Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2003, Page 233
Panawave Laboratory
Microwaves and the End of the World
A caravan of vehicles carrying members of the Panawave Laboratory ―cult‖—which claims
thousands of members—having wandered remote roads in central Japan for months, came
into popular view when a TV crew reported on them in late April.
White-robed followers believe that an undiscovered planet will soon knock the Earth off its
axis and that electromagnetic waves, from TV cameras for example, or directed by left-wing
guerillas, cause cancer. They say that their guru, Yuko Chino, contracted cancer from such
attacks and that they are searching for an area free from electricity pylons, where she can
recover.
Panawave beliefs seem to be an amalgam of Christianity, Buddhism, and science fiction
created in the 1980s by the ―beautiful and elegant‖ Chino, now 69, who was obsessed by
the notion that the Soviet Union would invade Japan. Chino‘s followers constructed facilities
in remote Fukui Prefecture in 1987 to protect her she became increasingly reclusive and ill
as the years passed. Followers have threatened to take revenge for her possible death with
the extermination ―of all mankind.‖ (BBC News, Internet, 5/6/03)
Fuki locals are not worried about Panawave, saying that the members are strange but
harmless. But ―right-wing‖ residents are upset because Panawave is ―giving anti-
communism a bad name.‖ (Davis McNeill, The Independent, Internet, 5/14/03)
Political Cults/‖O‖
Former Member's Analytical Expose
Alexandra Stein has written a new book entitled Inside Out, A memoir of entering and
breaking out of a Minneapolis political cult (North Star Press of St. Cloud). Stein tells of the
organization‘s complete control over followers‘ lives, of boxing matches between members
to ―heighten struggle,‖ and of a security system that forced her to have private meetings
with the radio on to avoid eavesdropping. She also describes long work hours in the
organization‘s businesses, in addition to normal day jobs, and sleeping no more than five
hours a day, with consequent sleep deprivation.
A key point in the book is that Stein and others were unaware that they were in a cult
because it is disguised as a Marxist-Leninist political group, to whose ideals they were
devoted even before involvement. ―The last section of the book reads like a detective story
as she uncovers the true nature of the man running the ―O‖ [―Organization, as Stein names
it].‖ (Christian Wolmar, New Statesman, Internet, 1/6/03)
Polygamy
Mother Sentenced for Encouraging Sex with Her Daughters
An excommunicated member of the Apostolic United Brethren, a polygamous sect in Utah,
has been sentenced to a year in jail for encouraging her husband and joining him in the
sexual abuse of her two daughters from 1995 to 2000. Husband (and stepfather) Gustavo
Palacios, is serving a life sentence for the crime. The oldest girl, 15—she and her sister are
now in foster homes—asked that her mother, who was herself sexually abused as a child,
not be jailed. (Salt Lake Tribune, Internet, 3/21/03)
Sen. Hatch on Polygamy
Pressed at a recent town meeting in Utah to take a stand by anti-polygamy activists, Utah
Sen. Orrin Hatch said: ―I‘m not here to justify polygamy. All I can say is, I know people in
Hilldale [UT] who are polygamists who are very fine people. You come and show me
evidence of children [involved in plural marriages] being abused there and I‘ll get involved.
Panawave Laboratory
Microwaves and the End of the World
A caravan of vehicles carrying members of the Panawave Laboratory ―cult‖—which claims
thousands of members—having wandered remote roads in central Japan for months, came
into popular view when a TV crew reported on them in late April.
White-robed followers believe that an undiscovered planet will soon knock the Earth off its
axis and that electromagnetic waves, from TV cameras for example, or directed by left-wing
guerillas, cause cancer. They say that their guru, Yuko Chino, contracted cancer from such
attacks and that they are searching for an area free from electricity pylons, where she can
recover.
Panawave beliefs seem to be an amalgam of Christianity, Buddhism, and science fiction
created in the 1980s by the ―beautiful and elegant‖ Chino, now 69, who was obsessed by
the notion that the Soviet Union would invade Japan. Chino‘s followers constructed facilities
in remote Fukui Prefecture in 1987 to protect her she became increasingly reclusive and ill
as the years passed. Followers have threatened to take revenge for her possible death with
the extermination ―of all mankind.‖ (BBC News, Internet, 5/6/03)
Fuki locals are not worried about Panawave, saying that the members are strange but
harmless. But ―right-wing‖ residents are upset because Panawave is ―giving anti-
communism a bad name.‖ (Davis McNeill, The Independent, Internet, 5/14/03)
Political Cults/‖O‖
Former Member's Analytical Expose
Alexandra Stein has written a new book entitled Inside Out, A memoir of entering and
breaking out of a Minneapolis political cult (North Star Press of St. Cloud). Stein tells of the
organization‘s complete control over followers‘ lives, of boxing matches between members
to ―heighten struggle,‖ and of a security system that forced her to have private meetings
with the radio on to avoid eavesdropping. She also describes long work hours in the
organization‘s businesses, in addition to normal day jobs, and sleeping no more than five
hours a day, with consequent sleep deprivation.
A key point in the book is that Stein and others were unaware that they were in a cult
because it is disguised as a Marxist-Leninist political group, to whose ideals they were
devoted even before involvement. ―The last section of the book reads like a detective story
as she uncovers the true nature of the man running the ―O‖ [―Organization, as Stein names
it].‖ (Christian Wolmar, New Statesman, Internet, 1/6/03)
Polygamy
Mother Sentenced for Encouraging Sex with Her Daughters
An excommunicated member of the Apostolic United Brethren, a polygamous sect in Utah,
has been sentenced to a year in jail for encouraging her husband and joining him in the
sexual abuse of her two daughters from 1995 to 2000. Husband (and stepfather) Gustavo
Palacios, is serving a life sentence for the crime. The oldest girl, 15—she and her sister are
now in foster homes—asked that her mother, who was herself sexually abused as a child,
not be jailed. (Salt Lake Tribune, Internet, 3/21/03)
Sen. Hatch on Polygamy
Pressed at a recent town meeting in Utah to take a stand by anti-polygamy activists, Utah
Sen. Orrin Hatch said: ―I‘m not here to justify polygamy. All I can say is, I know people in
Hilldale [UT] who are polygamists who are very fine people. You come and show me
evidence of children [involved in plural marriages] being abused there and I‘ll get involved.
