The Risk of Terrorism: A Study on Aum Shinrikyo, a Japanese Cult

This paper evaluates the emergence of Aum Shinrikyo, a Japanese cult, as a terrorist organization and its involvement in the Tokyo subway attack of 1995. It sheds light on the factors associated with its emergence, its strategies and purposes, and its recent actions and their impact on certain countries and people.

Running head: THE RISK OF TERRORISM
THE RISK OF TERRORISM
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

1
THE RISK OF TERRORISM
Introduction
Acts of terrorism relied on the notion of recognizing the state as a vital system that aims
to influence throughout history. In accordance to this perspective, state as an important of system
constitutes more than a single centre of authority and the annihilation of such authoritative
centres being the primary intention of terrorism. The purpose of terrorism has extensively relied
on abating the influence of state and the dominance of law. However this can further be defined
as a conception of an evaluated consequence1. Since factors related to social, collective,
economic, diplomatic and military power of the state is co-dependent from one other. Thus any
critical assault which pose harm or violence on one of them, tend to affect the other sections of
the state. Thus, such acts are identified as primary causes of the emergence of graded effect by
terrorism. In recent times, terrorist groups in order to create a psychological impact are tend to
implement methods of threat and fear further resulting to target the state and the people in the
strategic level.
As a method, ‘terrorism’ bears no significant ideological or political transformations
which further mitigates the mystification of defining certain ‘freedom fighters’ and the groups
fighting against the Western powers-‘terrorists’. However, with this notion, ‘terrorism’ has
emerged as a process of utilizing various methods of instilling fear within the target audience
with the purpose of achieving predetermined objectives, while ‘terrorists’ and ‘terrorist
organizations’ develop as people and organization whose dominant method of pursue their policy
objectives is regarded as a coercion through fear and anxieties2. The following paper intends to
evaluate of one of the associations of Japan, Aum Shinrikyo that has officially being designated
as a terrorist organization by nations such as European Union, Russia, Kazakhstan and the US by
further shedding light on the factors and areas of concern which led to the emergence of the
terror group. In addition to this, the paper examines certain strategies and purposes which
constitute the group along with its recent actions and the way these actions have been posing
impacts on certain countries and its people.
1 Jenkins, Brian M. "International terrorism: A new mode of conflict." In International terrorism and world
security, pp. 23-59. Routledge, 2015.
2 Holbrook, Donald. "A critical analysis of the role of the internet in the preparation and planning of acts of
terrorism." Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict 8, no. 2 (2015): 121-133.

2
THE RISK OF TERRORISM
Discussion
Overview of Aum Shinrikyo, Japanese Cult
Developing the understanding of ‘terrorism’ as a method suggests that freedom fighters
might attain the propensity to resort to terrorism and notions related to terms such as ‘terrorist’
and ‘freedom fighter’ are not inherently mutually exclusive. Thus, it can be critically stated that
developing the perceptive of ‘terrorism’ as a tactic of instilling fear and threat by several actors
leaves the society with significant number of issues. The later phase of the 20th century has
witnessed an increase in Islamic militancy in pursuit of religious and political goals whereby
several militants had drawn inspiration from the 1979 Islamic Revolution of Iran. Furthermore,
the Sarin gas attack on Tokyo subway executed by one of the prominent terrorist associations,
Aum Shinrikyo in the year 1995 increased immense rate of terror and apprehension among
people. It has further been observed that period ranging from 1980s to 1990s had further
witnessed the rise of terror acts related to single issue terrorism. Aum Shinrikyo further
identified as Aum and Aleph has been considered as a Japanese cult which constitutes an
amalgamation of tenets from Buddhism, Hinduism and revealed immense obsession with the
apocalypse. However, the group began to attain a considerable degree of recognition across other
nations in 1995 during the execution of chemical attack on the Tokyo subway system3.
Thereafter, the organization has been recognized as a terrorist organization and for other
previous attempts for executing biologic and chemical attacks. However, recently the group has
been divided into two vital factions in 2007 which had reportedly been caused because of
internal resistance over challenge to moderate the cult’s religious ideologies and further to
develop its public image4. Furthermore, regardless to the years to indolence, both the groups
have remained under the critical surveillance by the Japanese authorities.
3 Tu, A. T. "Aum Shinrikyo’s chemical and biological weapons: more than sarin." Forensic Sci Rev 26, no.
2 (2014): 115-120.
4 Alqithami, Saad, Jennifer Haegele, and Henry Hexmoor. "Conceptual modeling of networked
organizations: The case of aum shinrikyo." Case Studies in Intelligent Computing: Achievements and Trends (2014):
391-406.

