WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.140 Okay, let's just try to unpack this. I want you 00:00:03.140 --> 00:00:05.820 to imagine you're walking into a yoga studio. 00:00:06.660 --> 00:00:10.560 The vibe, maybe some incense is burning, there's 00:00:10.560 --> 00:00:14.699 some gentle Siddhar music in the background. 00:00:14.859 --> 00:00:17.780 Sure, a very familiar scene. Yeah, exactly. You're 00:00:17.780 --> 00:00:20.719 there to stretch, maybe meditate. You're trying 00:00:20.719 --> 00:00:23.460 to get a little bit of relief from the crushing 00:00:23.460 --> 00:00:26.640 stress of corporate life in Tokyo. You want peace. 00:00:27.179 --> 00:00:29.059 You want health. You're trying to clear your 00:00:29.059 --> 00:00:31.039 mind. It's a sanctuary. It's what thousands, 00:00:31.120 --> 00:00:33.679 maybe millions of people are looking for every 00:00:33.679 --> 00:00:36.399 single day all over the world. Right. But then 00:00:36.399 --> 00:00:39.840 you fast forward and it's barely a decade later. 00:00:40.179 --> 00:00:42.240 And the people who are running that yoga studio. 00:00:42.939 --> 00:00:45.380 They are not doing Downward Dog anymore. Not 00:00:45.380 --> 00:00:47.939 even close. They are manufacturing military -grade 00:00:47.939 --> 00:00:49.880 chemical weapons. They've built a massive industrial 00:00:49.880 --> 00:00:52.500 facility for it. They're out buying Russian military 00:00:52.500 --> 00:00:55.679 helicopters. And they are orchestrating one of 00:00:55.679 --> 00:00:58.219 the most terrifying domestic terror attacks the 00:00:58.219 --> 00:01:00.299 modern world has ever seen. It sounds like the 00:01:00.299 --> 00:01:03.420 plot of a really dark and honestly a very implausible 00:01:03.420 --> 00:01:05.599 thriller novel. You'd say it was bad writing 00:01:05.599 --> 00:01:07.640 if you saw it in a movie. It is the absolute 00:01:07.640 --> 00:01:09.400 definition of truth is stranger than fiction. 00:01:10.909 --> 00:01:14.170 Today, we are doing a deep dive into I'm Shinrikyo. 00:01:14.689 --> 00:01:17.189 Now, most of you listening, you probably know 00:01:17.189 --> 00:01:20.250 the headline, the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack. 00:01:20.750 --> 00:01:22.870 That's the moment the world just froze and looked 00:01:22.870 --> 00:01:25.129 at Japan in absolute horror. Right. That's the 00:01:25.129 --> 00:01:28.489 big one. But the backstory, oh, the backstory 00:01:28.489 --> 00:01:32.109 involves sci -fi obsessions. It involves failed 00:01:32.109 --> 00:01:36.670 political campaigns, anime, and just this slow 00:01:36.670 --> 00:01:39.569 creeping descent into apocalyptic violence that 00:01:39.569 --> 00:01:42.489 is, I mean, It's honestly hard to wrap your head 00:01:42.489 --> 00:01:43.810 around. It really is. And I think that's our 00:01:43.810 --> 00:01:45.730 mission for this deep dive, right? To move past 00:01:45.730 --> 00:01:47.209 those headlines. We really want to understand 00:01:47.209 --> 00:01:49.950 the why and the how. Yes. How does a group that 00:01:49.950 --> 00:01:52.150 literally starts as a yoga school in Shibuya 00:01:52.150 --> 00:01:55.349 in 1984, how does it evolve into a literal state 00:01:55.349 --> 00:01:57.510 within a state that is capable of biological 00:01:57.510 --> 00:01:59.769 and chemical warfare? Exactly. I really want 00:01:59.769 --> 00:02:01.890 to unpack the timeline, some of the strange details. 00:02:02.030 --> 00:02:04.109 I mean, wait until we get to the Isaac Asimov 00:02:04.109 --> 00:02:06.349 connections, because that just blew my mind and 00:02:06.349 --> 00:02:08.349 the psychology of all of it. How do you get from 00:02:08.349 --> 00:02:11.569 namaste to nerve gas? be here to help connect 00:02:11.569 --> 00:02:13.669 those dots on the doctrine. Because I think to 00:02:13.669 --> 00:02:16.250 really understand the violence, you have to understand 00:02:16.250 --> 00:02:19.789 the belief system, the specific theological why 00:02:19.789 --> 00:02:22.830 that made mass murder seem, at least in their 00:02:22.830 --> 00:02:25.409 eyes, like a spiritual act. A noble act. A noble 00:02:25.409 --> 00:02:27.689 act. And we're also going to look at how this 00:02:27.689 --> 00:02:31.430 group managed to survive even after the arrests, 00:02:31.469 --> 00:02:33.930 the trials, the executions, how they're still 00:02:33.930 --> 00:02:36.530 around today under new names. Because they did 00:02:36.530 --> 00:02:39.689 not just vanish. OK, just a quick note on our 00:02:39.689 --> 00:02:42.430 sources. We are working primarily from a really 00:02:42.430 --> 00:02:44.870 comprehensive dossier on this, specifically the 00:02:44.870 --> 00:02:47.250 detailed reporting found in the Wikipedia archives 00:02:47.250 --> 00:02:50.550 on Ayam Shinrikyo. It covers the history, the 00:02:50.550 --> 00:02:52.610 doctoring, criminal activities, current status. 00:02:52.789 --> 00:02:54.590 We've really gone through it with a fine tooth 00:02:54.590 --> 00:02:57.069 comb. And a necessary disclaimer before we really 00:02:57.069 --> 00:02:59.469 jump in. We are going to be discussing some very 00:02:59.469 --> 00:03:03.870 intense, very specific religious and political 00:03:03.870 --> 00:03:05.990 views that were held by this group. Right. We're 00:03:05.990 --> 00:03:08.409 reporting on these as factual. events and beliefs 00:03:08.409 --> 00:03:10.830 to understand the history, we are in no way, 00:03:10.889 --> 00:03:13.349 shape or form endorsing them. This is a look 00:03:13.349 --> 00:03:15.449 at how a syncretic belief system was twisted 00:03:15.449 --> 00:03:18.250 into a justification for absolute terror. Absolutely. 00:03:18.389 --> 00:03:20.270 So let's go back. Back to the beginning. Yeah. 00:03:20.870 --> 00:03:25.110 1984. The era of what? Big hair synthesizers. 00:03:25.310 --> 00:03:28.469 But in the Shibuya district of Tokyo, a man named 00:03:28.469 --> 00:03:32.120 Shoko Asahara opens a yoga school. and he wasn't 00:03:32.120 --> 00:03:34.979 born shoko sahara his birth name was chizuo matsumoto 00:03:34.979 --> 00:03:38.180 he adopts this new name later on and he starts 00:03:38.180 --> 00:03:40.699 this little group it's called umu shinsen no 00:03:40.699 --> 00:03:44.000 kai Which translates to what? Roughly a Darum 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:46.560 Heavenly Sage Association. And at this stage, 00:03:46.599 --> 00:03:49.020 you know, February 1984, it really is just a 00:03:49.020 --> 00:03:51.039 yoga and meditation school. It takes a few years, 00:03:51.060 --> 00:03:53.319 but it eventually evolves and gains official 00:03:53.319 --> 00:03:55.580 religious organization status from the government 00:03:55.580 --> 00:03:57.939 in 1989. OK, but here's where it gets really 00:03:57.939 --> 00:03:59.680 interesting for me. And it kind of defies the 00:03:59.680 --> 00:04:03.020 stereotype of what you think of as a cult member. 00:04:03.180 --> 00:04:04.900 You know, when we think of people getting sucked 00:04:04.900 --> 00:04:08.310 into these groups, we usually picture. Vulnerable 00:04:08.310 --> 00:04:11.009 people, maybe lost souls, people on the fringes 00:04:11.009 --> 00:04:12.909 of society who feel like they have nowhere else 00:04:12.909 --> 00:04:16.730 to go. But Acuum, Acuum was recruiting the best 00:04:16.730 --> 00:04:19.350 and the brightest. That is such a crucial distinction. 00:04:19.730 --> 00:04:23.209 Arium Shinrikyo was explicitly dubbed by the 00:04:23.209 --> 00:04:26.399 media and by itself. A religion for the elite. 