Aum Shinrikyo and religious terrorism in Japanese collective memory / Rin Ushiyama.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ushiyama, Rin, author.

Series:

British Academy monograph.

British Academy monographs

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Oumu Shinrikyō (Religious organization).

Terrorism--Religious aspects.

Terrorism--Japan--Tokyo.

Collective memory--Japan.

Collective memory.

Religion and sociology.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (271 pages) : illustrations

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Published for the British Academy by Oxford University Press, [2023]

Summary:

This is the first comprehensive study of the competing memories of Aum Shinrikyo's religious terrorism. Interrogating an array of primary sources including original interviews with victims and ex-members, this book reveals how clashing representations of the 'Aum Affair' have hindered social repair and reconciliation.

Contents:

1 Introduction

The scope of this book

Organisation of the book

2 Towards a Multi-layered Account of Collective Memory

Collective memory as uneven commemorative processes

Cultural trauma: Negative events as cornerstones of collective identity

Bakhtin's literary vocabulary: Dialogue, polyphony, and heteroglossia

Conclusions: Three propositions for a multi-layered model of collective memory

3 The Prelude to Destruction: The 1994 Matsumoto Sarin Attack1

The making of 'Asahara Shōkō' the guru

Aum's doctrinal evolution

Turn to militarism

The immediate aftermath of the Matsumoto attack: The 'fact-finders' fail

Conclusions

4 Shock and Anger: Societal Responses to the Tokyo Subway Attack

Media responses to the Tokyo sarin attack

Combating 'evil'

The quest for ratings - uncovering Aum's inner workings

Matsumoto re-signified

Tracing the social causes of Aum

Anomie

Education

Popular culture

Transnational influences

Religion under attack

The making of a villain: Asahara the antagonist

Distillation of evil

Profanation

5 Commemorating Crisis: State, Media, and Civil Responses to the Aum Affair

State responses - Aum and the law

Prevention of Destructive Activity Act (PDAA)

Religious Corporations Act (RCA)

Security laws

Compensation for victims

Criminal trials of perpetrators

State responses - commemoration by official bodies

Mediated commemoration

Matsumoto re-remembered

The Tokyo subway attack in mass media

Beyond elite commemoration: Grassroots ritualised remembrance

Erasing Aum's trails: The absence of material objects

Conclusions.

6 Public Intellectuals and the Struggle Over Mind Control1

Public intellectuals and collective memory

Authoritative intellectuals and the rise of mind control as paradigm

Authoritative intellectuals questioning the mind control narrative

Murakami Haruki's Underground

Mori Tatsuya's A, A2, and A3

7 Performing Victimhood: Pursuing Justice After Tragedy

Victimhood and trauma re-examined

Towards a performative understanding of victimhood

Nagaoka Hiroyuki: The 'difference-antagonistic' model

Takahashi Shizue: The 'solidarity-antagonistic' model

Kōno Yoshiyuki: The 'solidarity-reconciliatory' model

8 The Trauma of Perpetrators

Recognising guilt - the view from 'below'

The Canary Society

Kaori's story

Confessing guilt: Aum's killers

Hayashi Ikuo

Hayakawa Kiyohide

Former leaders of Aum and Aleph: Combining apology and redress

Jōyū Fumihiro: Continuing a (non)religious group

Noda Naruhito: Entrepreneurial reparations

Intergenerational guilt and perpetrators' trauma

Matsumoto Rika

Matsumoto Satoka

9 Conclusions

The Aum Affair in Japanese culture

Final remarks

Appendix: Glossary of Terms.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Part of the metadata in this record was created by AI, based on the text of the resource.

ISBN:

0198926464

OCLC:

1372507704