3
THE RISK OF TERRORISM
Factors associated with the emergence of Aum Shinrikyo
Aum Shinrikyo developed as a passive association prior to its development into an
apocalyptic millenarian cult. It has been claimed that at the centre of the group’s ideologies has
been regarded as a form of veneration for the association’s founder Shoko Asahara who
sermonized that the concluding phase of the world was imminent and that the group’s cohort
would only be the significant section of the populace who would survive the apocalypse that has
been anticipated in 1996 or between 1999-20035. Furthermore, the group’s founder had claimed
that the United States would accelerate the Armageddon with the initiation of World War III
with Japan. The Aum cult developed in the later phase of 1990s and significantly aimed to
conquer Japan as well as other nations. It has been observed that the Cult leaders regulate the
followers with a combination of charismatic and coercive leadership. Being identified as a
dutiful unit in 1989 under the Japanese legal system, the association was in action but had been
immensely incompetent in local Japanese elections in 19906. Thus being estranged as a devout
institution under the Japanese legal system in 1995, the Cult encountered a loss of legal status as
well as tax privileges as a religious institution resulting to the violent poison gas attack in Tokyo
subway.
Studies have claimed that the Aum group has been engaged into other illegal activities
prior to the subway attack and furthermore the members have reportedly attained samples of the
Ebola virus in order to utilize other critical biological and chemical agents for the effective
execution of terrorist attacks. However, in the aftermath of one of the most violent 9/11 attack,
the world’s intelligence services have initiated the operations against the antisocial associations
who have been attempting to acquire such materials7. Furthermore, the Aum association in 1990
assailed the Parliament of Japan with botulinum toxin aerosol and after two years reportedly
posed violent attacks to the wedding of the Japanese crown prince. It is significant to note that
the Japan State Department following the violent act of subway attack had initiated its
5 Chomsky, Noam. On power and ideology: The Managua lectures. Haymarket Books, 2015.
6 White, Jonathan R. Terrorism and homeland security. Cengage Learning, 2016.
7 Raevskiy, Alexander E. "Psychological aspects of the Aum Shinrikyo affair." Psychology in Russia: State
of the Art 7, no. 1 (2014): 34-39.

4
THE RISK OF TERRORISM
reinvestigation and stated the organization to be extensively accountable for the sarin subway
attack led to a casualty of seven and injured over a hundred.
Involvement of Aum Shinrikyo in Tokyo subway attack of 1995 (Enablers and
Triggers)
The members of AUM have been reportedly observed to be involved in several deadly
criminal acts prior to the Tokyo subway attack during the mid 90’s, which remained highly
vague and unresolved by the Japanese authorities until they initiated their investigation on the
violent subway gas attack. The violent event occurred on 20th March in the year 1995, between
7:30 AM and 7:45 AM, five men reportedly made an entry into the Tokyo subway system,
carrying each with bags of sarin which vaporized and the fumes harmed hundreds of passengers
who were present in the subway during that moment8. The ongoing investigations of the attack
gradually exposed associations between such presumptions and the previous incidents and thus
the suspicion had shed light on Aum Shinrikyo. However, certain reports revealed that although
cult’s founder had denied any involvement with the deadly subway gas attack, several of the
followers later failed to deny the vital association in the Tokyo and Matsumoto incidents and
further implicated the sect in the 1989 murder of the lawyer along with his family9. Following to
this, it had been further exposed that AUM had attempted the unaccomplished attack of March
15 and was also a significant part in the act of murder of the individuals who were assumed to
have developed animosity towards the cult. Furthermore, series of noxious assessment of the
AUM members continued into the early phase of the 21st century, with over 10 members
receiving capital punishment.
Aum’s involvement in other attacks (Evolution of the Japanese Cult)
Aum’s repeated attempts of executing lethal and violent attacks had been noted to have
initiated five years before the Tokyo subway attack which attained a considerable degree of
attention across the world. The group had been revealed to have made significant endeavours of
8 Tu, A. T. "Aum Shinrikyo’s chemical and biological weapons: more than sarin." Forensic Sci Rev 26, no.
2 (2014): 115-120.
9 Alqithami, Saad, Jennifer Haegele, and Henry Hexmoor. "Conceptual modeling of networked
organizations: The case of aum shinrikyo." Case Studies in Intelligent Computing: Achievements and Trends (2014):
391-406.