00:04:26.579 --> 00:04:29.100 For the elite. Yeah. They attracted a really 00:04:29.100 --> 00:04:31.720 shocking number of graduates from Japan's absolute 00:04:31.720 --> 00:04:34.300 top universities. We're talking about scientists, 00:04:34.660 --> 00:04:38.240 doctors, lawyers, people with PhDs in physics, 00:04:38.500 --> 00:04:40.540 astrophysics. The people who are supposed to 00:04:40.540 --> 00:04:42.420 be the most rational. The people who had climbed 00:04:42.420 --> 00:04:44.620 the academic and social ladder to the very, very 00:04:44.620 --> 00:04:47.980 top. These were not directionless kids. So what 00:04:47.980 --> 00:04:49.980 was the pitch? I mean, how do you get a graduate 00:04:49.980 --> 00:04:51.639 from the University of Tokyo, someone who has 00:04:51.639 --> 00:04:55.459 a guaranteed bright future at like Mitsubishi 00:04:55.459 --> 00:04:57.639 to drop everything and join a yoga cult? Well, 00:04:57.680 --> 00:04:59.399 the pitch was something they called the Arkham 00:04:59.399 --> 00:05:02.500 Salvation Plan. The Salvation Plan. Right. And 00:05:02.500 --> 00:05:05.120 it was incredibly comprehensive and on the surface 00:05:05.120 --> 00:05:09.300 almost pragmatic. They promised to cure your 00:05:09.300 --> 00:05:11.639 physical illnesses through their special health 00:05:11.639 --> 00:05:13.899 improvement techniques. They promised to improve 00:05:13.899 --> 00:05:16.379 your intelligence. So they're selling self -improvement. 00:05:16.439 --> 00:05:18.660 They're selling a fast track to becoming a better 00:05:18.660 --> 00:05:21.399 version of yourself. Realize your life's goals 00:05:21.399 --> 00:05:24.079 through positive thinking, they'd say. And they 00:05:24.079 --> 00:05:27.759 framed it as this ancient wisdom accurately translated 00:05:27.759 --> 00:05:30.819 from original Pali suttas, the earliest Buddhist 00:05:30.819 --> 00:05:33.300 texts. So it had this veneer of intellectual 00:05:33.300 --> 00:05:36.139 and spiritual authenticity. Absolutely. And they 00:05:36.139 --> 00:05:40.230 paired that self -improvement. They encouraged 00:05:40.230 --> 00:05:43.250 recruits to stop wasting time on leisure, on 00:05:43.250 --> 00:05:46.560 fun, and to concentrate only on what was important. 00:05:46.779 --> 00:05:48.480 Which was what they were selling. Of course. 00:05:48.699 --> 00:05:50.720 And you have to think about the context. For 00:05:50.720 --> 00:05:53.699 a high -achieving intellectual person in 1980s 00:05:53.699 --> 00:05:56.720 Japan, someone who maybe felt totally empty despite 00:05:56.720 --> 00:05:59.779 all their success, maybe someone completely burnt 00:05:59.779 --> 00:06:02.259 out by that famously rigorous corporate culture, 00:06:02.500 --> 00:06:05.879 this was an incredibly powerful hook. It offered 00:06:05.879 --> 00:06:09.199 meaning and mastery. It said, you are smart, 00:06:09.339 --> 00:06:11.720 but you're not using your intelligence for what 00:06:11.720 --> 00:06:14.670 really matters. We can show you the way. And 00:06:14.670 --> 00:06:16.949 they didn't just rely on ancient text to sell 00:06:16.949 --> 00:06:18.430 this, right? This is the part that I find so 00:06:18.430 --> 00:06:21.170 fascinating. They used pop culture. They were 00:06:21.170 --> 00:06:24.170 using manga and anime. They were. They understood 00:06:24.170 --> 00:06:27.610 their target audience perfectly. Akimem's public 00:06:27.610 --> 00:06:30.750 relations wing was really sophisticated. They 00:06:30.750 --> 00:06:32.629 published comics and they produced their own 00:06:32.629 --> 00:06:35.209 animated cartoons. And what were these cartoons 00:06:35.209 --> 00:06:37.410 about? Well, they weren't just telling cute stories. 00:06:37.550 --> 00:06:40.569 They were masterfully tying their religious ideas 00:06:40.569 --> 00:06:43.189 to themes that were already hugely popular in 00:06:43.189 --> 00:06:45.889 anime at the time. You know, grand space missions, 00:06:46.009 --> 00:06:49.490 super powerful weapons, shadowy world conspiracies, 00:06:49.490 --> 00:06:52.870 the lonely hero's quest for ultimate truth. Wow. 00:06:52.990 --> 00:06:55.310 So it's like the gamified religion. It's like, 00:06:55.310 --> 00:06:57.250 join us and you're not just meditating. You're 00:06:57.250 --> 00:06:59.790 the protagonist in this epic sci -fi story. That's 00:06:59.790 --> 00:07:02.209 not far off at all. In fact, they made the subtext 00:07:02.209 --> 00:07:05.029 text. They explicitly referenced Isaac Asimov's 00:07:05.029 --> 00:07:06.939 family. Foundation trilogy. The classic sci -fi 00:07:06.939 --> 00:07:09.500 novels about the fall of the Galactic Empire. 00:07:09.819 --> 00:07:11.939 The very same. For anyone who hasn't read them, 00:07:11.959 --> 00:07:14.920 in Asimov's Foundation you have this small elite 00:07:14.920 --> 00:07:17.660 group of scientists and they can see the collapse 00:07:17.660 --> 00:07:20.220 of civilization coming. They can predict it with 00:07:20.220 --> 00:07:22.639 a fictional science called psychohistory. Right. 00:07:22.720 --> 00:07:25.480 So they go underground to the edge of the galaxy 00:07:25.480 --> 00:07:28.439 to preserve all of human knowledge and prepare 00:07:28.439 --> 00:07:31.759 to rebuild the world after this long age of barbarism 00:07:31.759 --> 00:07:35.529 ends. And Asimov saw themselves as... As the 00:07:35.529 --> 00:07:38.110 foundation. Precisely. They told their recruits, 00:07:38.189 --> 00:07:41.069 we are that elite group of spiritually evolved 00:07:41.069 --> 00:07:43.850 scientists. We can see the end of the world coming, 00:07:43.949 --> 00:07:46.410 and it is our sacred duty to prepare to preserve 00:07:46.410 --> 00:07:49.209 the truth and to rebuild civilization. That's 00:07:49.209 --> 00:07:52.290 a terrifyingly grandiose purpose to give someone. 00:07:52.509 --> 00:07:55.189 But can you see the appeal? For a brilliant physicist 00:07:55.189 --> 00:07:57.370 who feels like they're just a cog in a corporate 00:07:57.370 --> 00:07:59.769 machine, this tells them, no, you're not just 00:07:59.769 --> 00:08:02.689 the salaryman. You are a guardian of humanity's 00:08:02.689 --> 00:08:05.290 future. Wow. Yeah, you can absolutely see the 00:08:05.290 --> 00:08:08.029 appeal. It's the ultimate ego boost. The psychiatrist 00:08:08.029 --> 00:08:10.990 Robert J. Lifton, who studied the group extensively, 00:08:11.250 --> 00:08:14.910 he noted this. He said Asim used this bizarre 00:08:14.910 --> 00:08:18.889 mix of Christian ideas, Buddhist ideas, and sci 00:08:18.889 --> 00:08:22.709 -fi tropes to impress these really shrewd, educated 00:08:22.709 --> 00:08:25.310 Japanese people who would have just been bored 00:08:25.310 --> 00:08:28.769 to tears by a traditional old -fashioned sermon. 00:08:28.930 --> 00:08:31.649 They wanted something that felt modern. Urgent. 00:08:31.790 --> 00:08:33.950 Dynamic. Exactly. So they've got the recruits. 00:08:33.950 --> 00:08:36.389 They've got this elite label. But underneath 00:08:36.389 --> 00:08:39.230 all the yoga and the Asimov references, something 00:08:39.230 --> 00:08:41.750 much, much darker is brewing in the doctrine. 00:08:41.889 --> 00:08:43.470 Let's talk about what they actually believed, 00:08:43.570 --> 00:08:45.669 because it's a very weird mix. It's not just 00:08:45.669 --> 00:08:47.889 Buddhism, is it? Not by a long shot. It's what 00:08:47.889 --> 00:08:50.669 we call a syncretic belief system. Which is just 00:08:50.669 --> 00:08:52.669 a fancy way of saying they mashed up a lot of 00:08:52.669 --> 00:08:55.529 different, often contradictory things to create 00:08:55.529 --> 00:08:57.629 something totally new. OK, so what's in the mix? 00:08:57.850 --> 00:08:59.809 Well, you have their own idiosyncratic interpretations. 00:09:00.460 --> 00:09:03.120 of Indian and Tibetan Buddhism. They were especially 00:09:03.120 --> 00:09:06.039 drawn to the Vajrayana tradition, which really 00:09:06.039 --> 00:09:08.759 emphasizes this intense, unbreakable bond between 00:09:08.759 --> 00:09:11.700 a guru and a disciple. So it puts Asahara at 00:09:11.700 --> 00:09:13.919 the absolute center, at the top of everything. 00:09:14.240 --> 00:09:17.379 Then they incorporated Hinduism. Specifically, 00:09:17.460 --> 00:09:21.380 they worship the god Shiva. And Shiva is... The 00:09:21.380 --> 00:09:23.320 destroyer, right? In the Hindu trinity. The god 00:09:23.320 --> 00:09:25.480 of destruction and transformation. I mean, that 00:09:25.480 --> 00:09:28.100 is a very significant choice of deity. It's not 00:09:28.100 --> 00:09:30.539 a coincidence. No, I guess not. And then on top 00:09:30.539 --> 00:09:33.919 of all that, they threw in a heavy dose of Christianity. 