Ep.3 Aum Shinrikyo

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:24):
Welcome to Hidden Cults, the podcast that shines a light
into the shadows. Here we explore the strange, the secretive,
and the spiritually seductive. From fringe religions to doomsday prophets,
from communes to corporate empires. These are the movements that
promised meaning and sometimes delivered something far more dangerous. I'm
your host, and in each episode, we uncover the true
stories behind the world's most controversial cults, the leaders who

(00:47):
led them, the followers who followed, and the echoes they
left behind. If you or someone you care about has
been impacted by a cult, you're not alone. There is help.
Whether you're still inside a cult or trying to process
what you've been through, support is out there. You can
find organizations and hotlines in the description of this episode.
You deserve freedom, healing, and a life that's truly your own.

(01:10):
Reach out. The first step is often the hardest, but
it's also the most powerful. If you'd like to share
your story and experiences with a cult, you can email
it to me and I will read it on a
future Listener Stories episode. Your anonymity is guaranteed always today's episode,
let's begin Today we go to Japan, not to the

(01:31):
neon lights of Tokyo or the serenity of a mountain shrine,
but to a place most people never saw coming, a
place buried in subway tunnels, in secret laboratories, in the
minds of followers who believed they were chosen to survive
the end of the world. This is the story of
om Shinrikio, a cult that began with yoga, meditation and

(01:52):
promises of enlightenment and ended in one of the worst
terrorist attacks in Japanese history. Led by a nearly blind
guru who called himself self the Lamb of God, Shoko Asahara.
Am Shinrikio fused Eastern mysticism with science fiction, nuclear obsession,
and weapons grade ambition. They stockpiled saren gas, recruited elite scientists,

(02:13):
and plotted mass murder, all under the guise of salvation,
and in March of nineteen ninety five, they unleashed chaos.
Today's episode will trace the full timeline from the strange
beginnings of a fringe religious group to the catastrophic subway
gas attack that shocked the world. This isn't just a
story about faith gone wrong. It's about what happens when

(02:33):
charisma meets science, when paranoia is weaponized, and when no one,
not even the authorities, believes the warnings until it's too late.
This is am Shinrikio. Let's begin Part one. The Guru
in the Shadows, The Rise of Schoko Asahara nineteen fifty
five to nineteen eighty nine. He was born into obscurity
and partial darkness, a nearly blind boy in postwar Japan, poor, sickly,

(02:56):
and hungry for attention. His name was Chizuo Matsumoto. Decades later,
the world would come to know him by another name,
Shoko Asahara. To understand how a man like Asahara could
rise to command a doomsday cult capable of manufacturing seran gas,
infiltrating universities, and nearly destabilizing a nation, we must begin

(03:17):
with the man behind the myth. This isn't a story
that begins in the spotlight. It begins in shadows, the
kind cast by social exclusion, hunger for power, and a
society caught between modernity and spiritual vacuum. Chitsua Matsumoto was
born on March second, nineteen fifty five, in the remote
mountain village of Yatsushiro in Japan's Kumamoto Prefecture. He was

(03:39):
the fourth son in a family of seven children. His
father was a traditional tatami mat maker, a fading craft
even then, and the family lived in poverty. Chitsuo suffered
from congenital infantile glaucoma. By early childhood, he was completely
blind in one eye and had only partial vision in
the other. As was common for disabled children in mid

(03:59):
century each he was sent to a government run school
for the blind, where he was taught acupuncture and traditional
Chinese medicine, among the few career paths open to the
visually impaired. But even in that marginal environment, Chiittsuo stood out,
and not in the way one might hope. Former classmates
described him as aggressive, manipulative, and domineering. He extorted money

(04:22):
from weaker students, took their food, and used his limited
site to assert dominance over the fully blind. In this
world of institutional control and limited opportunity, Chittsuo learned how
to bend the rules in his favor. He learned to survive,
He learned to command. Upon graduation, Chisuo failed to gain
entry to a university or medical school. Instead, he opened

(04:43):
a modest herbal medicine shop in Chiba, outside Tokyo. Here
his ambitions evolved. In nineteen seventy eight, he was arrested
for selling unlicensed drugs powdered remedies he falsely claimed could
cure various ailments. He was fined, not jailed, but the
experience left impression. Spiritual claims were harder to regulate than
pharmaceutical ones. The market for salvation, it seemed, had fewer barriers.

(05:08):
During the same period, Japan was experiencing a quiet but
significant religious shift. The rapid post war economic boom had
created unprecedented prosperity and unprecedented alienation. Traditional religions like Shinto
and Buddhism were seen by many as outdated or formalized.
Into this void, stepped the Shinshukiyo new religions, hybrid spiritual movements,

(05:31):
often mixing ancient Eastern traditions with elements of Christianity, apocalypticism,
and self help psychology. It was a spiritual gold rush.
Chizuo began experimenting with various religious and esoteric disciplines. He
studied yoga, meditation, and Chinese alchemy. He became briefly involved
with the agon Shu sect, a new religious movement founded

(05:52):
in the nineteen seventies, but found its teachings limiting. He
was searching for something more, or perhaps something he could lead.
By the early nineteen eighties, he'd reinvented himself completely. In
nineteen eighty four, Chidzuo founded the Amshin Sen No Kai
or am Immortal Mountain Group, a small yoga and meditation circle.

