hearing is linked to the seriousness of the crimes committed and the defendants silence who refuse to speak and swear that Asahara is only indirectly linked with the case. The hearing has been held up by the fact that the prosecution doesnt yet have all the evidence to hand, and the defence fights over even the smallest detail explains Masaki Kito, one of the advocates in the case.
A new look
The sect which was dismantled in 1995 has changed its name, found new leaders, and according to some reports, shrunk from 10,000 members to a few hundred and has currently stabilised at 1,700. In its new incarnation Aleph, it presents its excuses for the crimes committed by Aum and endeavours to indemnify the victims.
An advocate responsible for the liquidation of the goods of the bankrupt sect has revealed that last May the leaders of Aleph approved the payment of US$37.4 million in compensation. The members of the sect still hold the same veneration for Asahara and his teachings, a mix of Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity and New Age, from which it emerges that the end of the world is imminent.
Powerful technological tools
The sect benefits from a regular income thanks to donations from followers and its chain of shops that sell computers at reduced prices, part of the heritage from the old Aum sect.
Despite its low profile, the sect has still had run-ins with the law. Last year, six of its members kidnapped the young son of Asahara, apparently over a power struggle. The police discovered formulas for the manufacture of neurotoxic gas in the car of one of its members. It has been proved that a computer vending company linked to the sect is trying to penetrate government and army information networks. They still have their same obsession about Harmagedon and are still equipped with powerful technological tools. I therefore consider them to be very dangerous, stated Raisuke Miyawake, ex-police officer in the national police and specialist in organised crime.
|
