6 ms·

Yes, they are. The LDP (Japan's ruling party) is quite openly in coalition with Komeito, the political wing of Soka Gakkai, a prominent Buddhist-ish cult.

PaulHoule 4y ago
Japan had a cult crisis circa 1990. This was the most famous example https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aum_Shinrikyo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aum_Shinrikyo however as the bubble economy popped there was a moral panic over financially exploitative cults and closely related multilevel marketing scams.
- _9xrb 4y ago
  For those skimming, Aum Shinrikyo is the cult responsible for the Tokyo subway sarin attack. What's often overlooked is that the cult synthesized the sarin gas themselves in a self-made sophisticated chemical weapons lab: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_subway_sarin_attack#Chemical_weapon_production https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_subway_sarin_attack#Chem... When their headquarters were raided, police found enough weaponry to fight a small war: >Over the next week, the full scale of Aum's activities was revealed for the first time. At the cult's headquarters in Kamikuishiki on the foot of Mount Fuji, police found explosives, chemical weapons, and a Russian Mil Mi-17 military helicopter. While the finding of biological warfare agents such as anthrax and Ebola cultures was reported, those claims now appear to have been widely exaggerated.[52] There were stockpiles of chemicals that could be used for producing enough sarin to kill four million people.[53] They bought a sheep farm in Australia to mine uranium in order to enrich it and build nuclear weapons: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banjawarn_Station#Aum_Shinrikyo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banjawarn_Station#Aum_Shinriky... Had they not been caught, I have little doubt they'd have eventually succeeded.
  - KaoruAoiShiho 4y ago
    God damn someone has a god complex.
    - _9xrb 4y ago
      Yes, the cult leader declared himself Christ: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoko_Asahara https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoko_Asahara
  - JHer 4y ago
    Murakami wrote a non-fiction book about the Sarin attacks and the Aum cult, Underworld. I’m not sure if it’s accurate (he’s a fiction writer, afterall) but it’s very fascinating and sent many chills down my spine.
    - pessimizer 4y ago
      Best way to understand Aum Shinrikyo is to watch the two ungooglable documentaries about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_(1998_Japanese_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_(1998_Japanese_film) and A2. No different than other cults. A bunch of once aimless people who found purpose by subsuming their existences to the will of a venerated man (who teaches yoga in his apartment.)
  - Mountain_Skies 4y ago
    One downside of having an industrialized high technology society with a good education system is that radicals will tend to have the skills and knowledge required to create harm on a large scale.
- pessimizer 4y ago
  Japan and Korea have a cult crisis, a lot of them Christian: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_new_religions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_new_religions https://www.france24.com/en/20181122-mission-god-south-koreas-many-cults https://www.france24.com/en/20181122-mission-god-south-korea... https://thediplomat.com/2014/06/the-cults-of-south-korea/ https://thediplomat.com/2014/06/the-cults-of-south-korea/
zumu 4y ago
I lived in a Soka Gakkai heavy neighborhood in Tokyo. They tried to recruit me a few times. I've been to their services and social events. It's big thing. They even have offices world-wide, with a few in Cali. Generally while it's pretty culty, it doesn't do any of that cut-ties with non-culters and its beliefs are derived from Nichiren Buddhism which is pretty standard in Japan. As a result it peacefully exists out in the open for the most part. Not defending it, but it walks a fine line between religion and culty cooporation more so than the normal "cult".

PaulHoule 4y ago

Japan had a cult crisis circa 1990. This was the most famous example https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aum_Shinrikyo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aum_Shinrikyo however as the bubble economy popped there was a moral panic over financially exploitative cults and closely related multilevel marketing scams.

_9xrb 4y ago
For those skimming, Aum Shinrikyo is the cult responsible for the Tokyo subway sarin attack. What's often overlooked is that the cult synthesized the sarin gas themselves in a self-made sophisticated chemical weapons lab: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_subway_sarin_attack#Chemical_weapon_production https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_subway_sarin_attack#Chem... When their headquarters were raided, police found enough weaponry to fight a small war: >Over the next week, the full scale of Aum's activities was revealed for the first time. At the cult's headquarters in Kamikuishiki on the foot of Mount Fuji, police found explosives, chemical weapons, and a Russian Mil Mi-17 military helicopter. While the finding of biological warfare agents such as anthrax and Ebola cultures was reported, those claims now appear to have been widely exaggerated.[52] There were stockpiles of chemicals that could be used for producing enough sarin to kill four million people.[53] They bought a sheep farm in Australia to mine uranium in order to enrich it and build nuclear weapons: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banjawarn_Station#Aum_Shinrikyo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banjawarn_Station#Aum_Shinriky... Had they not been caught, I have little doubt they'd have eventually succeeded.
- KaoruAoiShiho 4y ago
  God damn someone has a god complex.
  - _9xrb 4y ago
    Yes, the cult leader declared himself Christ: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoko_Asahara https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoko_Asahara
- JHer 4y ago
  Murakami wrote a non-fiction book about the Sarin attacks and the Aum cult, Underworld. I’m not sure if it’s accurate (he’s a fiction writer, afterall) but it’s very fascinating and sent many chills down my spine.
  - pessimizer 4y ago
    Best way to understand Aum Shinrikyo is to watch the two ungooglable documentaries about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_(1998_Japanese_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_(1998_Japanese_film) and A2. No different than other cults. A bunch of once aimless people who found purpose by subsuming their existences to the will of a venerated man (who teaches yoga in his apartment.)
- Mountain_Skies 4y ago
  One downside of having an industrialized high technology society with a good education system is that radicals will tend to have the skills and knowledge required to create harm on a large scale.
pessimizer 4y ago
Japan and Korea have a cult crisis, a lot of them Christian: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_new_religions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_new_religions https://www.france24.com/en/20181122-mission-god-south-koreas-many-cults https://www.france24.com/en/20181122-mission-god-south-korea... https://thediplomat.com/2014/06/the-cults-of-south-korea/ https://thediplomat.com/2014/06/the-cults-of-south-korea/

zumu 4y ago

I lived in a Soka Gakkai heavy neighborhood in Tokyo. They tried to recruit me a few times. I've been to their services and social events. It's big thing. They even have offices world-wide, with a few in Cali. Generally while it's pretty culty, it doesn't do any of that cut-ties with non-culters and its beliefs are derived from Nichiren Buddhism which is pretty standard in Japan. As a result it peacefully exists out in the open for the most part. Not defending it, but it walks a fine line between religion and culty cooporation more so than the normal "cult".