Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 7, No. 3, 2008, Page 39
laws of 1999, would tend to inflame and amplify the resistance of the anti-Aum movements.
Let us examine how the activities of human-rights activists inflamed and ultimately defeated
the anti-Aum movements.
Eizo Yamagiwa, who alleged that the entire Aum incident, including the trials, was a
conspiracy (Yamagiwa, 1999:32), set up a computer-related company for Aum members
who had lost their jobs after the name of an Aum-owned shop and its activities were
disclosed by newspapers. He also took care of Asahara‘s second daughter and younger son,
and some Aum-related persons who had been forced to leave Ohtawara Town in Tochigi in
1999. He located a piece of property in Ryugasaki, Ibaraki, which his company lent to Aum
and which Aum then developed. Since the Ryugasaki municipality and residents knew that
Asahara‘s son was the temporal successor to Asahara, and had been carefully groomed by
Aum, they strongly opposed Aum‘s entry and refused their moving-in notification and their
children‘s entry into elementary school. Since just one municipality could not deal with this
issue, the municipal assembly requested that the mayor liaise with other municipalities and
call for strong support from the prefectural and central governments. Even an assembly
member of the Japan Communist Party expressed concern that Ryugasaki would become
Aum‘s headquarters (Ryugasaki Assembly, 2001), and an anti-Aum residential group
collected signatures from 12,570 citizens against the school enrollment of Asahara‘s
children.
However, human-rights activists continued to support the children and their caregivers, and
Takeshi Matsui, an attorney and supporter, filed a lawsuit against Ryugasaki municipality to
accept Aum‘s moving-in notification and school enrollment. In 2000, Ryugasaki municipality
finally settled with Matsui and conducted all the necessary procedures. As a result, the anti-
Aum movement there lost its most influential tool—namely, administrative support, and was
forced to dissolve since it could not win the legal and human-rights battle.
The above-mentioned Jinporen sometimes organized tours for human-rights activists to the
sites of anti-Aum movements in order to confront them. They visited Fujioka City and
criticized the split among anti-Aum residential groups. One of the anti-Aum residents asked
if they would accept Aum members living next door, to which they replied, ―Yes.‖ The
residents then said, ‗Well, could you bring Aum members home with you? You say Aum
members have human rights. We also have human rights.‖ At that time, Jinporen tour-
group members threw off their inhibitions and brought two Aum members to live with them
(Iwamoto, 2001:154-158).
In addition to that, Jinporen also assisted James Lewis to visit several anti-Aum movement
sites and contributed to a special issue (SYZYGY 8:Nos 1-2) of his journal of new religions,
titled Aum Sinrikyo and Human Rights (Japanese version issued by SYZYGY publishing
committee, 2000). James Lewis and Gordon Melton are well-known scholars of new
religions, as well as controversial researchers who received grants from Aum for a trip to
proclaim Aum‘s innocence following the sarin gas incident of March 20, 1995 (Reid, 1995
Beit-Hallahmi, 2001:35-37 Watanabe, 2005:50-51). Lewis came back to Japan to support
Aum members‘ human rights in 1999 and to work together with Japanese human-rights
activists.
In these cases, the human-rights activists, who played an active role in criticizing anti-Aum
movements, actually contributed to the creation and maintenance of these movements.
Security police and local police simply informed the municipalities of Aum‘s entry, and then
they administratively dealt with Aum members‘ moving-in notification and/or financially
supported local residents‘ anti-Aum movement. On this point, anti-Aum movements might
be considered partially administratively created, and they did continue to receive support
until Aum/Aleph members left their communities in Ryugasaki city and the Chitose-
Karasuyama area mentioned in the following section. The relationship between Aum and the
laws of 1999, would tend to inflame and amplify the resistance of the anti-Aum movements.
Let us examine how the activities of human-rights activists inflamed and ultimately defeated
the anti-Aum movements.
Eizo Yamagiwa, who alleged that the entire Aum incident, including the trials, was a
conspiracy (Yamagiwa, 1999:32), set up a computer-related company for Aum members
who had lost their jobs after the name of an Aum-owned shop and its activities were
disclosed by newspapers. He also took care of Asahara‘s second daughter and younger son,
and some Aum-related persons who had been forced to leave Ohtawara Town in Tochigi in
1999. He located a piece of property in Ryugasaki, Ibaraki, which his company lent to Aum
and which Aum then developed. Since the Ryugasaki municipality and residents knew that
Asahara‘s son was the temporal successor to Asahara, and had been carefully groomed by
Aum, they strongly opposed Aum‘s entry and refused their moving-in notification and their
children‘s entry into elementary school. Since just one municipality could not deal with this
issue, the municipal assembly requested that the mayor liaise with other municipalities and
call for strong support from the prefectural and central governments. Even an assembly
member of the Japan Communist Party expressed concern that Ryugasaki would become
Aum‘s headquarters (Ryugasaki Assembly, 2001), and an anti-Aum residential group
collected signatures from 12,570 citizens against the school enrollment of Asahara‘s
children.
However, human-rights activists continued to support the children and their caregivers, and
Takeshi Matsui, an attorney and supporter, filed a lawsuit against Ryugasaki municipality to
accept Aum‘s moving-in notification and school enrollment. In 2000, Ryugasaki municipality
finally settled with Matsui and conducted all the necessary procedures. As a result, the anti-
Aum movement there lost its most influential tool—namely, administrative support, and was
forced to dissolve since it could not win the legal and human-rights battle.
The above-mentioned Jinporen sometimes organized tours for human-rights activists to the
sites of anti-Aum movements in order to confront them. They visited Fujioka City and
criticized the split among anti-Aum residential groups. One of the anti-Aum residents asked
if they would accept Aum members living next door, to which they replied, ―Yes.‖ The
residents then said, ‗Well, could you bring Aum members home with you? You say Aum
members have human rights. We also have human rights.‖ At that time, Jinporen tour-
group members threw off their inhibitions and brought two Aum members to live with them
(Iwamoto, 2001:154-158).
In addition to that, Jinporen also assisted James Lewis to visit several anti-Aum movement
sites and contributed to a special issue (SYZYGY 8:Nos 1-2) of his journal of new religions,
titled Aum Sinrikyo and Human Rights (Japanese version issued by SYZYGY publishing
committee, 2000). James Lewis and Gordon Melton are well-known scholars of new
religions, as well as controversial researchers who received grants from Aum for a trip to
proclaim Aum‘s innocence following the sarin gas incident of March 20, 1995 (Reid, 1995
Beit-Hallahmi, 2001:35-37 Watanabe, 2005:50-51). Lewis came back to Japan to support
Aum members‘ human rights in 1999 and to work together with Japanese human-rights
activists.
In these cases, the human-rights activists, who played an active role in criticizing anti-Aum
movements, actually contributed to the creation and maintenance of these movements.
Security police and local police simply informed the municipalities of Aum‘s entry, and then
they administratively dealt with Aum members‘ moving-in notification and/or financially
supported local residents‘ anti-Aum movement. On this point, anti-Aum movements might
be considered partially administratively created, and they did continue to receive support
until Aum/Aleph members left their communities in Ryugasaki city and the Chitose-
Karasuyama area mentioned in the following section. The relationship between Aum and the