(06:12):
He changed his name to Shoko Asahara. The transformation was
not just cosmetic. He began presenting himself as a Guru,
a spiritually awakened being who had discovered the path to enlightenment.
He claimed that in nineteen eighty six, while meditating in
the Himalayas, he had achieved ultimate spiritual liberation. There is
no evidence he ever traveled there. What he lacked in

(06:35):
verifiable credentials he made up for in charisma. Asahara's early
teachings combined elements of Hinduism, including identification with Shiva, the
god of destruction and renewal, Tibetan Buddhism, and millennial Christian
themes of judgment and salvation. He preached that the world
was steeped in karma, that only through strict spiritual discipline

(06:57):
could one achieve purification, and that he alone had the
vision to guide humanity through the dark times ahead. The
message resonated with an unlikely audience. His earliest followers were
not drifters or dropouts, but students from top universities, engineers,
medical doctors, and physicists. They weren't naive, they were disillusioned.

(07:17):
In the pressure cooker society of Japan's salary man culture,
where success was defined by conformity and corporate loyalty, Asahara
offered something radically different, a cosmic battle between good and evil,
a personal mission, and for the privileged few, transcendence. In
nineteen eighty seven, Asahara changed the group's name to ALM Shinrikio,

(07:39):
meaning Alm Supreme Truth. He claimed to be both the
reincarnation of the Buddha and the Lamb of God foretold
in the Book of Revelation. He described himself as the
only true enlightened being on earth. With this shift came
a more intense focus on apocalypse. ALM Shinrikio taught that
the world was on the brink of destruction. Asahara predicted

(08:00):
that a global nuclear war would break out in the
nineteen nineties, destroying most of humanity. Only the members of AM,
he claimed, would survive and repopulate the earth. These prophecies, delusional, extreme, unverifiable,
became central doctrine, and they also created urgency. New members
were told they had little time. Recruit now, purify now,

(08:20):
prepare now. By nineteen eighty nine, AM Shinrikyo was officially
recognized as a religious organization by the Japanese government. The
recognition gave the group tax benefits, legal protections, and increased legitimacy.
They opened satellite centers around Japan and began recruiting aggressively
through street sermons, paid advertising, and publications. Asahara became a

(08:44):
fixture on talk shows and in spiritual magazines. For some,
he was a harmless oddity. For others, he was a prophet.
For those closest to him, he was becoming something else, entirely,
a messianic dictator. Internally, AM was evolving into a closed,
hierarchical society. Members were ranked according to spiritual purity. They

(09:04):
wore robes, shaved their heads, and participated in punishing initiation rituals,
including extended fasting, sleep deprivation, and exposure to extreme heat.
A culture of total obedience developed. Followers were told to
severtize with their families, to hand over their life savings,
and to relinquish all individuality. Absolute devotion to Asahara was required,

(09:28):
questioning him with spiritual treason. Meanwhile, Asahara's ambitions deepened, he
began cultivating a paramilitary wing with an am Scientists among
his followers were tasked with researching chemical and biological weapons.
The goal, according to defectors, was nothing short of global
transformation through purification by death the outside world. Asahara Tat

(09:49):
was spiritually diseased. Only destruction could cleanse it, and Alm
Shinikio would be the hand of that destruction. This was
not yet public knowledge. The public saw only the robes,
the meditations, the talk of enlightenment. But inside the cult
the stage was being set for something far more dangerous,
something that would soon bring terror to the streets of Tokyo.

(10:12):
In nineteen eighty nine, Ahm's reputation began to fray. A
group of concerned parents formed a network to oppose the cult,
citing disappearances, financial exploitation, and mental abuse. One of the
most vocal critics was lawyer Sutsumi Sakamoto. He had been
investigating Ahm on behalf of families trying to retrieve their children.

(10:33):
He had begun collecting evidence, filing motions, and speaking to journalists.
Then in November of that year, Sakamoto, his wife, and
their infant son disappeared. Their bodies would not be discovered
for a decade. The message inside AHM was clear. Opposition
would not be tolerated. The mask of enlightenment was slipping,
and what lay beneath it was something far darker. Shoko

(10:55):
Asahara was no longer just a spiritual teacher. He was
a prophet of purification, and his war was only beginning.
Part two. Cult to Command, Doctrine, Devotion and Domination nineteen
ninety to nineteen ninety four. By nineteen ninety om Shinrikio
had completed its transformation from a fringe meditation circle into
a legally recognized religious organization. On the surface, it was

(11:19):
just another new religious movement among many in Japan. But
behind its temple walls, the group was growing into something
far more dangerous. What began as spiritual seeking had become militarized.
What started with yoga mats and prayer bowls now involved
chemical labs, weapons experiments, and a disturbing doctrine of violence
disguised as purification. This was no longer just about salvation.

