Before After Aum
Atsushi Sakahara survived terrorism at the hands of doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo, now he's facing Indie doc distribution. aganai.substack.com
Episodes
It’s been so long! I managed to catch Atsushi between screenings in Tokyo yesterday! Atsushi has been busy with the release in Japan (today is DAY 3!) and I’ve been preparing it to meet the world over! The in-cinema tickets sold out on Day 1, and online tickets were sold out on day 2! I wanted to drop into your feed and say hello and that we’ve been thinking of you!
To catch the film in Tokyo: http://www.imageforum.co.jp/theatre/ (...
By the demise of the cult, executive members had killed more than 80 people. Here are the stories of the first two murders: the' ‘accidental’ death of Majima Teruyuki in September 1988 and the cold-blooded murder Taguchi Shuji in February 1989.
Listen Now (& Subscribe, Rate and Review!):
Pocket Cast: https://pca.st/8es9u6lt
10,000 USD for a sip of Shoko Asahara’s blood, anyone? This episode we look into the diverse “initiation” specials Aum Shinrikyo offered that made them **millionaires**
But what makes someone believe in miracles? More importantly, what are the repercussions of believing?
Listen Now (& Subscribe, Rate and Review!):
Pocket Cast: https://pca.st/8es9u6lt
Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/before-after-aum
Apple: https://podcasts.app...
In 1984, Shoko Asahara went to see a private investigator named Mekawa to learn about Tenrikyo, another New Religion which started in the 18th Century. Based on what he learned, he set forth to raise funds and build his own utopia where he would be recognized as the protector of the truth of the universe.
Listen Now (& Subscribe, Rate and Review!):
Pocket Cast: https://pca.st/8es9u6lt
In 1985-1987, Shoko Asahara goes on a number of trips to India in search of a guru to validate and guide his (so far) self-taught yoga practise. His travels take him to the ashrams of a number of Indian religious teachers including Pilot Baba and the Dalai Lama. Though his actions may seem pure, his sinister intentions soon become clear.
This meeting has long been used against the Dalai Lama by his critics. We also want to be clear ...
Welcome to our second bonus episode! Cintia Gil, director of the Sheffield Doc Fest speak to us on the process behind the festival! Me and the Cult Leader is world premiering at Sheffield Doc Fest's virtual 2020 edition and available in the #UK from June 10 - July 10. Last 4 days of the screening in UK!!
Listen Now (& Rate and Review!)
Video of the Q&A:
Pocket Cast: https://pca.st/8es9u6lt
Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/b...
Welcome to our first bonus episode! Director Atsushi Sakahara (and a little bit of Pearl Chan) speak to Cintia Gil, director of the Sheffield Doc Fest on the process behind the film. This is part 1 of 2; part 2 will be on the process behind the festival! Me and the Cult Leader is world premiering at Sheffield Doc Fest's virtual 2020 edition and available in the #UK from June 10 - July 10. Catch it if you can!
Listen Now (& Rate...
Note: Mentions Suicide.
In 1985, Aum Shinrikyo’s recruiting efforts are paying off. This is a radio drama of one early member’s experience. Our exploration of why people join, and why they stay.
Our film Me and the Cult Leader is available NOW in the UK until July 10 at the Sheffield Doc Fest! The reviews from Screen International, The Daily Beast and Eye for Film has been phenomenal, we are absolutely overjoyed!
Listen Now (& Rate...
When we think about Aum Shinrikyo, we often think about the guru Shoko Asahara or the men he was arrested with, but in 1985, in a small Shibuya flat, Aum started with 6 young women who laid the foundations for what would become a multi-million dollar organization.
Note: not for the faint of heart! We talk about some pretty niche yoga practices
Spoilers: Lee Chang Dong’s Secret Sunshine
Listen Now (& Rate and Review!):
Pocket Cast: h...