00:09:33.919 --> 00:09:37.139 A lot of it. From what I've read. Oh, yes. Asahara 00:09:37.139 --> 00:09:39.740 became obsessed with Christian millennialism, 00:09:39.820 --> 00:09:42.879 end times prophecy, the book of Revelation, all 00:09:42.879 --> 00:09:46.320 of that. And in 1992, he publishes this foundational 00:09:46.320 --> 00:09:48.740 book for the group where he actually declares 00:09:48.740 --> 00:09:51.259 himself to be Christ. He called himself Christ. 00:09:51.320 --> 00:09:54.100 Not a Christ -like figure. No. No. Christ. And 00:09:54.100 --> 00:09:57.200 also the Lamb of God. He claimed his divine mission 00:09:57.200 --> 00:09:59.440 was to take upon himself the sins of the entire 00:09:59.440 --> 00:10:02.159 world. Wow. He told his followers that he could 00:10:02.159 --> 00:10:04.570 transfer his spiritual power to them. and in 00:10:04.570 --> 00:10:07.389 doing so, literally absorb all of their bad karma. 00:10:07.590 --> 00:10:10.830 It was a messianic complex in full terrifying 00:10:10.830 --> 00:10:13.070 force. So we've got Shiva, we've got Christ, 00:10:13.169 --> 00:10:15.950 and I see here they were also really big on Nostradamus, 00:10:16.129 --> 00:10:19.129 the 16th century French astrologer. Yes, his 00:10:19.129 --> 00:10:20.870 writings about the end of the world were hugely 00:10:20.870 --> 00:10:23.190 influential in Japan in the 70s and 80s. There 00:10:23.190 --> 00:10:26.230 was a bit of a craze. And Asahara just folded 00:10:26.230 --> 00:10:29.370 all of this together, Shiva, Christ, Nostradamus, 00:10:29.509 --> 00:10:32.490 Buddhism, to construct this incredibly vivid 00:10:32.490 --> 00:10:35.529 and terrifying apocalyptic vision. So what was 00:10:35.529 --> 00:10:37.379 the vision? What did they think was going to 00:10:37.379 --> 00:10:40.340 happen? They believed in a massive global conspiracy. 00:10:40.799 --> 00:10:43.240 And unfortunately, it involves some of the usual 00:10:43.240 --> 00:10:46.480 ugly tropes. They believe this conspiracy involved 00:10:46.480 --> 00:10:49.419 Jewish financiers, Freemasons, the British royal 00:10:49.419 --> 00:10:52.980 family, rival Japanese religions, all working 00:10:52.980 --> 00:10:55.879 in the shadows. And what was the end game of 00:10:55.879 --> 00:10:58.940 this conspiracy? The end game was a nuclear Armageddon. 00:10:59.389 --> 00:11:01.370 A World War III. And who did they think was going 00:11:01.370 --> 00:11:04.110 to start it? The United States. Asahara specifically 00:11:04.110 --> 00:11:06.809 referred to the U .S. as the Beast from the Book 00:11:06.809 --> 00:11:09.230 of Revelation. He prophesied that the U .S. would 00:11:09.230 --> 00:11:11.509 attack Japan, which would trigger this final 00:11:11.509 --> 00:11:13.690 global war. Did they have a date for this? The 00:11:13.690 --> 00:11:15.990 timeline shifted. At first it was the year 2000, 00:11:16.110 --> 00:11:18.929 then 2006. But as things got more intense, he 00:11:18.929 --> 00:11:22.230 accelerated it to 1997. And they had specific 00:11:22.230 --> 00:11:25.370 ideas about how this war would be fought. I see 00:11:25.370 --> 00:11:27.529 here they believed it would involve... Particle 00:11:27.529 --> 00:11:29.990 beam weapons? Nuclear weapons and particle beam 00:11:29.990 --> 00:11:32.389 weapons, yes. Again, you can see that sci -fi 00:11:32.389 --> 00:11:34.769 influence bleeding through. They believed humanity 00:11:34.769 --> 00:11:37.529 would be almost completely wiped out. And only 00:11:37.529 --> 00:11:40.769 the enlightened few. Only the elite few in Atumum 00:11:40.769 --> 00:11:43.309 would survive to rebuild civilization from the 00:11:43.309 --> 00:11:46.350 ashes. It's the foundation trilogy made real. 00:11:46.590 --> 00:11:48.090 Okay, this is where we have to talk about the 00:11:48.090 --> 00:11:50.789 justification for violence. Because, you know, 00:11:50.809 --> 00:11:52.730 lots of cults have doomsday prophecies, lots 00:11:52.730 --> 00:11:55.070 of them. They go out into the desert, they stockpile 00:11:55.070 --> 00:11:57.000 beans, and they just wait. Right. They're passive. 00:11:57.299 --> 00:12:00.159 But Atum started killing people. They became 00:12:00.159 --> 00:12:02.480 incredibly violent. How did they justify that 00:12:02.480 --> 00:12:04.860 within this belief system? This is the absolute 00:12:04.860 --> 00:12:07.519 key. It is the most chilling part of their doctrine. 00:12:07.639 --> 00:12:10.440 And it all centers on a single concept that Asahara 00:12:10.440 --> 00:12:13.600 created called Poa. Poa. P -O -A. That's right. 00:12:13.700 --> 00:12:16.580 It's his own twisted interpretation of a genuine 00:12:16.580 --> 00:12:19.100 Tibetan Buddhist concept called Fewa. And what 00:12:19.100 --> 00:12:22.019 is Fewa in actual Tibetan Buddhism? In the traditional 00:12:22.019 --> 00:12:25.389 context, it relates to the transfer. of a person's 00:12:25.389 --> 00:12:27.350 consciousness at the very moment of their death. 00:12:27.629 --> 00:12:29.830 It's a set of practices designed to help you 00:12:29.830 --> 00:12:31.850 achieve a good rebirth or even enlightenment 00:12:31.850 --> 00:12:34.669 at that critical moment of dying. It's about 00:12:34.669 --> 00:12:37.490 a peaceful transition. Okay. So how did Asahara 00:12:37.490 --> 00:12:41.269 twist that? He twisted it into something completely 00:12:41.269 --> 00:12:46.299 unrecognizable and frankly, monstrous. He argued 00:12:46.299 --> 00:12:49.179 that if a person is accumulating bad karma, which 00:12:49.179 --> 00:12:51.440 could mean anything from actively opposing Azum 00:12:51.440 --> 00:12:53.860 to just, you know, living a normal mundane life 00:12:53.860 --> 00:12:56.440 that distracts from the truth, then that person 00:12:56.440 --> 00:12:58.480 is destined for a hellish rebirth. They're going 00:12:58.480 --> 00:13:01.500 to suffer for eons. OK, I think I think I see 00:13:01.500 --> 00:13:03.220 where this is going and it's not good. It's not. 00:13:03.659 --> 00:13:06.559 Ossahar's logic was this. If you kill that person, 00:13:06.700 --> 00:13:08.799 you stop them from accumulating more bad karma. 00:13:08.940 --> 00:13:11.379 You are freezing their karmic debt where it is. 00:13:11.440 --> 00:13:13.679 So killing them is a good thing. He taught that 00:13:13.679 --> 00:13:15.919 it was an act of salvation. You are saving their 00:13:15.919 --> 00:13:18.340 soul from a much, much worse fate in the next 00:13:18.340 --> 00:13:21.279 life. You are, in his words, doing them a spiritual 00:13:21.279 --> 00:13:24.740 favor. Wow. So murder becomes a spiritual service. 00:13:25.159 --> 00:13:28.139 Exactly. It's a complete moral inversion. Killing 00:13:28.139 --> 00:13:30.340 wasn't a crime. It was an act of mercy. It was 00:13:30.340 --> 00:13:32.659 a spiritual service you were performing for the 00:13:32.659 --> 00:13:35.960 victim. This doctrine of POA is what allowed 00:13:35.960 --> 00:13:38.879 these highly educated people, these doctors and 00:13:38.879 --> 00:13:41.960 scientists, to commit the most horrific atrocities 00:13:41.960 --> 00:13:44.960 without breaking their own internal moral code. 00:13:45.159 --> 00:13:47.399 Because in their minds, they weren't murdering 00:13:47.399 --> 00:13:49.259 people. They believed they were helping them. 00:13:49.360 --> 00:13:51.639 They were saving them by killing them. That is 00:13:51.639 --> 00:13:54.519 a terrifyingly effective psychological trap. 00:13:54.860 --> 00:13:57.379 And it wasn't just theory, was it? They started 00:13:57.379 --> 00:14:00.539 acting on this doctrine way before the 1995 subway 00:14:00.539 --> 00:14:03.210 attack. Oh, yeah. This brings us to the escalation 00:14:03.210 --> 00:14:06.730 phase, the creation of this state within a state. 00:14:06.809 --> 00:14:08.710 Right. The yoga school facade was starting to 00:14:08.710 --> 00:14:11.750 crack. By the late 1980s, definitely, there were 00:14:11.750 --> 00:14:14.309 accusations bubbling up, deception of recruits, 00:14:14.309 --> 00:14:16.409 holding members against their will, forcing them 00:14:16.409 --> 00:14:18.269 to sign over all their possessions and donate 00:14:18.269 --> 00:14:21.029 huge sums of money. Standard cult behavior, I 00:14:21.029 --> 00:14:24.429 guess. To a point. But then, in 1989, the violence 00:14:24.429 --> 00:14:26.909 turned lethal in public. This was the first murder. 