(11:41):
This was preparation for war. Shoko Asahara's teachings in the
early nineteen nineties shifted dramatically. Once focused on enlightenment, his
messages now revolved around armageddon, a nuclear world war that
he claimed would soon engulf the planet and only am Shinrikio,
his followers were told, would survive. Sahara began to frame
himself as the only enlightened one, a messianic savior sent

(12:05):
to lead humanity through a coming cataclysm. His rhetoric grew apocalyptic,
drawing heavily from the Book of Revelation, Buddhist prophecies, and
doomsday interpretations of Nostradamis. He told his followers that war
was inevitable, that evil forces were conspiring against them, and
that the destruction of the outside world wasn't just unavoidable,

(12:26):
it was necessary. ALM members were taught that non believers
were spiritually polluted, Their suffering, and even their death could
be justified as a form of salvation. To be killed
by Ahm, Asahara argued, was not murder, it was mercy.
This belief system would become the moral engine of Ahm's violence.

(12:46):
It allowed highly educated men and women to commit unspeakable
acts in the name of spiritual duty, and many of
them were brilliant. AM began actively recruiting students from Japan's
top universities, the University of Tokyo, Kyoto University, and Osaka University,
targeting elite minds in science, engineering, and medicine. The cult's

(13:06):
appeal wasn't just religious, it was intellectual, even utopian. Asahara
promised his followers a chance to escape the hollow conformity
of modern life. He offered them purpose, community, and crucially,
access to what he called higher knowledge. For some, joining
OHM was a rejection of the rigid Japanese salaryman culture.

(13:27):
For others, it was a spiritual and scientific experiment, a
blend of mysticism and radical transformation. Once inside, however, devotion
became a prison. New recruits were pressured to cut off
contact with family, to donate all their assets, and to
undergo punishing rituals meant to break down individual identity. These
included days long meditations, sleep deprivation, hallucinogenic drug use, and

(13:51):
electroshock purification. One of the most notorious devices used was
called the Perfect Salvation initiation, a helmet wired with electrodes
that sent electrical pulses into the brain while followers listened
to hours of Asahara's recorded sermons. It was psychological conditioning,
mind control wrapped in spiritual language. With his inner circle

(14:13):
of loyal scientists, Asahara began to organize AM into a
hierarchical paramilitary organization. At its core were multiple ministries modeled
after a real government structure. There was a Ministry of Health,
a Ministry of Science and Technology, and even a Ministry
of Defense. Each was headed by an AM elite, some
with PhDs, others with medical licenses, all devoted to executing

(14:37):
Asahara's apocalyptic vision. In nineteen ninety, Asahara took the next
bold step. He attempted to enter Japanese politics. AM Shinrikio
formed the Truth Party, fielding twenty five candidates in the
national elections. Their platform was bizarre, blending spiritual purity with
anti materialism and calls for national moral renewal. Asahara believed

(14:59):
that with enough vote he could reshape Japan's future legally,
but the election was a humiliating failure. All twenty five
candidates lost. The setback triggered a sharp psychological shift in Asahara.
He began to view the outside world not just as corrupted,
but as actively hostile. He claimed the political system was rigged,
the media was lying, and the enemies of AM were

(15:20):
preparing for war, and so AM would prepare to. By
nineteen ninety two, the cult's focus turned sharply towards science
and weaponization. AM purchased land in remote parts of Japan
and even in Australia where they could conduct experiments without
public scrutiny. On a sheep station in Banjawar and Western Australia,
they allegedly tested chemical agents on livestock, monitoring the effects

(15:43):
inside their Japanese compounds, AM built sophisticated laboratories. The group
began manufacturing serin gas, a deadly nerve agent originally developed
by the Nazis. Their production was spearheaded by Kiyohide Hayakawa
and Masami Tsuchiya, of ahm's most skilled and fanatical chemists.
They weren't just mixing chemicals in a basement. OMB built

(16:06):
large scale reactors and designed complex delivery systems, including sprayers,
gas tanks, and time dispersal devices. It was a weaponization
program on par with a rogue state. The cult also
stockpiled weapons, automatic rifles, thousands of rounds of ammunition, and
even attempted to purchase a Russian military helicopter. In nineteen

(16:27):
ninety three, OHM began constructing a facility to produce bachelinum toxin,
one of the most lethal biological agents known to man.
They also experimented with anthrax and q fever. Several members
reportedly tried to infect government buildings in Tokyo with crude
sprayers mounted on vans, but their delivery systems malfunctioned, preventing

(16:48):
mass casualties. Still, the intent was unmistakable. Ohm Shinrikio was
building an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. Asahara's paranoia deepened,
he believed the Japanese government, the CIA, and even extraterrestrials
were conspiring against him. He predicted that America would attack
Japan with nuclear weapons, and that Ahm's survival depended on

(17:09):
striking first spiritually and militarily. Inside the cult, his word
was law. He claimed to read minds. He punished dissent ruthlessly.
Followers were subjected to endless interrogations, loyalty tests, and surveillance.
Children were separated from their parents. Dissenters were re educated,
imprisoned within ALM facilities, or in some cases, never seen again.