5
THE RISK OF TERRORISM
executing around nine biological assaults which however failed to accomplish as per the New
York Times report10. However, it had been exposed through significant evaluation that the initial
strategy of Aum was to exterminate citizens by giving botulin spray, which is identified as one of
the most harmful natural poison to human beings. The team of young scientists not only were
engaged in the cultivation process of this violent attack but further executed several experimental
processes with biological toxins which involved poisons such as botulin, anthrax, cholera as well
as Q fever. However, the transition to chemical arms developed following to the repeated
breakdowns of the biological attacks carried out by Aum11.
Furthermore, several inquiries and analysis as well as legal invasions after the event of
the Tokyo subway attack revealed that the terrorist organization developed adequate ability to
generate around thousands of kilograms of sarin per year. Such increasing level of criminal
competencies further led the terror group to acquire a Russian military helicopter which could
have been utilized for the distribution of gas12. The preliminary strategies implemented by Aum
to produce a terrifying chaotic situation in Japan could not be accomplished in 1993, whereby the
Anthrax spores were exposed from a building located in Tokyo which gave rise to a fetid odour
along with a cause of deaths of birds, tame animals. However, as per the reports of
investigations, the Japanese terror organization sent an investigative team to Zaire in order to
obtain insights and further gather Ebola virus samples in the early phase of 1990s.
It is further to note that Aum apparently had spattered few of the unattained consignments
of natal weapons in the regions surrounding the US military bases during their initial endeavours
which involved the botulin gas13. Furthermore, following the violent terror attack in Tokyo
subway, the Japanese State Department stated that the Japanese official authorities further
10 Chan, Sewell. 2016. "Montenegro Expels Foreigners Linked With Japanese Cult". Nytimes.com.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/30/world/europe/montenegro-japan-aum-shinrikyo.html?rref=collection
%2Ftimestopic%2FAum%20Shinrikyo.
11 Kimura, Rei. Aum Shinrikyo-Japan’s Unholy Sect. Booksmango, 2017.
12 Alqithami, Saad, Jennifer Haegele, and Henry Hexmoor. "Conceptual modeling of networked
organizations: The case of aum shinrikyo." Case Studies in Intelligent Computing: Achievements and Trends (2014):
391-406.
13 Soltaninejad, Kambiz, and Shahin Shadnia. "History of the use and epidemiology of organophosphorus
poisoning." In Basic and Clinical Toxicology of Organophosphorus Compounds, pp. 25-43. Springer, London, 2014.

6
THE RISK OF TERRORISM
investigated and evaluated the propensities of the Aum terror organization to be accountable for
the inexplicable and detrimental attack which at the later phase proved to be sarin on a
residential neighbourhood in the year 199414. However, this attack had been noted as one of the
violent and destructive terror attacks which caused a death of seven and severely injured over
one hundreds of citizens.
Observations and Insights -Japanese Terror Cult’s Most Extensive Non-State
Biological Weapons Programs
The most prominent cult members of the Aum organization as noted had apparently
never been interrogated in any facet of the biological weapons program. Furthermore, the
Japanese officials reportedly exhibited greater degree of inclination in the chemical weapons
program as it resulted in causing high rate of casualties and further led to creating terror attack
on the minds of the people in comparison to the previous biological weapons program which
could not receive any success. However, it remained unexplained whether external analyst had
previously intended to attain any form of accessibility to the imprisoned cult associates, which
could have necessitated the support of the Japanese administrative officials as well as the
Japanese government15.
Recently attained evaluation based on Aum’s biological weapons anti-social endeavours
had developed an argumentative scenario for both reassurance as well as areas of concern and
hostility for the people. The terror organization had seized with challenges which would have
been dealt with several non-state actors of terror acts which had the propensity to employ higher
number of biological weapons, Aum’s anti-social endeavours had been identified as a critical
approach with inherent challenges of deploying biological weapons16. However, it is significant
to note the failure of the cult and the forms of exchanges Aum had encountered had offered
14 Raevskiy, Alexander E. "Psychological aspects of the Aum Shinrikyo affair." Psychology in Russia: State
of the Art 7, no. 1 (2014): 34-39.
15 Kimura, Rei. Aum Shinrikyo-Japan’s Unholy Sect. Booksmango, 2017.
16 Soltaninejad, Kambiz, and Shahin Shadnia. "History of the use and epidemiology of organophosphorus
poisoning." In Basic and Clinical Toxicology of Organophosphorus Compounds, pp. 25-43. Springer, London, 2014.