00:14:27.149 --> 00:14:31.309 Yes. In February of 1989, a member tried to leave. 00:14:31.350 --> 00:14:33.830 He wanted out. And he was murdered by the group 00:14:33.830 --> 00:14:36.730 to silence him. Wow. But the incident that really 00:14:36.730 --> 00:14:39.230 should have been the giant flashing red light 00:14:39.230 --> 00:14:42.289 for all of Japanese society, the moment that 00:14:42.289 --> 00:14:45.289 signaled how truly dangerous they were, was the 00:14:45.289 --> 00:14:47.409 murder of the Sakamoto family in November of 00:14:47.409 --> 00:14:49.750 that same year. This story is just infuriating. 00:14:50.110 --> 00:14:53.720 So, Tsutsumi Sakamoto. He was a lawyer. He was 00:14:53.720 --> 00:14:56.720 a prominent anti -cult lawyer. He was representing 00:14:56.720 --> 00:14:58.840 dozens of families whose children had basically 00:14:58.840 --> 00:15:01.100 been stolen by the group. And he was preparing 00:15:01.100 --> 00:15:03.259 a massive lawsuit that could have potentially 00:15:03.259 --> 00:15:05.960 bankrupted Shinrikyo. He was a direct threat. 00:15:06.120 --> 00:15:08.360 A huge threat. But here's the part of the story 00:15:08.360 --> 00:15:10.519 that involves the media, and it's often overlooked, 00:15:10.580 --> 00:15:13.100 and it's just shameful. Sakamoto had recorded 00:15:13.100 --> 00:15:15.299 a long, detailed interview with the Japanese 00:15:15.299 --> 00:15:18.980 television network, TBS. And TBS, they showed 00:15:18.980 --> 00:15:21.210 the tape to the cult. Before it aired. They did. 00:15:21.490 --> 00:15:24.629 Secretly. Without notifying Sakamoto or his lawyers, 00:15:25.129 --> 00:15:27.809 TBS executives showed the taped interview to 00:15:27.809 --> 00:15:30.110 ADM officials. Why would they do that? The cult 00:15:30.110 --> 00:15:33.330 pressured them. They complained. And so TBS caved. 00:15:33.509 --> 00:15:36.370 They complied with I .M.'s demands and they canceled 00:15:36.370 --> 00:15:38.629 the broadcast. They buried the interview. That's 00:15:38.629 --> 00:15:41.110 unconscionable. They essentially tipped off the 00:15:41.110 --> 00:15:43.250 murderers. They showed them Sakamoto's entire 00:15:43.250 --> 00:15:45.610 legal strategy. That's exactly what they did. 00:15:45.710 --> 00:15:48.409 I .M. now knew who Sakamoto was, what he knew, 00:15:48.610 --> 00:15:51.240 and what he was planning. And just days later, 00:15:51.299 --> 00:15:54.399 in early November 1989, a team of Ayo members 00:15:54.399 --> 00:15:56.799 broke into Sakamoto's apartment in Yokohama. 00:15:56.940 --> 00:15:58.899 And his whole family was home. His whole family. 00:15:59.120 --> 00:16:01.519 Tsutsumi, his wife, the toko, and their infant 00:16:01.519 --> 00:16:04.220 son, Tatsuhiko, who was just a year old. Oh, 00:16:04.259 --> 00:16:06.860 God. They murdered all three of them. They injected 00:16:06.860 --> 00:16:09.279 them with potassium chloride. They put their 00:16:09.279 --> 00:16:11.659 bodies in metal drums and buried them in three 00:16:11.659 --> 00:16:14.960 separate, remote, rural locations across Japan. 00:16:15.519 --> 00:16:17.779 The family just vanished. And the police had 00:16:17.779 --> 00:16:19.870 no idea. The police couldn't solve the case at 00:16:19.870 --> 00:16:22.509 the time. This is despite the fact that Sakamoto's 00:16:22.509 --> 00:16:24.789 colleagues were publicly shouting their suspicions 00:16:24.789 --> 00:16:27.269 about I .M. from the rooftops. And get this. 00:16:27.929 --> 00:16:30.870 The police found an I .M. lapel pin at the crime 00:16:30.870 --> 00:16:33.669 scene in the apartment. And they still didn't 00:16:33.669 --> 00:16:35.950 connect it. They didn't move on the group. The 00:16:35.950 --> 00:16:38.929 bodies weren't found until 1995 after the subway 00:16:38.929 --> 00:16:41.529 attack when the captured cult members finally 00:16:41.529 --> 00:16:43.990 confessed and led police to the burial sites. 00:16:44.450 --> 00:16:48.330 It's a tragic, massive failure of multiple institutions. 00:16:48.809 --> 00:16:51.950 So they get away with wiping out an entire family 00:16:51.950 --> 00:16:53.990 who was threatening them. That must have just... 00:16:54.440 --> 00:16:56.639 emboldened them beyond belief. It did. It taught 00:16:56.639 --> 00:16:58.539 them that they were untouchable. And this is 00:16:58.539 --> 00:17:00.500 when you see them pivot to the next level, trying 00:17:00.500 --> 00:17:02.700 to develop and build weapons of mass destruction. 00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:04.700 And this is where all those scientists they recruited 00:17:04.700 --> 00:17:08.339 really come in handy. Right. In 1993, they decided 00:17:08.339 --> 00:17:11.339 to attempt large -scale biological warfare. They 00:17:11.339 --> 00:17:13.720 tried to create an anthrax epidemic right in 00:17:13.720 --> 00:17:15.740 the middle of Tokyo. They actually tried this. 00:17:15.759 --> 00:17:17.480 This isn't just a plan they had on a whiteboard. 00:17:17.539 --> 00:17:20.240 They went through with it. They did. Over a period 00:17:20.240 --> 00:17:22.539 of days, they sprayed huge amounts of a liquid 00:17:22.539 --> 00:17:25.680 containing bacillus anthracis spores from a cooling 00:17:25.680 --> 00:17:27.619 tower on the roof of their Tokyo headquarters 00:17:27.619 --> 00:17:30.180 building in the Kamaido district. OK, so why 00:17:30.180 --> 00:17:32.980 didn't thousands of people die in Tokyo in 1993? 00:17:33.460 --> 00:17:37.099 Because of a colossal scientific error. For all 00:17:37.099 --> 00:17:39.640 their supposed brilliance, their scientists made 00:17:39.640 --> 00:17:42.289 a critical mistake. What was it? They used a 00:17:42.289 --> 00:17:44.910 vaccine strain of the bacteria, the kind you'd 00:17:44.910 --> 00:17:48.029 use to inoculate livestock. It was non -pathogenic 00:17:48.029 --> 00:17:50.250 to humans. It couldn't cause the disease. It 00:17:50.250 --> 00:17:52.210 didn't kill anyone. It just smelled really bad, 00:17:52.329 --> 00:17:54.930 right? It smelled awful. The neighbors complained 00:17:54.930 --> 00:17:58.130 to the city for weeks about a terrible foul odor, 00:17:58.230 --> 00:18:02.329 like rotting garbage or dead animals. Al -Syum 00:18:02.329 --> 00:18:04.569 just claimed they were cooking a special mixture 00:18:04.569 --> 00:18:07.569 of soybeans and herbs for their rituals. And 00:18:07.569 --> 00:18:09.759 the city bought that. Health inspectors came, 00:18:09.900 --> 00:18:12.099 they couldn't find a definitive source, and they 00:18:12.099 --> 00:18:14.559 eventually just left. The attempt completely 00:18:14.559 --> 00:18:17.759 failed. So they failed at biology, and that's 00:18:17.759 --> 00:18:19.819 when they decided to pivot to chemistry. Correct. 00:18:20.099 --> 00:18:22.019 Chemistry, in many ways, is more straightforward 00:18:22.019 --> 00:18:24.779 than biology. There are fewer variables. So they 00:18:24.779 --> 00:18:27.680 started manufacturing nerve agents, sarin and 00:18:27.680 --> 00:18:30.400 VX gas. And they needed a place to test them. 00:18:30.779 --> 00:18:33.460 A safe place. Exactly. So where do you go if 00:18:33.460 --> 00:18:35.779 you're a Japanese doomsday cult and you want 00:18:35.779 --> 00:18:38.079 to test military -grade chemical weapons without 00:18:38.079 --> 00:18:41.200 anyone noticing? I'm afraid to ask. You can go 00:18:41.200 --> 00:18:43.500 to the Australian outback. They bought a massive, 00:18:43.579 --> 00:18:46.440 incredibly remote pastoral property called Banja 00:18:46.440 --> 00:18:49.480 Warren Station in Western Australia. It was literally 00:18:49.480 --> 00:18:51.420 in the middle of nowhere. And they set up a lab 00:18:51.420 --> 00:18:54.039 there. They did. They brought the precursor chemicals 00:18:54.039 --> 00:18:57.670 from Tuhan. synthesized sarin on site, and then 00:18:57.670 --> 00:19:00.549 they tested it. On what? On sheep. They released 00:19:00.549 --> 00:19:03.009 the sarin and killed 29 sheep. It was a proof 00:19:03.009 --> 00:19:05.150 of concept. They filmed it all to show Asahara 00:19:05.150 --> 00:19:08.220 that it worked. That's so clinical. And bizarre. 00:19:08.460 --> 00:19:10.319 But once they knew it worked, they brought that 00:19:10.319 --> 00:19:12.440 technology and that confidence back to Japan. 