(17:32):
Several former members who tried to leave were murdered. One
of the most chilling cases was that of Tatsuko Morauka,
a woman who fled the cult and was later abducted
by ARM operatives. Forcibly, returned to the compound and purified.
She died in custody. Her body was cremated in secret.
Another defector, Kiyoshi Korea, was kidnapped, interrogated, and ultimately killed

(17:56):
with a lethal dose of a chemical agent. His body
was incinerated using industrial equipment inside ALM's facilities. These were
not isolated incidents. They were part of a system, one
built on absolute loyalty, justified violence, and total control. By
nineteen ninety four, ALM's military ambitions had crossed another horrifying threshold.

(18:16):
They conducted their first successful chemical attack on June twenty seven,
nineteen ninety four, in the city of Matsumoto. AM members
released sarin gas into a residential neighborhood using a converted
refrigeration truck. The target was a group of judges who
were preparing to rule against AHM in a real estate dispute.
The results were catastrophic. Sarin drifted silently through the air,

(18:39):
entering homes and apartment buildings. Seven people died. Over five
hundred were injured, some permanently blinded, others left with severe
neurological damage. The attack went largely unsolved. Police blamed it
on a malfunctioning pesticide system. No one suspected a religious
group inside AM. The attack was considered a success, a
proof of concept. It emboldened them. The Matsumoto attack was

(19:03):
not a final strike. It was a test run, a
rehearsal for something bigger, something that would come just months
later in the Tokyo subway system. Between nineteen ninety and
nineteen ninety four, AM Shinrikyo went from a religious curiosity
to a militarized doomsday machine. Shoko Asahara was no longer
just a guru. He was the leader of a domestic
cult with global ambitions, chemical weapons, and a worldview that

(19:26):
saw violence as divine purification. He had turned spiritual devotion
into a chain of command. He had weaponized belief, and
he was preparing for the end of the world, even
if he had to help bring it about himself. Part three.
The Tokyo Attack Chaos Underground nineteen ninety five. Tokyo, March twentieth,
nineteen ninety five, a crisp Monday morning, millions of commuters

(19:50):
streamed into the city subway system, one of the busiest
in the world. Office workers, students, parents, a typical start
to a typical day. But as five men boarded separate
trains carrying seemingly ordinary packages double wrapped in newspapers inside
plastic bags, the city was about to experience something unthinkable.
Within the hour, thirteen people would be dead, over six

(20:11):
thousand injured, and the world would come to understand that
Japan was under attack, not by foreign enemies, but from
within its own borders. The Tokyo Subway seren gas attack
was the culmination of years of radicalization, militarization, and delusion
inside om Shinrikio. It was not a last resort. It
was a calculated escalation, and it was one of the

(20:32):
most devastating acts of domestic terrorism in modern history. The
plan for the attack didn't emerge in a single moment.
It evolved through a web of paranoia, failed prophecies, and
an increasing need for spectacle. By late nineteen ninety four,
Shokoasahar's authority within OM Shinrikio was facing its first real
internal challenges. His predictions of nuclear war had not materialized,

(20:56):
the political elite hadn't fallen, and defectors were increasing, some
speaking publicly, others vanishing under suspicious circumstances. At the same time,
Japanese authorities were closing in. AM's compounds. Had come under
increasing scrutiny following the Matsumoto Saran attack the year before.
The media had begun to question ALM's real operations. Reports

(21:18):
of abuse, mysterious deaths, and chemical experimentation had reached mainstream outlets.
Asahara's response was to double down. He told his followers
that the government was now preparing to destroy AM, to
launch full raids, arrest their leaders, and wipe them out.
In his apocalyptic framework, this was proof that armageddon was near.

(21:39):
The prophecies were simply unfolding on Ahm's timeline, but Asahara
didn't just want to survive, he wanted to force the end.
According to internal testimonies from later trials, Asahara believed that
triggering mass chaos would ignite a cycle of violence, a
war between AM and the Japanese state, which would ultimately
lead to global nuclear annihilation. From the ashes, OLM would

(22:02):
rise as the only surviving truth, and so the plan
began a chemical attack on the Tokyo Subway. Why the
subway because it was symbolic and and logistical. Tokyo's underground
train system was the artery of the city. Every day,
over eight million people passed through its tunnels. Hitting it
wouldn't just cause casualties, it would paralyze the capital. The

(22:23):
date was carefully chosen March twentieth, a Monday, during peak
morning commute. Five stations, five trains, Five attackers, all converging
in central Tokyo, near the heart of Japan's national government.
The goal wasn't just to kill, It was to send
a message you are not safe, and we are everywhere.
The attackers were not fanatics from the fringes. They were

(22:45):
core OHMB members, intelligent, well educated, hand picked for loyalty.
Each man carried two sarin filled plastic bags wrapped in newspapers.
Each also carried an umbrella sharpened at the tip to
puncture the bags and release the gas. The serin was
in liquid form, colorless, odorless, incredibly potent. A single drop
could kill, but AHM had produced large quantities enough to