7
THE RISK OF TERRORISM
information for the policymakers who have been aiming to cause disruptions to any criminal and
antisocial acts of the prospective terror organizations seeking to wield biological weapons17.
However, while some of the cult’s endeavours have been exemplified as aspects of
science fiction, the pursuit of Aum associated with several biological as well as chemical
weapons was based on scientific proficiency to a great extent. It had been noted that chemical
weapons were pursued with and in due course identified as a substitute for the unaccomplished
biological weapons program18. Furthermore, the cult in Japan as per reports had been associated
in manufacturing diminutive quantities of phosgene, hydrogen cyanide along with other harmful
gases such as GF and VX nerve agents and further executed operations of some of these in
certain targeted assassinations consistently without proper achievement. The terror organization
further had been engaged in the production as well as dissemination of larger quantities of sarin,
which facilitated the cult to kill, harm and further cause terror amongst people on several
occasions19. However, though Aum apparently undergone a significant number of experiments
with a various biological agents, it only severely endeavoured to attain and disseminate both the
two botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT), acquired from the bacterium Clostridium botulinum and B.
Anthracis.
Aum’s contribution in deploying most potent poison
Given the areas of confrontations which Aum had encountered along with its crude
approach, the program of cult in producing BoNT predictably could not achieve any significant
success. It had further been noted that several pests which were used as experimental agents in
order to test the ‘yellow fluid’ exhibited no toxic effects. In the advent of the 1990s, Aum
association however distributed outsized volumes of fluid from trucks comprised with
rudimentary spray devices further deploying these in the vicinity of two US Naval bases, the
Narita airport, and the head quarters of a competitive religious organization, Japanese Diet as
17 Seto, Y. "On-site detection as a countermeasure to chemical warfare/terrorism." Forensic Sci. Rev 26
(2014): 23-51.
18 Francis, Matthew DM. "Why the “sacred” is a better resource than “religion” for understanding
terrorism." Terrorism and political violence 28, no. 5 (2016): 912-927.
19 Gregg, Heather S. "Defining and distinguishing secular and religious terrorism." Perspectives on
Terrorism 8, no. 2 (2014): 36-51.

8
THE RISK OF TERRORISM
well as the Imperial Palace20. However, an insignificant segment of people were reportedly been
affected which included the cult members who unintentionally and accidentally exposed
themselves during the operation of dissemination process, thus the efforts could not gather any
attention by the legal authorities and government officials.
A variety of aspects had been noted to have provided contribution to the failure of the
BoNT program. Furthermore, significant amount of evaluation had hypothesized that Aum had
not achieved a strain of C-botulinum competent of generating critical amount of toxin21.
Furthermore, recent reports reveal the possibility of the terror group to have cultured a soil
sample with no endeavour of isolating C-botulinum, which would have further yielded
constructive amount of toxin even if the sample had restrained a toxin-producing strain with a
range of other organic contaminants.
Consequence Management in Japan: Following the Sarin Attack
It is significant to note that in any extensive adversity, response workforce belonging to
various agencies along with different ranks of government should put equivalent effort in order
to work together during such disastrous situations. This not only involves the public, private but
further incorporates the volunteer organizations as well from local, provincial and national
levels22. However, the primary proficient individual to make presence on the scene mostly has
engagement with the local or provincial disaster services along with state as well as national
possessions at the later phase23. Furthermore, it had been recognized that after the mishap of the
damaging sarin attack, the significant response primarily involved emergency medical services,
legal authority, fire, police along with other medical professionals from the local, prefectural,
20 Rosman, Yossi, Arik Eisenkraft, Nadav Milk, Arthur Shiyovich, Nimrod Ophir, Shai Shrot, Yitshak
Kreiss, and Michael Kassirer. "Lessons learned from the Syrian sarin attack: evaluation of a clinical syndrome
through social media." Annals of internal medicine 160, no. 9 (2014): 644-648.
21 Repp, Martin. "Aum Shinrikyo and the Aum Incident." Controversial new religions (2014): 168-9.
22 Pereira, Edna FR, Yasco Aracava, Louis J. DeTolla, E. Jeffrey Beecham, G. William Basinger, Edgar J.
Wakayama, and Edson X. Albuquerque. "Animal models that best reproduce the clinical manifestations of human
intoxication with organophosphorus compounds." Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics 350,
no. 2 (2014): 313-321.
23 Rosman, Yossi, Arik Eisenkraft, Nadav Milk, Arthur Shiyovich, Nimrod Ophir, Shai Shrot, Yitshak
Kreiss, and Michael Kassirer. "Lessons learned from the Syrian sarin attack: evaluation of a clinical syndrome
through social media." Annals of internal medicine 160, no. 9 (2014): 644-648.

