Japan marked the 24th anniversary Wednesday of a deadly sarin nerve gas attack on Tokyo's subway system carried out by the Aum Shinrikyo cult, which killed 13 people and injured more than 6,000 others. In a memorial ceremony at Kasumigaseki Station, relatives of the victims ...
Executed former Aum member Yoshihiro Inoue left over 5,000 pages of personal notes
Former senior Aum Shinrikyo member Yoshihiro Inoue wrote personal notes until just before his execution in July, a nonfiction writer has said. The notes, written on 400-character manuscript paper, amounted to over 5,000 pages, Ryusho Kadota, who has been acquainted with Inoue's parents for 23 ...
Ex-Aum cultist Makoto Hirata has 'no special feelings' about Shoko Asahara's execution
Makoto Hirata, a former Aum Shinrikyo executive, says he has “no special feelings” about the execution last month of Shoko Asahara, the founder of the now-defunct doomsday cult.
Authorities have decided to permanently preserve trial records of criminal cases involving the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult as part of efforts to prevent a repeat of the serious crimes committed by its members, Justice Minister Yoko Kamikawa said Friday. "Their crimes were unprecedented, and similar ...
Aum executions fail to end debate over cult's motives
The execution of 13 members of the religious group Aum Shinrikyo in two rounds on July 6 and 26, including the group’s 63-year-old leader, Shoko Asahara (whose real name was Chizuo Matsumoto), for the 1995 subway sarin attack and other crimes, was hardly a ...
The same ground that bred Aum Shinrikyo — and its crimes — may still be with us today.
Japan sends last six Aum death row inmates to the gallows
Some speculate the Justice Ministry wanted to draw a curtain on the shocking crimes before the end of the Heisei Era, set for next April.
The following is a chronology of events related to the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult and its founder, Shoko Asahara, whose real name was Chizuo Matsumoto: March 2, 1955 — Matsumoto is born in Kumamoto Prefecture. February 1984 — Asahara forms group Aum Shinsen no Kai. July 1987 ...
Whether or not people support the death penalty, they should be given enough information about the system and its implementation to make an informed judgment on the issue.
While the execution of cult founder Shoko Asahara may offer a degree of closure on a string of crimes that shocked Japan, it also creates an opportunity for further debate about the death penalty.
Ex-Aum member Yoshihiro Inoue's last words: 'I didn't expect things to turn out this way'
A former senior member of the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult that perpetrated the deadly Tokyo subway sarin attack in 1995 said just moments before his execution last week that he did not foresee such an ending, but remained calm and thanked his parents, an ...
Fourth daughter of executed Aum guru Shoko Asahara wants his ashes to be scattered at sea
The fourth daughter of executed Aum Shinrikyo cult founder Shoko Asahara, who was reportedly designated by the former guru to receive his remains, wants his ashes to be scattered in the Pacific, her lawyer said Wednesday. "(Asahara's) ashes bear grave importance to followers" of Aleph, ...
