Japan Authorities Remain on Alert over Aum Successor Group

   Tokyo, June 27 (Jiji Press)--Japanese public security authorities remain on alert over Aleph, a successor organization to the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult, which carried out a sarin nerve gas attack in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, 30 years ago.
   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, who went by the name of Shoko Asahara and was executed in 2018, as dogma. Authorities still believe that Aleph may conduct mass murders.
   Aum Shinrikyo killed eight residents and injured more than 140 in the central Japan city by dispersing sarin gas in a neighborhood late on the night of June 27, 1994.
   "Basically, nothing has changed," an official of the government's Public Security Intelligence Agency who investigated Aum Shinrikyo said of Aleph. The assessment comes as altars decorated with a portrait of Matsumoto, headsets purported to inject the cult leader's brain waves into wearers and videos of his sermons have been found in on-site inspections of Aleph facilities.
   About 45 pct of Aleph worshippers are in their 20s to 30s. The group is believed to have succeeded in attracting young people by soliciting them through yoga classes and psychology seminars while hiding its name.

(2024/06/27-15:27)

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