00:19:12.700 --> 00:19:14.960 And they started using their newest chemical, 00:19:15.279 --> 00:19:18.500 VX gas, which is even more toxic than sarin, 00:19:18.579 --> 00:19:21.220 for targeted assassinations. Who were they targeting 00:19:21.220 --> 00:19:24.779 with VX? Their enemies, spies, defectors, anyone 00:19:24.779 --> 00:19:28.220 who crossed them. Between December 1994 and January 00:19:28.220 --> 00:19:31.180 1995, they carried out several attacks. They 00:19:31.180 --> 00:19:33.559 attacked a man named Tadahiro Hamaguchi, who 00:19:33.559 --> 00:19:36.400 Asahara suspected was a spy. How did they do 00:19:36.400 --> 00:19:38.650 it? One of the cult members just walked up behind 00:19:38.650 --> 00:19:41.009 him on a street in Osaka and sprinkled liquid 00:19:41.009 --> 00:19:43.849 VX on the back of his neck. He fell into a coma 00:19:43.849 --> 00:19:46.849 and died 10 days later. They also used it to 00:19:46.849 --> 00:19:49.329 attack the head of an equine victim's society, 00:19:49.690 --> 00:19:53.950 a man named Hiroyuki Nagaoka. He survived but 00:19:53.950 --> 00:19:56.809 was in a coma for weeks. Doctors at the time, 00:19:56.829 --> 00:19:58.210 they didn't know what they were dealing with. 00:19:58.369 --> 00:20:01.319 No idea. They diagnosed it as organophosphate 00:20:01.319 --> 00:20:04.720 pesticide poisoning. VX is so vanishingly rare 00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:07.319 in a civilian context, doctors just aren't looking 00:20:07.319 --> 00:20:10.019 for military -grade nerve agents. They didn't 00:20:10.019 --> 00:20:12.460 confirm it was VX until after the cult members 00:20:12.460 --> 00:20:16.240 confessed in 1995. It's just incredible how much 00:20:16.240 --> 00:20:17.980 they were getting away with right in plain sight. 00:20:18.059 --> 00:20:19.660 They even had that helicopter, didn't they? A 00:20:19.660 --> 00:20:23.079 Russian Mil Mi -17 military helicopter, a big 00:20:23.079 --> 00:20:24.759 one. They bought it on the black market in the 00:20:24.759 --> 00:20:27.119 chaotic aftermath of the Soviet Union's collapse. 00:20:27.299 --> 00:20:29.259 How do you just... Buy a military helicopter 00:20:29.259 --> 00:20:31.740 and bring it to Japan. With enough cash in the 00:20:31.740 --> 00:20:34.279 early 90s, you could buy almost anything from 00:20:34.279 --> 00:20:36.779 the former Soviet bloc. They disassembled it, 00:20:36.859 --> 00:20:39.380 shipped it to Japan in pieces, and reassembled 00:20:39.380 --> 00:20:41.160 it at their headquarters. And what was the plan 00:20:41.160 --> 00:20:44.220 for it? The plan was terrifying. They wanted 00:20:44.220 --> 00:20:47.779 to equip it with large sprayers to disperse sarin 00:20:47.779 --> 00:20:51.740 over Tokyo from the air, an aerial chemical bombardment 00:20:51.740 --> 00:20:54.339 of the city. Unbelievable. And they were also 00:20:54.339 --> 00:20:57.500 trying to make guns. A thousand of them. They 00:20:57.500 --> 00:21:00.200 were attempting to manufacture 1 ,000 assault 00:21:00.200 --> 00:21:03.539 rifles, their own copies of the Kalashnikov AK 00:21:03.539 --> 00:21:07.039 -74. They even managed to smuggle one real one 00:21:07.039 --> 00:21:09.660 into Japan to reverse engineer it. They were 00:21:09.660 --> 00:21:12.140 literally building an army. To fight their apocalyptic 00:21:12.140 --> 00:21:14.619 war. They had the chemicals. They had the helicopter. 00:21:14.700 --> 00:21:16.619 They were building the guns. They were becoming 00:21:16.619 --> 00:21:19.099 a rogue state. And that brings us to the dress 00:21:19.099 --> 00:21:21.579 rehearsal, the big one, before the big one, the 00:21:21.579 --> 00:21:26.369 Masumoto incident, June 1994. This is a... absolutely 00:21:26.369 --> 00:21:29.349 crucial precursor to the Tokyo attack. This is 00:21:29.349 --> 00:21:31.049 where they field tested their sarin delivery 00:21:31.049 --> 00:21:33.349 system on a civilian population. In the city 00:21:33.349 --> 00:21:36.009 of Matsumoto, in Nagato Prefecture, why there? 00:21:36.230 --> 00:21:38.349 They were targeting judges. There was a real 00:21:38.349 --> 00:21:40.269 estate lawsuit against the cult that was being 00:21:40.269 --> 00:21:42.410 heard in Matsumoto, and they had received a tip 00:21:42.410 --> 00:21:43.990 that the judges were going to rule against them. 00:21:44.069 --> 00:21:46.539 So their solution... Again, was just to murder 00:21:46.539 --> 00:21:49.319 the officials. Exactly. The plan was to use a 00:21:49.319 --> 00:21:51.700 converted refrigerator truck. They built a system 00:21:51.700 --> 00:21:53.579 inside where they could heat up the sarin and 00:21:53.579 --> 00:21:55.859 use a fan to blow the vapor out into the night 00:21:55.859 --> 00:21:58.240 air, hoping it would drift into the judge's dormitory. 00:21:58.339 --> 00:22:01.299 Did it work? Not as planned. The wind shifted. 00:22:01.480 --> 00:22:04.180 They largely missed the judge's building, but 00:22:04.180 --> 00:22:07.400 the colorless, odorless cloud of sarin gas drifted 00:22:07.400 --> 00:22:09.519 silently into a nearby residential neighborhood. 00:22:10.019 --> 00:22:12.799 Oh, no. It killed eight innocent people in their 00:22:12.799 --> 00:22:16.140 homes and harmed over five. But here's the real 00:22:16.140 --> 00:22:19.059 tragedy of justice in this specific case. The 00:22:19.059 --> 00:22:22.680 police, they didn't focus on the cult. They focused 00:22:22.680 --> 00:22:25.920 on an innocent local resident, a man named Yoshiyuki 00:22:25.920 --> 00:22:28.680 Kuno. This is a massive, massive miscarriage 00:22:28.680 --> 00:22:31.079 of justice. Kuno was actually one of the first 00:22:31.079 --> 00:22:33.319 people to call for help. He found his wife unconscious. 00:22:33.819 --> 00:22:35.660 But because he had some chemicals stored in his 00:22:35.660 --> 00:22:37.579 house, he was an amateur photographer and mixed 00:22:37.579 --> 00:22:40.220 his own developing agents. The police just fixated 00:22:40.220 --> 00:22:43.039 on him. They blamed the victim. Completely. They 00:22:43.039 --> 00:22:58.190 leaked his name. That is just heartbreaking. 00:23:00.490 --> 00:23:05.730 And this incredible tunnel vision by the police 00:23:05.730 --> 00:23:08.430 allowed the cult to remain free and continue 00:23:08.430 --> 00:23:11.069 their deadly plans for another nine months. Which 00:23:11.069 --> 00:23:14.910 brings us to March 1990. The clock is now ticking. 00:23:15.390 --> 00:23:17.849 The police are finally, finally getting ready 00:23:17.849 --> 00:23:20.769 to move on to Sarium. They've found soil samples 00:23:20.769 --> 00:23:23.130 from Apsomoto that have byproducts of sarin production, 00:23:23.349 --> 00:23:25.210 and they've linked them to the cult's compound. 00:23:25.410 --> 00:23:28.529 Right. It's March 1995. The police had finally 00:23:28.529 --> 00:23:31.109 put the pieces together. They planned a massive 00:23:31.109 --> 00:23:33.390 simultaneous raid on all of the cult's facilities 00:23:33.390 --> 00:23:36.490 across Japan. The date was set for March 22nd. 00:23:36.490 --> 00:23:39.230 But at Sarium had insiders. They knew the raid 00:23:39.230 --> 00:23:41.539 was coming. They did. They had members inside 00:23:41.539 --> 00:23:44.059 the Japanese Self -Defense Forces, and there 00:23:44.059 --> 00:23:46.559 are allegations they had sources inside the police 00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:49.579 as well. Asahara got tipped off. He knew they 00:23:49.579 --> 00:23:51.880 were coming for him. So the leader knows the 00:23:51.880 --> 00:23:53.359 police are about to kick his door, and what does 00:23:53.359 --> 00:23:56.839 he do? He orders a diversion, a massive, shocking 00:23:56.839 --> 00:24:00.779 diversion. The logic was, if we cause an unprecedented 00:24:00.779 --> 00:24:03.579 catastrophe in the heart of Tokyo, the police 00:24:03.579 --> 00:24:06.119 will be so overwhelmed, so busy dealing with 00:24:06.119 --> 00:24:08.400 that, they won't have the resources to raid us. 00:24:09.119 --> 00:24:11.640 It's desperate, twisted logic. It's the logic 00:24:11.640 --> 00:24:14.599 of a cornered animal with weapons of mass destruction. 