We’re back to cults! After his second pharmacy closes after a police investigation, embittered Chizuo Matsumoto knocks on the door of Shuo Nishiyama (remember him from episode 2?), answering a job ad. He doesn’t get the job, but instead, a friend, a mentor, and idea, and a new name.
If you haven’t listened from the beginning, we encourage you to listen to episode 1 for information on some of the cults mentioned in passing, and epis...
June 22, 1982, Deputy Detective Takeo Shiroiwa arrives at the gate of 27 year old Chizuo Matsumoto’s home and rings the buzzer, search warrant in hand. This is a short episode including Atsushi and Pearl recreating the interrogation.
Listen Now (& Rate and Review!):
Pocket Cast: https://pca.st/8es9u6lt
Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/before-after-aum
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/hk/podcast/before-after-aum/id1503524725
...
Before starting a doomsday cult, Chizuo Matsumoto ran an acupuncture clinic out of his first apartment with his wife and baby daughter. Before manufacturing bio-weapons, he was fined for insurance fraud. Before selling his plasma to believers, he sold $1000 tinctures labelled, “Blue Dragon Pill” to the chronically ill. These are the embryonic ideas of Chizuo Matsumoto before he became Shoko Asahara told from the perspective of his ...
Emerging from his brother's shadow, Chizuo Matsumoto gets married.
For more in-depth notes, subscribe to our newsletter: www.aganai.substack.com
Listen Now:
Pocket Cast: https://pca.st/8es9u6lt
Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/before-after-aum
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/78DaqYT1UtrzN0UwggDiRp
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/hk/podcast/before-after-aum/id1503524725
Chizuo is sent to a school for the blind at the age of 6. For the next 14 years, he would hope, bribe, bore, and struggle through his experience as the only sighted child at the facility. These are the early years of Aum Shinrikyo cult leader and terrorist Shoko Asahara.
For more in-depth notes, subscribe to our newsletter: www.aganai.substack.com
Watch Now: https://youtu.be/aZ-CVUDW1GQ
Listen Now:
Pocket Cast: https://pca.st/8es9u6lt
When I started research for this episode, I thought we would focus on the beginnings of the cult leader Asahara. But instead, everything I was looking at brought me to think more about the context that would allow and nurture a cult like Aum. We have to go back in time, looking at the restrictions Meji era Japan (1868 - 1912) put on religion in an effort to prop up the emperor as a deity to understand what freedom of religion meant...
On March 20, 1995, Toru Toyoda and Katsuya Takahashi, respectively the perpetrator and driver, planted sarin on the Hibiya line, train B711T. Toyoda boarded the train at Naka Meguro Station, punctured the sarin at Ebisu Station and got off. The next stop Hiro-o Station, then Roppongi Station, where director Atsushi Sakahara boarded. Before the next stop at Kamiyacho station, passengers began to panic. Sakahara got off at Kamiyacho ...
Atsushi Sakahara is an energetic man in his 50s. Though he struggles to fit into Japanese society, which he characterizes as having a village mentality, he’s the very definition of a last generation Kyoto fella. Polite and acutely aware of hierarchy, Atsushi is both down-to-earth and prone to name-dropping.
I met Atsushi the beginning of 2018. At that point, he had been working the his documentary for 5 years. He’d shot it, cut it,...
Popular Podcasts
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.
Charlie is America's hardest working grassroots activist who has your inside scoop on the biggest news of the day and what's really going on behind the headlines. The founder of Turning Point USA and one of social media's most engaged personalities, Charlie is on the front lines of America’s culture war, mobilizing hundreds of thousands of students on over 3,500 college and high school campuses across the country, bringing you your daily dose of clarity in a sea of chaos all from his signature no-holds-barred, unapologetically conservative, freedom-loving point of view. You can also watch Charlie Kirk on Salem News Channel
The Megyn Kelly Show is your home for open, honest and provocative conversations with the most interesting and important political, legal and cultural figures today. No BS. No agenda. And no fear.
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.