(23:08):
effect thousands. At approximately seven forty six am, the first
package was punctured on the Chiota Line. Within minutes, commuters
began to collapse, eyes burned, chests tightened, Some vomited, others seized.
A few simply slumped over unconscious. In the next fifteen minutes,
four other trains were hit Marunucci, Hebia, and again the

(23:31):
Chiota Line. The seren gas spread quickly in the confined
underground spaces. Some of the punctures were deeper than others,
releasing larger doses. Train doors opened at each stop, pushing
the toxic air into station corridors. Commuters didn't know what
was happening. Many assumed it was a gas leak. Station
workers without protective gear rushed into help. Several were killed

(23:52):
trying to rescue the injured. Above ground, confusion reigned. Emergency
services were overwhelmed. Hospitals were unprepared for mass chemical casualties.
Victims arrived in waves, foaming at the mouth, blinded, gasping.
Some died in ambulances, others in waiting rooms. Many survivors
suffered permanent neurological damage. In the hours that followed, Japan

(24:14):
was paralyzed. The media scrambled for answers. Early reports spoke
of a chemical accident. Others speculated terrorism. AM Shinrikio was
not yet named, but within government circles, suspicion was mounting.
By late afternoon, Prime Minister Tomichi Murayama convened a crisis meeting,
police began preparing coordinated raids on ALM facilities. The nation,

(24:36):
known for its low crime rates and tight social order,
was now in a state of emergency. On the evening news,
the death toll rose thirteen confirmed dead, thousands injured, and
for the first time, authorities publicly named AM as a suspect.
Inside Ahm's compound, the mood was not one of panic,
but anticipation. The cult had planned for this. They expected retaliation.

(25:00):
Ahm's internal documents revealed detailed plans for underground bunkers, food stockpiles,
escape routes. Some followers believed the subway attack was only
phase one, that greater strikes would follow, but the state
moved quickly. On March twenty second, two days after the attack,
over three hundred officers descended on the group's sprawling compound
in Kami Kuishiki at the foot of Mount Fuji. What

(25:22):
they found shocked even seasoned investigators. Chemical labs, stockpiles of chemicals,
blueprints for seren gas production, weapons, documents detailing surveillance on
politicians and media figures, and lists names of individuals marked
for assassination. But Asahara was not found, he had vanished

(25:43):
for weeks. He remained hidden somewhere inside the cult's sprawling
compound while police conducted nationwide raids. Media coverage intensified. The
Japanese public watched in horror as the details emerged. A
doomsday cult armed with chemical weapons had tried to wage
war on the state, and for days the leader was
still at large Part four Collapse in Reckoning Trials, Trauma

(26:07):
and Aftershocks nineteen ninety five to twenty eighteen. He was
finally captured on May sixteenth, nineteen ninety five, fifty six
days after the subway attack. Hiding in a small windowless
room beneath one of Ahm's buildings, he was sitting in meditation,
surrounded by scriptures and air purifiers. His arrest marked the
end of one of the most intense manhunts in Japanese history,

(26:29):
but for many it was not closure. The scale of
what had happened and what could have happened was staggering.
His arrest was followed by a tidal wave of indictments.
By the end of nineteen ninety five, more than one
hundred and ninety members of AHM had been arrested. The
charges ranged from kidnapping to chemical weapons production to murder.
For prosecutors, the challenge wasn't just proving what happened, It

(26:53):
was unraveling how and why it was allowed to happen
on such a scale. The trials revealed the inner workings
of Mshinrikio harrowing detail. Testimonies from former members, survivors, and
insiders painted a picture of psychological manipulation, weaponized belief, and
brutal control. Some followers admitted to their crimes without remorse.

(27:14):
Others clearly broken, claimed they had no idea what they
were doing. They were following orders from a man they
believed to be a living god. The prosecution presented Asahara
as the ultimate authority. Nothing, they argued happened without his command.
He had orchestrated the Tokyo attack, He had signed off
on chemical weapons programs. He had authorized killings of defectors.

(27:36):
They called him not a prophet but a cult kingpin,
a man who used fear, science and scripture to build
an empire of death. But Asahara didn't defend himself, he
remained largely silent during his year's long trial. Occasionally he
mumbled incoherently or lapsed into extended silences. Some question whether
he was feigning mental illness. Others believed he had simply

(27:58):
retreated so far into his own delusions that he no
longer recognized the world outside. In two thousand and four,
after nearly nine years of proceedings, he was found guilty
on thirteen counts of murder and sentenced to death by hanging.
While the court's system ground forward, the survivors were left
to pick up the pieces. Over six thousand people had
been injured by sarin. Some lost their eyesight, others suffered

(28:21):
permanent nerve damage. Many lived with chronic respiratory issues. Psychological
trauma was widespread, and the grief, especially for the families
of those who died, was compounded by the slow pace
of justice and the cult's continued existence. Then came the executions.
For over a decade after his sentencing, Asahara sat in
solitary confinement. He was rarely seen. Rumors swirled. Some said

