Yoshiyuki Kono, who lost his wife because of the 1994 Aum Shinrikyo sarin attack in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, has been hired by a spinoff of the cult to inspect its activities.
Led by past Aum mouthpiece Fumihiro Joyu, Hikari no Wa (Circle of Rainbow Light) offered the job to the 61-year-old Kono, who will conduct surveys and hold meetings with its members.
Kono's wife spent years in a coma and eventually died after inhaling the deadly gas during Aum's attack on Matsumoto. Kono, who first alerted police to the attack, which killed eight people, was initially subject to intense police and media suspicion. No arrests were made in the crime until after Aum's 1995 sarin attack on the Tokyo subway system.
Four others, including a Shinto priest and an academic, have also been recruited as inspectors.
"I want to see with my own eyes what Hikari no Wa is actually doing by joining the group myself," Kono said Friday. "I wish to serve as a bridge" for concerned citizens living near the group's facilities.
On Monday, the Public Security Intelligence Agency requested that Hikari no Wa, as well as Aleph, as Aum now calls itself, remain under state surveillance for three more years, claiming condemned cult founder Shoko Asahara retains a strong influence over the two groups.
Hikari no Wa argues its panel of inspectors to monitor its activities should suffice to have the state surveillance ended.