9
THE RISK OF TERRORISM
and municipal and national government. It has been noted that the Japanese system has been
established so that during the process of disaster management majority the portion of the
operations were primarily being supported by local governments which involves the process of
strategizing as well as executing relative disaster response. However indeed Tokyo Subway
Sarin attack, it has been recognised party Tokyo Metropolitan administrative body had assumed
these accountabilities whereby the metropolitan police department had fundamental authority
over law enforcement, evaluation assessment, enquiry continuance of law and order as well as
deterrence of more terror attacks24. Furthermore the adversity responses strategy in the year 1995
observed that the local possessions and resources could be contented in a large degree disaster as
a result numerous primary necessities for additional support structurally been formulated.
However there had been witnessed a significant interruption in effectively identifying the
characteristics of the issues at the time of both the severe attacks as had been explicitly
demonstrated by the chronology of the subway assault or attacks. It is further to note that the
severe attack was released in the Tokyo Subway before 8 in the morning in 1995 and
instantaneously subsequent to the release the ailing commuters astounded from the 5 targeted
trains at numerous stations25. However it is not an unexpected factor that states the high
incompetence of the employees in properly recognising the nature and scope of the violence.
However it has been stated that the transit workforce did not receive adequate induction and
training in order to proficiently identify or act as responsive to chemical or biological weapons
manufacturing and authority to keep a decentralized system in order to properly regulate the
factors related to disturbances at the various stations26. However even though the Municipal
police department started to receive telephonic information shortly after the deadly attack had
taken place, it has been noted that until 8:44 am National Police Agency (NPA) had at the end
became convinced that the vital detrimental act had taken place and a serious and effective
24 Time.com. 2018. "http://time.com". Time. http://time.com/5331442/shoko-asahara-executed-japan-sarin-
tokyo-attack/.
25 Chan, Sewell. 2016. "Montenegro Expels Foreigners Linked With Japanese Cult". Nytimes.com.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/30/world/europe/montenegro-japan-aum-shinrikyo.html?rref=collection
%2Ftimestopic%2FAum%20Shinrikyo.
26 Shibata, Seiji, Kazunori Hanyu, Tatsuto Asakawa, and Takahito Shimada. "People’s Crime Perception,
and Attitude toward Community Crime Prevention Activities in Japan." Journal of ASIAN Behavioural Studies 2,
no. 2 (2017): 57-66.

10
THE RISK OF TERRORISM
response effort was highly required by the citizens at that time. It is important to state that neither
the proper recognition of the agent nor the proficiency level of the dispersal processes recognised
to the major section of the emergency retorts work force until numerous hours after the Tokyo
Subway Sarin assault taken place27. However the legal authorities along with the military support
exhibited greater degree of inability to recognize the agent as servant for 2 hours following the
deadly attack had taken place.
However following to Sarin attack to self defence force initiated its provisions of offering
information and adequate knowledge to the legal authority media and the police regarding the
dangerous and detrimental chemical agents. As per senior military department since the Aum
cult executed Tokyo Sarin attack nerve agents are transformed as unidentified evaluation of
terrorism therefore knowledge on nerve agents had developed as an explicit and manual process
for proficient emergency medical services workforce28.
Religious Recognition of the Cult
The later phase of 1980’s witnessed a significant approach whereby the Tokyo
Metropolitan government approved the AUM executives with devout Corporation status. This
law is noted tends to provide AUM with vital privileges that incorporate enormous taxation
breaks and de facto resistance from the official supervision as well as regulation as well as
prosecution of the government. However it has been noted that the AUM members were
informed about this immensely important events during the development of the organised terror
organisations destructive and immensely violent terror activities29. However as per the Japanese
Religious Corporation law, following to the recognition of a-group, the associate authorities were
not allowed enquiring about its dutiful actions or doctrine. Furthermore the followers eventually
gather the insights about the recognition of Aum as religious Association with utmost importance
27 Thompson, Julian, Marius Rehn, Hans Morten Lossius, and David Lockey. "Risks to emergency medical
responders at terrorist incidents: a narrative review of the medical literature." Critical Care 18, no. 5 (2014): 521.
28 Ito, Masami. 2015. "Cult attraction: Aum Shinrikyo's power of persuasion | The Japan Times". The Japan
Times. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/03/14/national/history/cult-attraction-aum-shinrikyos-power-
persuasion/#.W1VqHNUzbIU.
29 Tyshchuk, Yulia, William A. Wallace, Hao Li, Heng Ji, and Sue E. Kase. "The nature of communications
and emerging communities on twitter following the 2013 syria sarin gas attacks." In Intelligence and Security
Informatics Conference (JISIC), 2014 IEEE Joint, pp. 41-47. IEEE, 2014.

