Religious violence in contemporary Japan - Ian Reader

The Tokyo subway attack in March 1995 was just one of a series of criminal activities including murder, kidnapping, extortion, and the illegal manufacture of arms and drugs carried out by the Japanese new religious movement Aum Shinrikyo, under the guidance of its leader Asahara Shoko. Reader looks at Aum's claims about itself and asks, why did a religious movement ostensibly focussed on yoga, meditation, asceticism and the pursuit of enlightenment become involved in violent activities?

Reader discusses Aum's spiritual roots, placing it in the context of contemporary Japanese religious patterns. Asahara's teaching are examinedfrom his earliest public pronouncements through to his sermons at the time of the attack, and statements he has made in court. Inanalysinghow Aum not only manufactured nerve gases but constructed its own internal doctrinal justifications for using them Reader focuses on the formation of what made all this possible: Aum's internal thought-world, and on how this was developed.

Reader argues that despite the horrors of this particular case, Aum should not be seen as unique, nor as solely a political or criminal terror group. Rather it can best be analysed within the context of religious violence, as an extreme example of a religious movement that has created friction with the wider world that escalated into violence.

'One of the strengths of this study is the careful analysis of primary sources Reader has provided us with an illuminating account of how and why one Japanese religion turned violent. This is not just a book for students of Japanese religion, however. The comparisons and parallels notet between Aum and other new religious movements that have been closely associated with violent eruptions will make this study of interest to many scholars and concerned individuals outside of the field of Japanese studies.' - Mark R. Mullins, Japanese Journal of Religious Studies