Beschreibung
At the time Aum Shinrikyõ emerged, most Japanese assumed that they lived in one of the most well-ordered and safest societies, a model that had much to offer the chaotic Western world. This assumption was shaken on 20 March 1995 when the deadly nerve gas sarin was released on the Tokyo subway system. Since that incident, the 'Aum affair' has had widespread repercussions and shaken the Japanese psyche in a serious way. This volume provides a window onto contemporary Japanese society by considering the various reactions and responses to this crisis precipitated by this deviant religious movement.
Autorenporträt
RICHARD A. GARDNER Associate Professor of Religion, Faculty of Comparative Culture, Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan CHRISTOPHER W. HUGHES Research Fellow, Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation, University of Warwick, England MAEKAWA MICHIKO Department of Religious Studies, University of Tokyo and Researcher, Religious Information Centre, Tokyo, Japan MATSUDO YUKIO Lecturer, Institute of Ethnology, University of Heidelberg, Germany SHIMAZONO SUSUMU Professor, Department of Religious Studies, University of Tokyo, Japan WATANABE MANABU Professor and Permanent Fellow, Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture, Nanzan University, Nagoya, Japan