(28:43):
he had gone mad, Others believed he was biding his time.
Appeals came and went, The death sentence stood, and then quietly.
In July twenty eighteen, it happened. Without warning. The Japanese
Ministry of Justice announced that Asahara, along with six other
AM leaders, had been executed by hanging. The public reaction
was mixed. Some applauded the finality, others questioned the timing

(29:07):
and secrecy. Human rights groups criticized the use of capital punishment,
but for many in Japan, it was the closing of
a wound that had never fully healed. More executions followed
later that month. In total, thirteen AMED members were executed
in twenty eighteen, the same number of lives lost in
the Tokyo Subway. It was symmetry. Some called it justice,

(29:29):
others called it revenge. But it was over, or so
it seemed, because cults don't die easily, Ideology doesn't vanish
with a noose, and belief, once burned into the mind,
leaves a permanent mark even today. Offshoots of am Shinrikyo
persist quietly, operating under new names, new leaders, new messaging.
Their membership is smaller set and their ambitions more restrained,

(29:50):
but the echo remains. The lessons of Ahm are studied
in law enforcement academies, in religious studies programs, and counter
terrorism briefings. It was the canary in the coal, the
moment the world realized that modernity does not inoculate against fanaticism,
that science can be weaponized by belief, that intelligence can
serve madness, and that faith, when twisted, can turn the

(30:11):
sacred into the savage. Part five Echoes in the Void,
The Remnants and Rebrands twenty eighteen to present. In July
twenty eighteen, thirteen members of om Shinrikio were hanged in
the span of just a few weeks, among them Shoko Asahara,

(30:35):
the blind bearded guru who once prophesied armageddon and convinced
hundreds to kill in its name. Japan was stunned by
the sudden finality. For many, it felt like the last
chapter in a long nightmare. Justice, some said, had finally arrived.
But not all stories end where you expect, because even
after death Asahara's voice didn't go silent, his image didn't fade,

(30:57):
his doctrine didn't disappear. The cult he built still lived, fractured, renamed,
but breathing, and in the quiet shadow of modern Japan,
its echoes persist. Aliph that's what the largest remnant of
am Shinrikio calls itself, now a single Hebrew letter, the
first symbolizing origin, beginning a subtle rebranding for something that

(31:17):
never truly died. Founded in two thousand, just five years
after the Tokyo subway attack, ALIF was Ahm's public attempt
to survive. The leadership claimed it had severed ties with
Asahara's violent teachings. It issued a formal apology for the
sarin attacks and said it was a new organization focused
on peaceful religious practice, a religious do over. But Japan

(31:40):
wasn't buying it from the start. ALIF remained under close
scrutiny by the Public Security Intelligence Agency. Surveillance teams tracked
its buildings, monitored its gatherings, and maintained public watch lists
of known members. Raids continued, not as aggressive as in
the nineties, but frequent enough to send message were still

(32:01):
watching because Alife's changes were mostly surfaced deep they continued
to study Asahara's teachings. His image remained on some internal materials.
Secret sermons were still circulated. Recruits, often young and spiritually curious,
were introduced to his concepts gradually, first through meditation, then
through advanced philosophy. The core belief that Asahara's apocalyptic vision

(32:23):
wasn't wrong, it was simply misunderstood. In some circles. He
was no longer just a guru. He was a martyr.
Then there's Hikari Noah. The Circle of Light, a more
public facing splinter group formed in two thousand and seven
by Fumihiro Djoyu, a former AM spokesman who claimed to
seek reconciliation with Japanese society. He said the group renounced

(32:43):
Asahara's divinity and had shifted toward universal spirituality. They emphasized introspection,
Eastern philosophy, and peace, but skepticism lingered. For many, the
rebrand felt too convenient. Joyu had been one of Ahm's
most visible defenders during the nineteen nineties, and while he
distanced himself from the Siren Attack and spoke openly of change,

(33:06):
he also resisted calls to fully dismantle the movement. Some
saw Hakari Noah as an ideological halfway house, a soft
landing for cultists to attach to the past but unwilling
to stay in Alph's harder line. The Japanese government treated
both groups the same threats to public safety. Both Alif
and Hikari Noah remain under legal surveillance, Both have faced

(33:28):
legal battles over property secrecy and failure to disclose member lists,
and both continue to recruit. It's easy to ask how
how could anyone join something descended from mass murder? But
history rarely moves in straight lines. Ahm's modern descendants don't
show siren gas factories to new members. They don't lead
with images of subway deaths. They offer calm spaces, whispered enlightenment,

(33:52):
and a promise that the world makes sense if you
just listen long enough. And in an age of digital confusion,
economic stagnation, and cultural alienation, that message still lands. Alph
in particular, has embraced the digital world. Recruits are contacted
via social media, Videos and readings are shared in encrypted
chat groups. Study sessions are held on Zoom. The group

(34:14):
understands that while Japan's physical streets may be safe, the
Internet is a wild frontier, one where ideology can flourish
far from the eye of the state. As of twenty
twenty three, Japanese security agencies estimate ALPH has between fifteen
hundred and two thousand members. Hikari Nowa has a few hundred.

