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July 12, 2025
 

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AUM SHINRIKYO

Tokyo police declared that Japanese young men and women were simply "not accustomed to one another’s society" due to their cultural upbringing — and thus freewheeling dance venues and foreign customs needed to be reined in.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Jun 4, 2025
Japan Times 1925: Tokyo police impose curfew on ‘social dances’
In June 1925, concern over “the moral effects of the Western dancing” on Japanese youth led to restrictions on social venues.
Some of the photos related to Aum Shinrikyo, taken by Seiichi Takeuchi, are displayed at an educational facility in Fujikawaguchiko in Yamanashi Prefecture.
JAPAN
May 18, 2025
1,400 photos donated to remember horrors of Aum Shinrikyo cult
Kamikuishiki resident Seiichi Takeuchi, 97, waged a battle against the group from the time the cult set up the base in the village's Fujigane district in 1989.
The altar inside the Aum Shinrikyo successor group Aleph's facility located in Tokyo's Adachi Ward, with a photo of former Aum Shinrikyo leader Chizuo Matsumoto displayed, in January
JAPAN
Mar 21, 2025
Aum Shinrikyo successors continue to gain new young members
Successor group Aleph's recruitment tactics are characterized by the concealment of its name and the use of conspiracy theories.
Sachiko Asakawa (left) and her brother Kazuo Asakawa at a news conference in Tokyo in November 2009
JAPAN
Mar 21, 2025
Man recalls effects of Tokyo subway sarin attack on sister
Kazuo Asakawa's sister, Sachiko Asakawa, died in 2020 at the age of 56 after suffering severe aftereffects from the attack.
An altar at the Aleph facility in Tokyo’s Adachi Ward featuring a photo of Shoko Asahara, the founder of Aum Shinrikyo and the alleged mastermind of the March 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system
EDITORIALS
Mar 21, 2025
Thirty years later, Aum Shinrikyo’s horrors are ever-present
Subsequent revelations about the cult proved even more alarming than the 1995 assault. It became clear that the authorities had been worried about the group for some time.
Shizue Takahashi offers flowers and pays tribute to the victims of the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin gas attack by the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult during a memorial service at Kasumigaseki Station on Thursday. Her husband, Kazumasa, who was working as an assistant stationmaster at Kasumigaseki Station, was killed in the attack.
JAPAN
Mar 20, 2025
Tokyo subway sarin gas attack remembered 30 years on
Many survivors of the attack by the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult still suffer from physical aftereffects and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Self-Defense Forces officers engage in the decontamination work of a train at Tsukiji Station on March 20, 1995, the day of a sarin nerve gas attack by the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult.
JAPAN
Mar 20, 2025
1995 Aum Shinrikyo sarin gas attack seen as a turning point for SDF
The sarin gas attack boosted the Ground Self-Defense Force's chemical weapons operations.
A monument stands in Fujigane Park at the former site of an Aum Shinrikyo facility in Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 19, 2025
Former member of Aum Shinrikyo expresses regret 30 years on
The 59-year-old man who has served time in prison admitted to following the doomsday cult's leader despite thinking it wasn't right.
Public Security Intelligence Agency officers enter the headquarters of Hikari no Wa, one of the three successor groups to Aum Shinrikyo, in Tokyo in July 2019.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 19, 2025
Aum Shinrikyo successor groups still dangerous, justice minister says
The minister also expressed concern about the groups' activities in recent years to recruit young people with little knowledge of the deadly attack.
Minoru Kariya, who lost his father, Kiyoshi, in 1995 in an abduction case involving the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult, speaks during an interview in Tokyo in February.
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2025
Aum Shinrikyo victim's son wants continued remorse
Minoru Kariya's father, Kiyoshi, then 68, was killed in an abduction case involving the doomsday cult in 1995.
Tetsu Okumura, former emergency room physician at St. Luke's International Hospital, talks about how he treated the victims of the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system 30 years ago, during an interview last week.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 18, 2025
Former ER doctor recalls fear treating victims in 1995 Tokyo sarin attack
At around 8 a.m. on March 20, 1995, cult members released sarin in train cars on three subway lines in Tokyo during the morning rush hour.
Emergency medical workers treat victims of the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system at a makeshift shelter before they are transported to hospitals on March 20, 1995.
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2025
Japan to preserve medical records from 1995 sarin attack
The health ministry will also interview medical professionals who treated the victims and compile oral records.
Yuki Niimi, the widow of Tomomitsu Niimi, who was executed in 2018 along with other former members of the doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo for their roles in the 1995 sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo subway system, poses with a photo of her husband (front) with cult leader Shoko Asahara, in Osaka in February.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 18, 2025