00:24:15.039 --> 00:24:19.180 And so, on the morning of March 20th, 1995, during 00:24:19.180 --> 00:24:21.319 the peak of morning rush hour. Right when the 00:24:21.319 --> 00:24:23.259 system is at its most crowded. The most crowded. 00:24:23.420 --> 00:24:26.240 Asino members boarded five different trains on 00:24:26.240 --> 00:24:29.339 three of Tokyo's busiest subway lines. The Chiyoda, 00:24:29.539 --> 00:24:32.539 Maruchi, and Hibiya lines. And these lines were 00:24:32.539 --> 00:24:35.819 not chosen randomly. They all converge at Kasumigaseki 00:24:35.819 --> 00:24:37.779 Station. Which is the station for the Japanese 00:24:37.779 --> 00:24:41.349 government. Exactly. The National Police Headquarters, 00:24:41.769 --> 00:24:43.950 the Diet Building, which is their parliament, 00:24:44.210 --> 00:24:47.490 all the major government ministries. It was a 00:24:47.490 --> 00:24:51.009 direct targeted strike at the heart of the Japanese 00:24:51.009 --> 00:24:54.789 state. And the method they used. It wasn't some 00:24:54.789 --> 00:24:57.450 high -tech missile. It was disturbingly simple. 00:24:57.650 --> 00:25:00.509 Primitive but brutally effective. Each of the 00:25:00.509 --> 00:25:03.049 five perpetrators carried plastic bags, like 00:25:03.049 --> 00:25:04.650 something you'd get from a convenience store, 00:25:04.829 --> 00:25:07.789 filled with liquid sarin. The bags were wrapped 00:25:07.789 --> 00:25:09.930 in newspaper to conceal them. And then what? 00:25:10.220 --> 00:25:12.460 As their train approached the targeted station, 00:25:12.660 --> 00:25:14.680 they would simply drop the packets on the floor 00:25:14.680 --> 00:25:17.160 of the train car and puncture them with the sharpened 00:25:17.160 --> 00:25:19.019 tip of an umbrella. And then just get off the 00:25:19.019 --> 00:25:20.559 train. And then get off the train at the next 00:25:20.559 --> 00:25:23.039 stop and walk away while the liquid leaked out 00:25:23.039 --> 00:25:25.700 onto the floor. And it started to vaporize. Instantly. 00:25:25.960 --> 00:25:28.539 Sarin is extremely volatile. It turned into a 00:25:28.539 --> 00:25:31.000 deadly gas that filled the confined space of 00:25:31.000 --> 00:25:33.259 the subway cars and the station platform. The 00:25:33.259 --> 00:25:35.799 impact must have been immediate and just horrific. 00:25:36.349 --> 00:25:39.269 It was. In the end, 13 people were killed. 54 00:25:39.269 --> 00:25:41.509 were seriously injured, many with permanent brain 00:25:41.509 --> 00:25:44.109 damage. But the number of people affected is 00:25:44.109 --> 00:25:47.349 just staggering. Some estimates say up to 6 ,000 00:25:47.349 --> 00:25:49.769 people sought medical attention for symptoms 00:25:49.769 --> 00:25:52.089 of sarin exposure. You just imagine commuters 00:25:52.089 --> 00:25:55.259 coming out of the stations coughing. Their pupils 00:25:55.259 --> 00:25:58.700 constricted to tiny pinpoints, which is a hallmark 00:25:58.700 --> 00:26:01.559 of nerve agent poisoning. People were collapsing 00:26:01.559 --> 00:26:04.819 on the platforms, convulsing. It was a war zone 00:26:04.819 --> 00:26:07.440 in downtown Tokyo on a Monday morning. And the 00:26:07.440 --> 00:26:10.839 crazy thing is the diversion. Yeah. It failed. 00:26:11.059 --> 00:26:13.559 Completely backfired. If anything, it galvanized 00:26:13.559 --> 00:26:16.400 the police response. The police immediately realized 00:26:16.400 --> 00:26:18.480 this was a coordinated, sophisticated attack. 00:26:18.839 --> 00:26:21.660 And two days later, on March 22nd, they went 00:26:21.660 --> 00:26:23.700 ahead with their plan and launched massive raids 00:26:23.700 --> 00:26:26.140 on the cult's main headquarters in Kamikushiki, 00:26:26.259 --> 00:26:28.819 near the base of Manfuji. And when they got there, 00:26:28.960 --> 00:26:32.079 what they found was like something out of a James 00:26:32.079 --> 00:26:35.539 Bond movie. A villain's lair. It truly was. They 00:26:35.539 --> 00:26:37.900 found the chemical weapons labs, a huge multi 00:26:37.900 --> 00:26:40.140 -story building they called Station 7, which 00:26:40.140 --> 00:26:42.000 was a state -of -the -art chemical plant disguised 00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:44.559 as a religious shrine. They found explosives. 00:26:44.799 --> 00:26:47.759 They found the Russian military helicopter. They 00:26:47.759 --> 00:26:50.619 found a safe containing millions of U .S. dollars 00:26:50.619 --> 00:26:53.400 in cash and solid gold bars. And they found cells. 00:26:54.220 --> 00:26:57.279 For prisoners. Yes, small, crude cells where 00:26:57.279 --> 00:26:59.000 they were holding members and defectors against 00:26:59.000 --> 00:27:01.440 their will. They also found production facilities 00:27:01.440 --> 00:27:05.200 for LSD and methamphetamine. Meth and LSD. Why? 00:27:05.519 --> 00:27:08.099 It seems they used the drugs for two main purposes. 00:27:08.839 --> 00:27:12.259 Revenue, by selling meth to the Yakuza, the Japanese 00:27:12.259 --> 00:27:16.039 mafia, and for initiation rituals. They would 00:27:16.039 --> 00:27:18.740 give followers massive doses of LSD to induce 00:27:18.740 --> 00:27:21.940 spiritual experiences and break down their psychological 00:27:21.940 --> 00:27:24.740 resistance. It was a factory for crime, drugs, 00:27:24.940 --> 00:27:27.559 and terror. But the panic in Tokyo, it didn't 00:27:27.559 --> 00:27:29.640 stop with the subway attack. The weeks following 00:27:29.640 --> 00:27:31.380 that must have been absolutely terrifying for 00:27:31.380 --> 00:27:33.180 people living there. It was a city under siege. 00:27:33.319 --> 00:27:36.299 Just 10 days after the subway attack, the chief 00:27:36.299 --> 00:27:38.799 of the National Police Agency, Takaji Kunimatsu, 00:27:38.980 --> 00:27:41.640 was shot four times by an assassin outside his 00:27:41.640 --> 00:27:43.500 home. They shot the police chief. I mean, talk 00:27:43.500 --> 00:27:46.220 about brazen. It was a message. It showed they 00:27:46.220 --> 00:27:48.660 still had reach and they weren't afraid. He survived, 00:27:49.059 --> 00:27:51.819 miraculously, but it sent a shockwave through 00:27:51.819 --> 00:27:55.599 the country. And then, in April, there was that... 00:27:56.210 --> 00:27:59.650 Bizarre murder on live TV. Hideo Murai. He was 00:27:59.650 --> 00:28:02.450 Asoad's science and technology minister. Basically, 00:28:02.450 --> 00:28:05.250 the astrophysicist who was in charge of the entire 00:28:05.250 --> 00:28:08.309 weapons program. Right. He was surrounded by 00:28:08.309 --> 00:28:10.849 a massive crowd of reporters outside their Tokyo 00:28:10.849 --> 00:28:12.950 headquarters. And a man just pushed through the 00:28:12.950 --> 00:28:15.109 crowd and stabbed him to death right there on 00:28:15.109 --> 00:28:17.470 live television. Who was the attacker? He was 00:28:17.470 --> 00:28:20.190 a member of the Yakuza gang. But there has always 00:28:20.190 --> 00:28:22.309 been endless speculation about whether he was 00:28:22.309 --> 00:28:25.289 a lone wolf or if he was hired to silence Murai 00:28:25.289 --> 00:28:27.569 before he could tell the police all of the cult's 00:28:27.569 --> 00:28:30.769 secrets. Just chaos. And then the cyanide incident. 00:28:30.890 --> 00:28:33.589 This one, to me, is maybe the scariest of all. 00:28:33.710 --> 00:28:35.950 The one that keeps counterterrorism experts awake 00:28:35.950 --> 00:28:39.470 at night. On May 5th, a cleaning lady found a 00:28:39.470 --> 00:28:41.950 burning bag in a men's toilet in Shinjuku Station. 00:28:42.349 --> 00:28:44.230 The busiest train station in the entire world. 00:28:44.309 --> 00:28:46.940 In the world. Yeah. Inside the bag was a device 00:28:46.940 --> 00:28:49.839 designed to mix sodium cyanide and sulfuric acid. 00:28:50.059 --> 00:28:53.599 Which creates deadly hydrogen cyanide gas. Exactly. 00:28:53.640 --> 00:28:56.160 The fire was meant to burn through a container, 00:28:56.279 --> 00:28:59.339 allowing the chemicals to mix. But it was extinguished 00:28:59.339 --> 00:29:01.519 before it could fully activate. And if it had 00:29:01.519 --> 00:29:04.359 worked. The estimations were that if that gas 00:29:04.359 --> 00:29:06.539 had been sucked into the station's massive ventilation 00:29:06.539 --> 00:29:09.359 system, it could have killed as many as 10 ,000 00:29:09.359 --> 00:29:13.259 people. 