11
THE RISK OF TERRORISM
and vitality whereby this organisation embarked upon several antagonistic and insistent lobbying
campaign that further involves besieging the administrative officers of the agency who had great
involvement with the decision making procedure of the state30.
It had been further noted that such a sect in the Japanese legal system had been regarded
as one of the vital factors in the emergence of the AUM cult. Furthermore with the registration as
a lawfully acknowledged belief or creed, the actions and behaviours of the Japanese cult along
with its characteristics radically transformed, whereby its total valuation raised from less than
427 million yen ($4.2 million) when officially accepted in 1989, to over 100 billion yen
(approximately $1 billion) until then incident of the Tokyo Subway attack had taken place31.
Similarly its association had witnessed an increase radically after the official recognition and
acceptance from an insignificant number of members in the early phase of 1980 to around 10,
000 members after almost a decade and around 50, 000 across the world in 1995. It is significant
to observe that the later part of 1980s had evaluated and elevated level of aggression animosity
and destructiveness within the cult members with the evidence of high level of complaints from
the family members of AUM recruits claiming high rates of abduction and acts of hostage-taking
along with several other physical attack by the cult associates32. Thus it had been analysed that
the sudden obtained value along with the religious recognition had instilled a high level of
buoyancy and poise that they had acquired exemption from any form of legal as well as
governmental intervention, which further led them to bring stillness with the Sakamoto.
However, with the effective attainment, the lack of any administrative or legal
intervention eventually vitalized the members of the AUM terror organisation to engage in other
severe terror acts along with blatant assault at the targeted adversary or enemies in Japan.
However this 'religious’ acceptance got congested with the deadly and harmful terror assault of
Aum in Tokyo Subway which led the Japanese legal officials to charge around 370 members of
30 Freeman, Michael. "A theory of terrorist leadership (and its consequences for leadership
targeting)." Terrorism and Political Violence 26, no. 4 (2014): 666-687.
31 Bierer, Linda M., Iliyan Ivanov, David M. Carpenter, Edmund W. Wong, Julia A. Golier, Cheuk Y.
Tang, and Rachel Yehuda. "White matter abnormalities in Gulf War veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder: a
pilot study." Psychoneuroendocrinology 51 (2015): 567-576.
32 Derzelle, Sylviane, and Simon Thierry. "Genetic diversity of Bacillus anthracis in Europe: genotyping
methods in forensic and epidemiologic investigations." Biosecurity and bioterrorism: biodefense strategy, practice,
and science 11, no. S1 (2013): S166-S176.

12
THE RISK OF TERRORISM
the terror cult that included a major section of their hierarchy. Furthermore, another significant
event that has been considered as a shifting facet of the Japanese AUM cult was their concise
incursion into the political domain33. Following to the cult's official religious acceptance, the
founder of the terror association proclaimed that the organization was to initiate an execution of
a slate of contenders in the Japanese election process during the 1990’s, whereby the founder
Asahara along with over 20 members of the association exhibited their importance to the
electoral system under the name of the cult's individual party that was regarded as the Shinrito34.
Prospects of the Japanese cult-Aum Shirinkyo’s current power of persuasion
Two decades following to the noxious sarin attack in Tokyo subway by Aum Shinrikyo, a
number of victims have been undergoing the prolonged mental as well as physical aftermaths of
the sarin attack, further encountering increased level of impediments and issues such as impaired
speech, distorted and blurred visions along with post-traumatic stress turmoils35. Furthermore, a
significant section of the victims have still experiencing severe confinement and captivity36.
Recently, several investigators have charged over 190 members of the Aum sect for their
integrated involvement and alleged role in the terror assault with around 15 members that
included Shoko Asahara, founder of the sect receiving capital imprisonment. It has been
observed that Katsuya Takahashi, who had been taken into detention in June 2012 after being on
the operation for over 10 decades which has been the last cultist on trial37. However, Takahashi
has been identified to be play critical role for one of the senior cultists who had sprayed the gas
and thus has encountered charges that involved murder, abduction and solitary imprisonment
further resulting in death and defiance of the Explosive Control Law.
33 Tyshchuk, Yulia, William A. Wallace, Hao Li, Heng Ji, and Sue E. Kase. "The nature of communications
and emerging communities on twitter following the 2013 syria sarin gas attacks." In Intelligence and Security
Informatics Conference (JISIC), 2014 IEEE Joint, pp. 41-47. IEEE, 2014.
34 McLaughlin, Levi. "What have religious groups done after 3.11? Part 2: from religious mobilization to
“spiritual care”." Religion Compass 7, no. 8 (2013): 309-325.
35
36 Carter, Holly, John Drury, G. James Rubin, Richard Williams, and Richard Amlôt. "The effect of
communication during mass decontamination." Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal 22,
no. 2 (2013): 132-147.
37 Time.com. 2018. "http://time.com". Time. http://time.com/5331442/shoko-asahara-executed-japan-sarin-
tokyo-attack/.