'Until the very end, he gave no apology': Widow of Aum killer speaks out
Tomomitsu Niimi was behind bars when he met Yuki Niimi, and when they married in 2011.
Passengers that were on a morning train attacked by members of the Aum Shinrikyo group wait for medical assistance outside Kasumigaseki Station on March 20,1995.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Mar 17, 2025
The day a religious cult brought terror to Tokyo
Thirty years after Aum Shinrikyo attacked Tokyo’s subways, the nation continues to prepare for the unthinkable.
Japanese soldiers prepare to go underground amid a sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subway system on March 20, 1995.
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2025
Ex-police official regrets delays in raiding Aum facilities
A former National Police Agency executive regrets failing to raid Aum Shinrikyo bases before the doomsday cult mounted its sarin nerve gas attack in the Tokyo subway system.
The 通勤経路 (tsūkin keiro, commuting route) is a big part of most working Tokyoites’ daily routines.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 14, 2025
From 'commuting' to 'passing through,' meet the kanji that's always on the move
The character 通 is also used to denote avenues and forms of communication.
Shinsuke Kimura, head of the Recovery Support Center, talks about the group's activities during an interview in Tokyo last week.
JAPAN
Mar 3, 2025
Nonprofit supporting victims of 1995 Tokyo sarin attack to disband
The Recovery Support Center was created as many victims complained of problems with their eyes even years after medical examinations began to be offered.
Ahead of the 30th anniversary of the 1995 sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system by Aum Shinrikyo, the Public Security Intelligence Agency launched a special website Friday.
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2025
Special website created 30 years after Tokyo subway sarin attack
The Aum Shinrikyo digital archive covers not only the Tokyo subway system attack, but also other crimes by the cult, including a 1994 sarin gas attack in Matsumoto.
An altar is decorated with a portrait of Aum Shinrikyo founder Chizuo Matsumoto at an Aleph facility in Tokyo this month.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Jun 27, 2024
Japan authorities remain on alert over Aum successor group
Aleph, which has most of the roughly 1,650 worshippers of Aum Shinrikyo's three successor groups, continues to worship the teachings of cult leader Chizuo Matsumoto.
Hiroshi Okudera, a doctor at the Central Japan International Medical Center in Minokamo, Gifu Prefecture, has been passing down his experience of dealing with the sarin gas attack in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, 30 years ago.
JAPAN
Jun 27, 2024
Doctor urges Japan to pass on lessons of Nagano sarin gas attack
Hiroshi Okudera, 68, who treated victims at Shinshu University Hospital, has spent three decades ensuring the lessons from the tragic incident are not forgotten.
Tokyo hit by torrential rainfall at rush hour
People line up at Shibuya Station in Tokyo as they try to avoid the heavy rain on Thursday.
Foreign drivers in Japan to face tougher license conversion rules from October
According to the National Police Agency, there were 75,905 people who converted their foreign driver’s license to a Japanese one in 2024, up from 48,885 in 2019.
Chinese fighters came within 30 meters of Japanese spy aircraft, Tokyo says
A Chinese JH-7 fighter jet makes an near an Air Self-Defense Force YS-11EB surveillance aircraft over the East China Sea this week in this image released Thursday.
Air India crash report to offer peek into last seconds
Members of the Indian Army's engineering arm prepare to remove the wreckage of an Air India aircraft in Ahmedabad on June 14.
What Japanese politics could look like after Upper House election
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who heads the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (center) waves to attendees as he departs after delivering a campaign speech in Yokohama on Sunday.
New IG Arena set to dial down temperature at Nagoya Basho, in a good way
With IG Arena getting glowing early reviews as the Nagoya Basho’s replacement venue, it may be a while before fans wax nostalgic about the Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium.
Once a niche, anime is now mainstream content for Netflix and other streaming services
Though Netflix remains the dominant choice globally for anime viewers, Amazon Prime Video has also invested heavily in anime, steadily adding titles to their catalogue.
NGOs condemn rise in anti-immigrant rhetoric ahead of Upper House vote
Sanseito head Sohei Kamiya holds a board that reads "Japanese First" in Tokyo on July 2. In a joint statement on Tuesday, eight human rights nongovernmental organizations described the far-right party's stance as "hate speech."
Japanese dancers find a home abroad at Houston Ballet
“Giselle” lead Yuriko Kajiya (center), performing with Connor Walsh as Albrecht, is one of six Japanese dancers at Houston Ballet.
From the Abes to the Ohtanis: How siblings shape athletic development
Olympic judoka Uta Abe (second from left) and Hifumi Abe (second from right) with their brother Yuichiro (center) and their parents. “I’m always consciously trying to be a good older brother,” Yuichiro said.

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