10 ,000. We came that close. That is... 00:29:13.799 --> 00:29:17.039 That is horrifying. It just shows the sheer scale 00:29:17.039 --> 00:29:19.440 of their ambition. They weren't trying to make 00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:21.440 a statement anymore. They were actively trying 00:29:21.440 --> 00:29:24.740 to cause mass casualties on a scale that's hard 00:29:24.740 --> 00:29:27.380 to comprehend. So finally, the manhunt for the 00:29:27.380 --> 00:29:31.900 leader closes in. On May 16th, they catch Asahara. 00:29:32.819 --> 00:29:35.259 Where was he? This is another one of those cinematic 00:29:35.259 --> 00:29:37.900 moments. Police had been raiding the cult's buildings 00:29:37.900 --> 00:29:40.819 for weeks. On May 16th, they went back to a building 00:29:40.819 --> 00:29:43.299 at the Kamikushiki compound called the Sixth 00:29:43.299 --> 00:29:45.460 Station. They searched it top to bottom, couldn't 00:29:45.460 --> 00:29:48.799 find him. But he was there. He was. One of the 00:29:48.799 --> 00:29:50.720 investigators noticed something odd about the 00:29:50.720 --> 00:29:53.500 dimensions of a small room. They tapped on a 00:29:53.500 --> 00:29:56.000 wall and realized it was hollow. They broke it 00:29:56.000 --> 00:29:59.480 down and they found a tiny, secret, sealed compartment 00:29:59.480 --> 00:30:02.900 between the first and second floors. He was inside 00:30:02.900 --> 00:30:05.750 the wall. He was hiding inside the wall. Curled 00:30:05.750 --> 00:30:08.849 up in a sleeping bag with a stash of cash, they 00:30:08.849 --> 00:30:11.470 pulled him out, disheveled in silent, and placed 00:30:11.470 --> 00:30:14.490 him under arrest. And even on that exact day, 00:30:14.710 --> 00:30:17.190 the cult tried one last act of violence. They 00:30:17.190 --> 00:30:19.809 did. A parcel bomb was mailed to the office of 00:30:19.809 --> 00:30:22.349 the governor of Tokyo. It didn't kill him, but 00:30:22.349 --> 00:30:24.569 it blew off all the fingers of his secretary's 00:30:24.569 --> 00:30:27.329 left hand when she opened it. A final, spiteful 00:30:27.329 --> 00:30:29.730 act. Let's talk about the justice process now. 00:30:30.069 --> 00:30:32.890 Because for the victims and their families, this 00:30:32.890 --> 00:30:36.009 wasn't quick. Not at all. Asahara was charged 00:30:36.009 --> 00:30:38.289 with 23 counts of murder and a host of other 00:30:38.289 --> 00:30:41.029 crimes, but the trial was an absolute marathon. 00:30:41.089 --> 00:30:43.250 It dragged on for years. What was his defense 00:30:43.250 --> 00:30:45.970 strategy? His strategy was mostly silence. He 00:30:45.970 --> 00:30:47.829 would mumble incoherently. Sometimes he'd speak 00:30:47.829 --> 00:30:50.829 in broken, nonsensical English. He largely refused 00:30:50.829 --> 00:30:52.970 to communicate with his own lawyers or his family. 00:30:53.190 --> 00:30:55.029 So he didn't get on the stand and preach his 00:30:55.029 --> 00:30:57.150 doctrine. He didn't try to explain the why to 00:30:57.150 --> 00:30:59.509 the world. No, he just completely checked out. 00:30:59.839 --> 00:31:02.279 The defense team tried to argue that he was mentally 00:31:02.279 --> 00:31:05.279 unfit for trial that he was too ill but the courts 00:31:05.279 --> 00:31:07.640 repeatedly ruled that he was competent and was 00:31:07.640 --> 00:31:10.480 likely malingering. He was faking it. That was 00:31:10.480 --> 00:31:12.559 the court's conclusion. He was finally sentenced 00:31:12.559 --> 00:31:15.559 to death in 2004, but then the appeals process 00:31:15.559 --> 00:31:18.859 took another 14 years. So the actual executions 00:31:18.859 --> 00:31:21.000 didn't happen until very recently. Not until 00:31:21.000 --> 00:31:24.019 2018. It took more than two decades for the legal 00:31:24.019 --> 00:31:26.960 process to finally conclude for everyone. On 00:31:26.960 --> 00:31:30.279 July 6, 2018, Shoko Asahara and six of his senior 00:31:30.279 --> 00:31:32.380 followers, many of the scientists and doctors, 00:31:32.579 --> 00:31:34.859 were hanged. And there were more. A few weeks 00:31:34.859 --> 00:31:38.460 later, on July 26, the remaining six death... 00:31:38.509 --> 00:31:44.390 That brings a sort of legal closure, I suppose. 00:31:45.130 --> 00:31:46.890 But there was a really weird issue with what 00:31:46.890 --> 00:31:49.289 to do with his remains, right? There was. The 00:31:49.289 --> 00:31:51.329 Japanese authorities were terrified that his 00:31:51.329 --> 00:31:53.970 ashes would become a holy relic, an object of 00:31:53.970 --> 00:31:56.150 worship for his remaining followers that could 00:31:56.150 --> 00:31:58.490 inspire a new generation. So they didn't want 00:31:58.490 --> 00:32:00.230 to give them to the cult. Exactly. There was 00:32:00.230 --> 00:32:02.450 a long legal battle over who would get them. 00:32:03.269 --> 00:32:05.690 His wife and some of his children, who were still 00:32:05.690 --> 00:32:07.710 involved with the successor groups, wanted them. 00:32:08.460 --> 00:32:11.039 But eventually, the ashes were awarded to his 00:32:11.039 --> 00:32:13.440 youngest daughter, who had publicly broken with 00:32:13.440 --> 00:32:16.180 the cult and renounced her father. Successor 00:32:16.180 --> 00:32:18.440 groups. Yeah. That's the segue we need to make. 00:32:18.880 --> 00:32:21.599 Because I Am Shinrikyo did not just disappear 00:32:21.599 --> 00:32:24.900 when Asahara was arrested. They rebranded. They 00:32:24.900 --> 00:32:27.980 did. In late 1995, they were stripped of their 00:32:27.980 --> 00:32:29.920 official religious status by the government, 00:32:30.059 --> 00:32:32.339 and they were forced into bankruptcy in 1996. 00:32:32.980 --> 00:32:35.259 But you can't really outlaw a belief system in 00:32:35.259 --> 00:32:38.460 a democracy. So in 2000, the group regrouped 00:32:38.460 --> 00:32:41.599 and renamed itself. They became Aleph. Aleph, 00:32:41.619 --> 00:32:43.299 like the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. 00:32:43.559 --> 00:32:46.000 Exactly. And they went on a PR campaign. They 00:32:46.000 --> 00:32:48.220 tried to clean up their image. They issued a 00:32:48.220 --> 00:32:50.359 public apology to the victims of the Sarin attack. 00:32:50.460 --> 00:32:52.839 They set up a compensation fund. They officially 00:32:52.839 --> 00:32:55.640 removed the controversial Vajrayana texts that 00:32:55.640 --> 00:32:58.140 justified the violence, the whole POA doctrine. 00:32:58.240 --> 00:33:00.380 But the authorities weren't really buying this 00:33:00.380 --> 00:33:02.990 change of heart. Not at all. The Public Security 00:33:02.990 --> 00:33:05.450 Intelligence Agency in Japan has kept them under 00:33:05.450 --> 00:33:08.730 strict, constant surveillance ever since. They 00:33:08.730 --> 00:33:10.750 are still watching them very, very closely today. 00:33:10.910 --> 00:33:12.630 And then there was a split within that group. 