13
THE RISK OF TERRORISM
Takahashi however claimed to have no significant involvement to majority of the
accusations against him during the initial phase of the trial session at the Tokyo District Court
whereby the judgment has been anticipated at the later phase of April 201538. Furthermore,
subsequent to the Japanese cult’s dismantlement, the former members of the sect promptly
restructured into an association known as Aleph in 2000 whereby other sections united a
disintegrated group led by former Aum spokesperson Fumihiro Joyu known as Hikari no Wa or
the Sphere of Rainbow Light. Furthermore, the developmental associations are expected to
sustain under the Public Security Intelligence Agency’s surveillance until the beginning of
201939.
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above discussion it can be concluded that both the noxious Tokyo
subway attack as well as the attempt on Nagaoka’s life could have been prohibited if the legal
system and police had efficiently executed proper action and responsibilities. After around 2
decades of the sarin attack and the establishment of Canary Group which comprises of over 100
former cult members, few of the members have commenced education and jobs in the welfare
industry as they belonged to the minor section when they were associated to the cult and thus
failed to attain adequate education. However, for a significant segment of the cult members it
had been a crucial journey to encounter cases of severe depression and anxiety.
38 Maurus, Jonathon R., Jeccel O. Ortiz, and Michael R. Haytasingh. "Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam,
Aum Shinrikyo, Al Qaeda, and the Syrian crisis: nonstate actors acquiring WMD." PhD diss., Monterey, California:
Naval Postgraduate School, 2013.
39 Carter, Holly, John Drury, G. James Rubin, Richard Williams, and Richard Amlôt. "The effect of
communication during mass decontamination." Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal 22,
no. 2 (2013): 132-147.

14
THE RISK OF TERRORISM
References
Alqithami, Saad, Jennifer Haegele, and Henry Hexmoor. "Conceptual modeling of networked
organizations: The case of aum shinrikyo." Case Studies in Intelligent Computing: Achievements
and Trends (2014): 391-406.
Bierer, Linda M., Iliyan Ivanov, David M. Carpenter, Edmund W. Wong, Julia A. Golier, Cheuk
Y. Tang, and Rachel Yehuda. "White matter abnormalities in Gulf War veterans with
posttraumatic stress disorder: a pilot study." Psychoneuroendocrinology 51 (2015): 567-576.
Carter, Holly, John Drury, G. James Rubin, Richard Williams, and Richard Amlôt. "The effect of
communication during mass decontamination." Disaster Prevention and Management: An
International Journal 22, no. 2 (2013): 132-147.
Chan, Sewell. 2016. "Montenegro Expels Foreigners Linked With Japanese Cult". Nytimes.com.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/30/world/europe/montenegro-japan-aum-shinrikyo.html?
rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FAum%20Shinrikyo.
Chomsky, Noam. On power and ideology: The Managua lectures. Haymarket Books, 2015.
Derzelle, Sylviane, and Simon Thierry. "Genetic diversity of Bacillus anthracis in Europe:
genotyping methods in forensic and epidemiologic investigations." Biosecurity and bioterrorism:
biodefense strategy, practice, and science 11, no. S1 (2013): S166-S176.
Francis, Matthew DM. "Why the “sacred” is a better resource than “religion” for understanding
terrorism." Terrorism and political violence 28, no. 5 (2016): 912-927.
Freeman, Michael. "A theory of terrorist leadership (and its consequences for leadership
targeting)." Terrorism and Political Violence 26, no. 4 (2014): 666-687.
Gregg, Heather S. "Defining and distinguishing secular and religious terrorism." Perspectives on
Terrorism 8, no. 2 (2014): 36-51.
Holbrook, Donald. "A critical analysis of the role of the internet in the preparation and planning
of acts of terrorism." Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict 8, no. 2 (2015): 121-133.