(34:34):
Their numbers may be small, but their capacity to cause
harm isn't measured in headcounts. It's measured in belief density,
how much conviction can be packed into a single loyalist,
and it's that density that keeps authorities awake at night.
In twenty twenty one, a disturbing revelation reminded Japan that
the danger hadn't fully passed. A man arrested for attempting
to manufacture chemical agents in his apartment cyanide compounds sulfuric acid,

(34:58):
was found to be an ALPH sympathized. He hadn't attacked anyone,
but the intent was clear. He had studied Ahm's methods.
He wanted to finish what Asahara had started. This wasn't
just nostalgia, it was contagion, and it wasn't limited to Japan.
In the years since the nineteen ninety five attack, small
am offshoots and sympathizer groups have emerged in Russia, Sri Lanka,

(35:19):
and parts of Eastern Europe. Russia in particular has seen
recurring flare ups of AM activity, mostly small scale, mostly underground,
but always devoted. The Russian government officially banned AM Shinrikio
in twenty sixteen, labeling it an extremist organization, but prior
to that the group had operated with surprising freedom. Russian

(35:41):
members translated Asahara's teachings into cyrillic, They distributed digital copies
of his sermons, and in some cases they even built temples.
Why Russia. Part of it lies in the shared sense
of collapse after the Soviet Union fell, Many were spiritually adrift.
Ahm's promise of order, divine truth and secret power or
offered a bizarre foreign answer, but one that for a

(36:03):
small few made sense in the chaos. In Japan, public
memory of the attacks is still raw, especially each March,
when the anniversary comes. At Kasumigaseki Station, one of the
five targeted in nineteen ninety five, a small ceremony is
held each year. Station workers, survivors and families gather in silence.
Flowers are laid, names are read Saren is long gone,

(36:26):
but the air still feels heavy. Some of the survivors
speak to school groups, Others stay quiet. Many are still disabled,
Some live with chronic pain or PTSD. A few have
taken their own lives since the trauma didn't end with
Asahara's execution. It lives in bodies, it lives in families,
and it lives in national policy. Japan remains one of

(36:47):
the few countries with a government agency devoted specifically to
cult monitoring. The Public Security Intelligence Agency tracks more than
just alaph They monitor religious movements, political factions, internet radicalization cells.
But the shadow of ALM shapes everything. It set the precedent,
It set the alarm, and it set the standard for

(37:08):
what homegrown terrorism could look like in a technologically advanced,
economically stable, democratic society. ALM didn't rise from poverty. It
wasn't fueled by foreign interference. It wasn't a fringe movement
of the uneducated. It was built by doctors, chemists, engineers,
people who chose belief over evidence, loyalty over humanity. That's

(37:28):
what makes it so hard to erase. In twenty twenty two,
a new debate began in the Japanese diet should Alif
and Hikari Noah be fully outlawed. Some politicians argued yes,
that surveillance wasn't enough and that even passive members could
be sleeper threats. Others countered that banning the groups would
only drive them further underground, where oversight becomes impossible. So far,

(37:50):
no new bands have been implemented, but pressure is growing,
especially after leak documents showed ALF was still collecting large
sums from followers, often in cash, sometimes through family donations,
with no clear accounting of where the money goes. Some
say it funds spiritual centers. Others say it funds silence.

(38:11):
What remains of am Shinrikyo today is not a single
cohesive movement. It's more like an ideological residue, a stain
that hasn't quite washed out. It clings to institutions, It
whispers on forums, it passes through encrypted chats. It seduces
the spiritually lost with the promise of certainty, and, most dangerously,
it continues to suggest that violence can be sacred, that

(38:32):
the end justifies the means, that salvation requires sacrifice. ALM's
legacy is not just the bodies on the subway floor.
It's the knowledge that mass terror can grow out of prayer.
It's the realization that intelligence doesn't protect against illusion. It's
the warning that in a world where confusion reigns, the
clearest voice, even a false one, can sound like truth.

(38:56):
And that's why the story isn't over. It's still breathing somewhere.
Part six, Reflections on Faith, fear, and control. The story
of om Shinrikio is not just about seren Gas. It's
not just about a blind guru, a poisoned subway, or
a courtroom full of defendants in white robes. The true
weight of this story lives deeper in the currents that

(39:17):
carried ordinary people into extraordinary acts, in the psychological architecture
of belief, and in the terrifying ease with which control
can masquerade as enlightenment. This final chapter is not about
the timeline. It's about the why, why it happened, why
it worked, why it could happen again, and what it
means for all of us. Faith is a powerful thing.
It moves mountains, it binds communities. It gives meaning in

(39:40):
moments when meaning feels far away. At its best, faith
can be transformative, a bridge between the finite and the infinite,
But when faith is hijacked by fear, when it becomes
welded to paranoia and delusion, it ceases to uplift, it
begins to consume om Shinrikio was born at the intersection
of that transfer. Shoko Asahara didn't just preach spiritual liberation,

