You think Dave Spector is the Antichrist: “Issue 6 [of Aum official magazine Vajrayana Sacca] ran a feature [in late 1994] entitled “Manual of Terror: The Jewish Ambition,” which cites the Jewish people and the freemasons [as forces working to destroy Japan and conquer the world]. Of great interest is the article, “WANTED! The Black … Continue reading You know you’ve been in Aum Shinrikyo too long when…
By now everyone knows that Kikuchi Naoko, one of the last members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult wanted for the 1995 sarin gas Tokyo subway attacks, was arrested on Sunday. Although her face had been plastered on posters found in and around pretty much single police and train station in the country, she managed to … Continue reading Kikuchi Naoko’s sarin, as described by another Aum member
Tokyo Court Rejects Aum Cult Leader’s Retrial Plea, Kyodo Says By Stuart Biggs March 19 (Bloomberg) — The Tokyo District Court turned down a request for a retrial for Shoko Asahara, the leader of the Aum Shinrikyo cult who was sentenced to death for the murder of 19 people in sarin gas attacks in … Continue reading No retrial for Asahara – clock ticking
Since I’m running through various Japanese legal topics in preparation to sit some state exams, I thought I would share the pain with all you readers though a fun little quiz: Who appoints the justices of the Supreme Court? What “duties” do citizens have under the Constitution? What are the qualifications to be a member … Continue reading Japanese constitutional law quiz
Tonight I had the privilege to witness my first major police incident around my home station Ayase, an area somewhat notorious for its gang activity, general slumminess, and proximity to Tokyo Detention Center, where the majority of Japan’s high-profile and death row inmates are held. The incident tonight occurred as I was returning from a … Continue reading Gang fight in Ayase
From Mainichi: 3 death row inmates executed Three death row inmates were executed at Tokyo and Nagoya detention centers on Thursday, Justice Ministry officials said. Sources close to the case identified the three as Hifumi Takezawa, 69, and Yoshio Iwamoto, 63, who had been detained at the Tokyo Detention Center, and Kozo Segawa, 60, at … Continue reading Ayase Death Watch: Three Executed Morning of Aug 23, two at Ayase
While we are on the subject of Soka Gakkai, let us not forget that while they may be the largest creepy somewhat religious organization in Japan, they are far from the creepiest. That honor, naturally, goes to our old friends Aum Shinrikyo. Now, Soka Gakkai and Aum Shinrikyo may be rivals in terms of how … Continue reading War of the prophets
Andrew Sullivan says that the most interesting thing about the recently foiled terror plot is that the terrorists were planning on using “liquids” of some kind in the attack. Since the authorities are still being tight-lipped about the actual details of the attack we have no idea what exactly that liquid was, but there are … Continue reading Liquid terrorism
There’s a good article in the LA Times about some of the more extreme members of the three great monotheistic apocalypse cults of the Middle East (in chronological order, Judaism, Christianity and Islam) who take their religion so literally that they are actively trying to hasten the end of this world because, presumably, they just … Continue reading Apocalypse Soon
Tragedy is when I get a papercut on my finger, comedy is when you fall down a hole and die. Case in point, in a moment. Between Aum Shinrikyo and “thallium girl” (as she was often referred to in the Japanese press) there is a rather disturbing trend towards stories involving poison. But they needn’t … Continue reading As Mel Brooks once said,