15
THE RISK OF TERRORISM
Ito, Masami. 2015. "Cult attraction: Aum Shinrikyo's power of persuasion | The Japan Times".
The Japan Times. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/03/14/national/history/cult-
attraction-aum-shinrikyos-power-persuasion/#.W1VqHNUzbIU.
Jenkins, Brian M. "International terrorism: A new mode of conflict." In International terrorism
and world security, pp. 23-59. Routledge, 2015.
Jongman, Albert J. Political terrorism: A new guide to actors, authors, concepts, data bases,
theories, and literature. Routledge, 2017.
Kimura, Rei. Aum Shinrikyo-Japan’s Unholy Sect. Booksmango, 2017.
Maurus, Jonathon R., Jeccel O. Ortiz, and Michael R. Haytasingh. "Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Elam, Aum Shinrikyo, Al Qaeda, and the Syrian crisis: nonstate actors acquiring WMD." PhD
diss., Monterey, California: Naval Postgraduate School, 2013.
McLaughlin, Levi. "What have religious groups done after 3.11? Part 2: from religious
mobilization to “spiritual care”." Religion Compass 7, no. 8 (2013): 309-325.
Nehorayoff, Andrea A., Benjamin Ash, and Daniel S. Smith. "Aum Shinrikyo’s nuclear and
chemical weapons development efforts." Journal of Strategic Security 9, no. 1 (2016): 5.
Pereira, Edna FR, Yasco Aracava, Louis J. DeTolla, E. Jeffrey Beecham, G. William Basinger,
Edgar J. Wakayama, and Edson X. Albuquerque. "Animal models that best reproduce the clinical
manifestations of human intoxication with organophosphorus compounds." Journal of
Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics 350, no. 2 (2014): 313-321.
Raevskiy, Alexander E. "Psychological aspects of the Aum Shinrikyo affair." Psychology in
Russia: State of the Art 7, no. 1 (2014): 34-39.
Rapoport, David C. "Terrorism and Weapons of the Apocalypse." In Twenty-first Century
Weapons Proliferation, pp. 32-50. Routledge, 2014.
Repp, Martin. "Aum Shinrikyo and the Aum Incident." Controversial new religions (2014): 168-
9.

16
THE RISK OF TERRORISM
Rosman, Yossi, Arik Eisenkraft, Nadav Milk, Arthur Shiyovich, Nimrod Ophir, Shai Shrot,
Yitshak Kreiss, and Michael Kassirer. "Lessons learned from the Syrian sarin attack: evaluation
of a clinical syndrome through social media." Annals of internal medicine 160, no. 9 (2014):
644-648.
Seto, Y. "On-site detection as a countermeasure to chemical warfare/terrorism." Forensic Sci.
Rev 26 (2014): 23-51.
Shibata, Seiji, Kazunori Hanyu, Tatsuto Asakawa, and Takahito Shimada. "People’s Crime
Perception, and Attitude toward Community Crime Prevention Activities in Japan." Journal of
ASIAN Behavioural Studies 2, no. 2 (2017): 57-66.
Soltaninejad, Kambiz, and Shahin Shadnia. "History of the use and epidemiology of
organophosphorus poisoning." In Basic and Clinical Toxicology of Organophosphorus
Compounds, pp. 25-43. Springer, London, 2014.
Spencer, Michelle L. "Lessons from Japan: resilience after Tokyo and Fukushima." Journal of
Strategic Security 6, no. 2 (2013): 6.
Thompson, Julian, Marius Rehn, Hans Morten Lossius, and David Lockey. "Risks to emergency
medical responders at terrorist incidents: a narrative review of the medical literature." Critical
Care 18, no. 5 (2014): 521.
Time.com. 2018. "http://time.com". Time. http://time.com/5331442/shoko-asahara-executed-
japan-sarin-tokyo-attack/.
Tu, A. T. "Aum Shinrikyo’s chemical and biological weapons: more than sarin." Forensic Sci
Rev 26, no. 2 (2014): 115-120.
Tyshchuk, Yulia, William A. Wallace, Hao Li, Heng Ji, and Sue E. Kase. "The nature of
communications and emerging communities on twitter following the 2013 syria sarin gas
attacks." In Intelligence and Security Informatics Conference (JISIC), 2014 IEEE Joint, pp. 41-
47. IEEE, 2014.
White, Jonathan R. Terrorism and homeland security. Cengage Learning, 2016.