(40:04):
he weaponized it. He took ancient traditions and twisted them
through the lens of apocalypse. He sold destruction as purification.
He offered his followers not peace but purpose, and in
a world of ambiguity, purpose is a hell of a drug.
The people who joined AHM were not fools, They were
not monsters. Many were college educated, idealistic, deeply curious. Some

(40:26):
were searching for transcendence, others for community. Some were simply lonely.
All were looking for something bigger than themselves. What they
found was a system built to trap them. Step by step,
their autonomy was eroded. Meditation became obligation, belief became currency,
dissent became sin. Slowly, AHM created its own moral gravity,

(40:47):
one where up was down, harm was healing, and obedience
was salvation. And no one, not even the most intelligent,
was immune. Because cults don't need you to be stupid.
They need you to be hungry. In the post AM,
psychologists and sociologists began re evaluating the mechanics of radicalization.
They coined terms like bounded choice, the idea that people

(41:09):
in high control groups don't feel like they're being coerced
because their sense of reality has been slowly systematically altered.
In this framework, even mass murder can feel like moral clarity.
Om Shinrikio wasn't a glitch in the matrix. It was
a masterclass in behavioral manipulation. Recruits were isolated from family,
their diets were restricted, sleep was minimized, group chants reinforced

(41:33):
central tenets. Self criticism was required. Even spontaneous emotion was
treated as a lack of spiritual progress. Members were taught
that suffering was not only natural, it was necessary for enlightenment.
If that sounds familiar, it's because it is. These are patterns,
and they've appeared across dozens of high control movements throughout history,
from Jonestown to the Manson Family, from Heaven's Gate to

(41:56):
the ANXIVM cult. The theology changes, the leaders changes, the
rituals change, but the playbook doesn't. What Am showed us
perhaps more than any group before it was how modern
tools could amplify ancient fears. Asahara used mail order magazines,
radio shows, and homegrown tech to grow his base. He

(42:17):
wasn't just chanting in temples, he was broadcasting in stereo.
And when the Internet arrived, amb adapted again. Recruitment became scalable,
ideology became digital. Today that trend continues, cross online forums,
encrypted chats, and private streaming platforms. New cults are forming,
some overt others disguised as self help movements, coaching programs,

(42:38):
or fringe political groups. The om legacy lives not in temples,
but in algorithms. Its warning is encoded in every click,
and still the hunger remains. The human mind is a
pattern making machine. It craves coherence, direction, transcendence. Cults offer
all three quickly, cleanly, and without nuance. That's their power,

(42:58):
But it's also their lie, because real transcendence doesn't come
through surrendering your will to another. It comes through the brutal,
unglamorous process of holding on to yourself even when the
world demands otherwise. In Japan, the ghosts of nineteen ninety
five remain vivid. The subway stations still operate. The tunnels
are clean, but if you look closely, you'll notice the

(43:20):
extra cameras, the security drills, the quiet unease that comes
with memory. Every March, after ceremonies are held to honor
the dead, names are read, stories are shared, and somewhere
in the background, a Sahara's shadow still flickers, not as
a man, but as a question. How did we let
this happen? The answer isn't comfortable. It never is, but

(43:41):
it starts with honesty. We let it happen because we
underestimated the power of belief. We let it happen because
we thought cults were obvious, messy haired profits and deserts,
not engineers in Tokyo labs. We let it happen because
we forgot that ideology is not bound by geography, income,
or iq. It only needs one thing, a crack, and
then it moves in. Today, the cult has splintered, the

(44:04):
leaders are dead, the compounds are empty, but the ideology,
like radiation, lingers in small rooms across Japan, in hidden
chats across the world. There are still people who believe
Asahara was right, who believe the world is wicked, that
pain is purifying, that violence is holy They are fewer now,
but it only takes one one voice, one myth, one

(44:25):
believer who's ready to act, And if we're not vigilant,
it happens all over again. So what do we do
We learn, We teach, We talk, We build societies that
nurture meaning before cults can weaponize it. We watch for
the signs, not just in others, but in ourselves. We
stay skeptical of anyone who demands total loyalty, who insists
on secrecy, who trades freedom for truth, And most of all,

(44:48):
we stop pretending that this can't happen again, because it
can and it will if we're not ready next time.
On hidden cults, we leave Japan and travel to California,
where a group of thirty nine pe people in matching
clothes and Nike sneakers quietly took their own lives in
nineteen ninety seven, convinced they were boarding a spaceship hidden
behind a comet. It was one of the most bizarre

(45:10):
and surreal mass deaths in American history. They were intelligent, articulate,
and utterly convinced they were escaping Earth. This was Heaven's Gate,
a cult that didn't believe in violence, but believed in
leaving the planet behind. We'll explore the lives of founders
Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles, the group's strange theology of
UFOs and ascension, and how the arrival of the Hailbop

(45:32):
comet became their final tragic exit Heaven's Gate, the final
boarding call, that's next time.

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