Aum Shinrikyo, which was found responsible for the sarin attack and for several murders with VX, the most toxic nerve agent known, is regrouping, recruiting new members at home and abroad, and raising vast sums of money, security officials and Japanese and American terrorism experts say. The U.S. State Department has designated it a terrorist group, although it has not been linked to any illegal acts since 1995.
The resurgence of the sect that masterminded the most serious terrorist attack in Japan's modern history, the officials said, is a result partly of Japan's unwillingness to ban it.
The Tokyo district court deprived Aum Shinrikyo of its legal religious status in 1995 and liquidated its assets after declaring it insolvent the following year.
But the Japanese government decided last year that the Justice Ministry had not proved that the group posed an "immediate or obvious threat" to Japanese society. It rejected a request from security officials to outlaw the sect under a 1952 law against subversive activities. The law has never been applied.
As a result, despite security experts' warnings, Aum Shinrikyo, arguing that the government has effectively sanctioned its existence, has used the decision to rebound.
"There has been no word of repentance or apology," concludes the Public Security Investigation Agency, the main intelligence arm of Japan's Ministry of Justice, in a 70-page report issued in January. Moreover, the document states, Aum Shinrikyo -- the name is the Buddhist mantra "Om" followed by "Supreme Truth" -- has not revised or abandoned "its dangerous doctrine that justifies murder to achieve its ends."
According to the report and interviews with Japanese security officials and independent experts, the group now has about 5,000 followers, including 500 "monks," followers who are "ordained" and live communally. It operates some 28 installations at 18 branches (down from a peak of 24) throughout the country.
Despite being banned in Russia, the group is still active there, as well as in Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan. It maintains encrypted Web sites and chat rooms in Japanese, English and Russian and controls a network of electronic, computer and other stores that generated about $30 million in revenues in 1997. Its publishing company, now its second-largest source of revenue, reopened in April and issues at least one book or pamphlet a month, officials said.
The group is far weaker and poorer than it was at the peak of its influence in 1995, when it owned about 30 pieces of property throughout Japan, as well as a business empire that controlled restaurants, computers and other technology companies. Its net worth was estimated at $20 million to $1 billion. It was also said to have 10,000 followers in Japan and up to 40,000 in other countries, 30,000 of them in Russia.
Still, the group's resurgence deeply troubles security officials, who say they monitor known followers and businesses 24 hours a day and continue searching for three of its leaders accused of involvement in earlier plots and deadly assaults.
Signs of the group's resurgence abound. Among them, say the police and other experts, is Trisal, a store that customizes computer systems at discount prices. The tiny office, four stories up a steep, narrow staircase in a small Tokyo office building, is staffed by very young salespeople and jammed with bargain hunters, most of them also young.
Asked whether the cult had a financial stake in the company, a Trisal spokesman said, "Not really." And a spokesman for the group declined to comment on whether it has a financial stake in Trisal or in any of the other electronics companies that Japanese authorities identify as directly or indirectly controlled by the sect.
But Hiroshi Araki, the spokesman since his predecessor's arrest in 1996, did not deny that Aum Shinrikyo had financial ties to several businesses reportedly owned by or employing its followers.
My guest tonight is uniquely qualified to help us answer these questions. Robert Lifton has wrestled with some of the most disturbing events of the time. Trained in psychology and psychiatry, 40 years ago he went to Hiroshima to listen to the survivors of the world's first nuclear bombing explosion. His book won the National Book Award.
He's also written on the Nazi doctors in Hitler's Germany, Home From The War about Vietnam veterans, and most recently Destroying The World To Save It, a study of the extremist religious Japanese cult. Thank you for being with us.
リフトンさんは、また、「Hitler's Germany」という本の中で、 ナチの医者について、「Home From The War」という本で、ベトナム帰還兵について、
最近の「Destroy The World To Save It」という本で、日本の宗教的過激カルトについて、などを書かれています。リフトンさん、この番組に、お越しくださいまして、ありがとうございます。
RL: I did, it really is. Because we've been hit very hard. There's been an evil act committed on us that can be said in this massive terrorism, and what's scary is the kind of response we might have and the whole process or the vicious circle of violence that could develop from all this.
RL: Yes, one has to try to do that, one can't be certain one is exactly accurate. But when people ask the question, what does bin Laden really want, they assume that it's some specific set of political goals. And it's not that simple. Of course he has political goals, he wants America out of the Middle East and he wants to destroy America.
But there's also an apocalyptic dimension, I called my earlier book Destroying The World To Save It. And that's very much the story with bin Laden. He wants to destroy a major part of the world to purify the world. And that's why where you get into an apocalyptic nonrational vision that's very hard to cope with.