00:33:12.809 --> 00:33:16.930 Yes. In 2007, a man named Fumihiro Joyu broke 00:33:16.930 --> 00:33:20.029 away from LF. Now, Joyu was the charismatic, 00:33:20.250 --> 00:33:22.930 English -speaking public spokesman for the group 00:33:22.930 --> 00:33:26.349 back in the 90s. He was the young, handsome face 00:33:26.349 --> 00:33:29.230 you saw on TV defending the cult. I remember 00:33:29.230 --> 00:33:31.539 seeing clips of him. He broke away to form his 00:33:31.539 --> 00:33:34.519 own group called Hikari No Wa. Which we... The 00:33:34.519 --> 00:33:36.640 Circle of Light. And what's their vibe? Are they 00:33:36.640 --> 00:33:39.079 different? They claim to be. They say they're 00:33:39.079 --> 00:33:41.400 purely spiritual now, trying to unite science 00:33:41.400 --> 00:33:44.099 and religion. They claim they don't worship Asahara 00:33:44.099 --> 00:33:46.339 anymore and have completely moved past the old 00:33:46.339 --> 00:33:49.059 Ilarum. But the Japanese courts have been very 00:33:49.059 --> 00:33:51.200 skeptical. So they're under surveillance, too. 00:33:51.279 --> 00:33:54.319 Yes. For a brief period, a lower court canceled 00:33:54.319 --> 00:33:57.019 their surveillance. But in 2019, the Tokyo High 00:33:57.019 --> 00:33:59.559 Court reinstated it, basically ruling that they 00:33:59.559 --> 00:34:02.759 found no major fundamental changes between Hikari 00:34:02.759 --> 00:34:05.170 no wa and LF. And this isn't just a Japanese 00:34:05.170 --> 00:34:07.549 problem. They had a huge following in Russia, 00:34:07.630 --> 00:34:10.670 of all places. Massive. At their peak, they might 00:34:10.670 --> 00:34:12.309 have had more followers in Russia than they did 00:34:12.309 --> 00:34:15.449 in Japan. In the chaos and spiritual vacuum of 00:34:15.449 --> 00:34:18.010 the post -Soviet 90s, Olym came in, they bought 00:34:18.010 --> 00:34:20.289 Radio Time in Moscow, they held huge rallies, 00:34:20.429 --> 00:34:22.250 they had a massive orchestra there. And they 00:34:22.250 --> 00:34:25.409 had still an issue. As late as 2016, Russia was 00:34:25.409 --> 00:34:28.030 officially banning Olym as a terrorist organization 00:34:28.030 --> 00:34:31.329 and raiding Olym's cells in Moscow and St. Petersburg. 00:34:31.650 --> 00:34:34.340 The same year, Montenegro expelled a group of 00:34:34.340 --> 00:34:36.639 nearly 60 foreigners who were associated with 00:34:36.639 --> 00:34:38.860 the group and holding a conference there. It 00:34:38.860 --> 00:34:41.699 has a global footprint. And it is not ancient 00:34:41.699 --> 00:34:43.300 history. This is the part that really struck 00:34:43.300 --> 00:34:45.139 me in the research. We're talking about something 00:34:45.139 --> 00:34:47.880 that happened on New Year's Day 2019. A deeply 00:34:47.880 --> 00:34:50.739 disturbing incident. A man named Kazuhiro Kusakabe 00:34:50.739 --> 00:34:54.639 rented a small car, drove it to Tokyo, and plowed 00:34:54.639 --> 00:34:56.920 it into crowds on Takashita Street in the Harajuku 00:34:56.920 --> 00:34:59.400 district. Takashita Street, that's the famous 00:34:59.400 --> 00:35:01.519 fashion street. Always packed with teenagers 00:35:01.519 --> 00:35:04.679 and tourists, especially on New Year's. Exactly. 00:35:05.039 --> 00:35:07.820 He deliberately drove down the pedestrian -only 00:35:07.820 --> 00:35:10.579 street and plowed into people. Nine people were 00:35:10.579 --> 00:35:13.320 injured. One, seriously. And what was his motive? 00:35:13.579 --> 00:35:15.719 When the police caught him, he claimed it was 00:35:15.719 --> 00:35:18.119 an act of retaliation for the execution of the 00:35:18.119 --> 00:35:21.570 Opoem cult members. Wow. So the ideology, the 00:35:21.570 --> 00:35:24.250 martyrdom, is still potent enough to motivate 00:35:24.250 --> 00:35:26.989 violence today. It appears so. And recruitment 00:35:26.989 --> 00:35:29.429 continues. There are constant reports that Aleph 00:35:29.429 --> 00:35:32.030 still uses Essa Hara's photos in secret initiation 00:35:32.030 --> 00:35:34.949 rituals. They recruit online, through social 00:35:34.949 --> 00:35:37.650 media, or via yoga circles and meditation groups. 00:35:37.789 --> 00:35:38.989 And they don't tell you who they are at first. 00:35:39.230 --> 00:35:41.429 They often hide the name of the group until the 00:35:41.429 --> 00:35:44.010 person is already deeply involved and psychologically 00:35:44.010 --> 00:35:46.090 hooked. You think you're joining a mindfulness 00:35:46.090 --> 00:35:48.489 group, and six months later you realize you're 00:35:48.489 --> 00:35:50.929 in the successor to it. doomsday cult. And there 00:35:50.929 --> 00:35:53.829 are reports of a new generation of admirers. 00:35:53.929 --> 00:35:56.949 Yes, young people in Japan who are deeply dissatisfied 00:35:56.949 --> 00:36:00.329 with modern society, who feel alienated, and 00:36:00.329 --> 00:36:02.670 who look at Elom's rebellion against the system 00:36:02.670 --> 00:36:05.869 and find something appealing in it. They romanticize 00:36:05.869 --> 00:36:07.710 the counterculture aspect while conveniently 00:36:07.710 --> 00:36:11.210 ignoring the mass murder. That is heavy. So let's 00:36:11.210 --> 00:36:13.789 try to synthesize all of this. What is the big 00:36:13.789 --> 00:36:17.250 overarching takeaway here from the story of Aum 00:36:17.250 --> 00:36:19.579 Shinrikyo? I think for me, the most terrifying 00:36:19.579 --> 00:36:22.320 lesson is that intelligence does not immunize 00:36:22.320 --> 00:36:24.900 you against indoctrination. It just doesn't. 00:36:24.900 --> 00:36:27.019 These were brilliant people. These were scientists, 00:36:27.300 --> 00:36:29.880 doctors, the top of their fields. But they were 00:36:29.880 --> 00:36:32.539 looking for meaning, for purpose. And they found 00:36:32.539 --> 00:36:35.119 a narrative that made them feel special. It made 00:36:35.119 --> 00:36:37.639 them feel elite. And that narrative was so powerful 00:36:37.639 --> 00:36:40.460 that it completely twisted their morality. It 00:36:40.460 --> 00:36:43.539 turned saving the world into we have to destroy 00:36:43.539 --> 00:36:46.320 the world to save it. Precisely. That doctrine 00:36:46.320 --> 00:36:48.780 of POA shows how easily spiritual goals can be 00:36:48.780 --> 00:36:51.599 inverted to justify any atrocity. And then there's 00:36:51.599 --> 00:36:53.440 the what if factor, which is the part that keeps 00:36:53.440 --> 00:36:55.880 security experts up at night. Right. What if 00:36:55.880 --> 00:36:58.199 the anthrax attack had worked? What if they had 00:36:58.199 --> 00:37:00.659 used a pathogenic strain? What if the cyanide 00:37:00.659 --> 00:37:03.199 device in Shinjuku Station had fully deployed? 00:37:03.500 --> 00:37:05.780 We are talking about potential casualties not 00:37:05.780 --> 00:37:07.800 in the dozens, but in the tens of thousands. 00:37:07.900 --> 00:37:10.820 It was that close. It's a stark reminder of how 00:37:10.820 --> 00:37:13.360 fragile public safety really is when you have 00:37:13.360 --> 00:37:16.550 a small group of... determined, well -funded 00:37:16.550 --> 00:37:19.030 people with technical expertise. And the most 00:37:19.030 --> 00:37:21.030 important thing to remember is that the group 00:37:21.030 --> 00:37:23.670 didn't vanish when they hang the leaders. The 00:37:23.670 --> 00:37:26.769 ideology survives the man. With Aleph and Hikari 00:37:26.769 --> 00:37:29.489 Nowa still active and still recruiting, this 00:37:29.489 --> 00:37:33.389 story is not over. Okay, so here's a final provocative 00:37:33.389 --> 00:37:36.449 thought for all of you to maybe mull over. We 00:37:36.449 --> 00:37:39.230 live in an age of absolute information overload. 00:37:39.829 --> 00:37:41.889 We're all being pulled in a million different 00:37:41.889 --> 00:37:44.449 directions. We're all looking for shortcuts to... 00:37:44.710 --> 00:37:46.929 The truth. And a lot of us want to feel like 00:37:46.929 --> 00:37:49.230 we're part of the elite few who really get it, 00:37:49.289 --> 00:37:51.670 who understand what's really going on. You know, 00:37:51.670 --> 00:37:54.269 the ones who aren't sheep. A very common feeling 00:37:54.269 --> 00:37:57.409 today. So in that environment, are we any more 00:37:57.409 --> 00:37:59.550 immune to this kind of manipulation today than 00:37:59.550 --> 00:38:02.170 those scientists were back in the 1980s? Or does 00:38:02.170 --> 00:38:04.190 the Internet just make it easier than ever to 00:38:04.190 --> 00:38:06.969 find your own personal Shoko Asahara who tells 00:38:06.969 --> 00:38:08.690 you you're special and everyone else is wrong? 00:38:09.130 --> 00:38:11.650 That is the question we absolutely have to ask 00:38:11.650 --> 00:38:14.139 ourselves. If you want to dive deeper into the 00:38:14.139 --> 00:38:16.920 specific details of all this, the chemical tests, 00:38:17.119 --> 00:38:20.139 the court cases, the timeline, we really encourage 00:38:20.139 --> 00:38:21.920 you to check out the source material we mentioned. 00:38:22.079 --> 00:38:25.199 It is a deep, dark rabbit hole worth going down. 00:38:25.280 --> 00:38:28.219 But maybe keep the lights on while you do. I'd 00:38:28.219 --> 00:38:30.519 agree with that. Stay curious and stay safe. 00:38:30.599 --> 00:38:31.800 We'll catch you in the next deep dive.