BM: They had taken deadly gas down into the subways of Tokyo, and if it had been a purer form of gas, the casualties could have been tens or hundreds of thousands. And you refer to them as appear apocalyptic group.
RL: That's right, because the guru and his close disciples had this idea that everything around them, ordinary people, the world at large, was defiled, and had to be destroyed because it had no prior contact with purity, namely the guru. It's so wild and absurd idea, but it can be embraced. And that's the apocalyptic side.
RL: I would. I would, because with this apocalyptic vision, there's always an idea of renewal. It's wrong to say that these people have no conscience, they have a whole moral structure. But it's a destructive moral structure and it requires mass killing to realize their moral goals.
And I would certainly put bin Laden there, because he's willing to initiate large scale destruction, as we can see from this event and potentially larger ones, in the name of what's perceived by them always a higher purpose. You can't leave out that vision of a higher purpose if you're to understand what they're after.
BM: Is that what you meant when you once refered to altruistic murderers?
いま、おっしゃられたことは、あなたがかつて利他的殺人と述べられたことと同じなのですか？
RL: Yes, exactly. I talked about them as performing altruistic murder and in their case there was a further idea that in killing someone, you are favoring him or her by initiating a special kind of immortality for the victim, there's a kind of theory which they put forward. With bin Laden it isn't that he's offering us more immortality so, to speak, by killing random people, but there is a parallel idea that the world will be purified and that the renewal will improve the world, will be a service to the world.
RL: Absolutely, the great Satan. That's why i'm very wary of our leaders polarizing the world between good and evil, because that's exactly what bin Laden is doing. He sees us as the evil, and his motive as good and absolutely virtuous. I think we do better by looking into what he's about and the more complex nuances that create terrorism, and do things to minimize terrorism and prevent it.
BM: The Japanese religious cult did have this idea of saving the people they were killing by sending them to a better place. In this case it seems ostensibly that the hijackers, the terrorists themselves were seeking paradise and martyrdom for themselves, not for the 5,000 plus victims in the World Trade Center.
RL: That's exactly right. There's always some immortalizing promise in this kind of apocalyptic violence. And really in a lot of violence, a kind of promise that we overlook. And in the case of bin Laden, and his followers, there is a kind of islamic heaven which they envision, and in a sense they're giving up their life for something greater, in their terms, which is immortality and endless virtue and endless reward.
This episode's guests are Ian Reader, professor emeritus of The University of Manchester, and Erica Baffelli, senior lecturer in Japanese Studies who is also at The University of Manchester. Ian Reader's work on Aum Shinrikyō is widely known in Japan and overseas. Erica Baffelli is also well-known for her work on media and post-Aum religions (Aleph and Hikari no Wa) as well as work with former Aum members. The interviews were conducted on 6 July, 2018, the day the Japanese government released news of the executions of the leader of Aum Shinrikyō, Asahara Shōkō, and 6 other major figures in the organization.
RL: Oh, very much so. And this kind of apocalyptic violence, the impulse is essentially religious, however dark. But there's always a combination of the religious and the political. So Asahara had political and military goals as does bin Laden, but there must be that ultimate religious vision if you're to have this kind of extreme mass murder.
RL: Yes, this fanatical Japanese cult, which combined ultimate zealotry and ultimate weapons or tried to, I saw a very, a piece by a Protestant minister. And he said you can't dismiss this as nonreligion, it's is a form of religion. This man had been promoting Christianity and teaching it and everything else, and he looked at me and said, there is nothing more dangerous than a religious conviction.
CNN English Express編集部 @asahipress_ee https://twitter.com/asahipress_ee/status/1108287543051587584
新生CNN English Expressでは、No.1カリスマ英語講師 関正生先生(@sekimasao)による新連載「『丸暗記いらず』英文法ゼミ」がスタート！読んでいただければ「文法は理解することが一番の近道」だと実感できます。受験生だけでなく、学校の先生にもおすすめです。
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After two games with the Mariners in Japan, where he began a brilliant 28-year professional career, baseball icon Ichiro Suzuki announced his retirement — for good.
It’s been an honor to play next to you. I admire you so much and you have showed me how to be a professional. I will never forget this night. Thank you 51! #HOF
We know it's not our sport, but Ichiro's greatness needs to be recognized. Congratulations on an amazing career, and best of luck in your next chapter. 🐐🇯🇵⚾️🔝
Our utmost respect to Ichiro. His international impact on the game of baseball will be capped in the Hall of Fame. Always professional, always remarkable. We wish him all the best in retirement.
Cooperation comes from friendship, friendship comes from trust, and trust comes from kindheartedness. Once you have a genuine sense of concern for others, there’s no room for cheating, bullying, or exploitation; instead, you can be honest, truthful and transparent in your conduct
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