[PaulHoule]

Japan had a cult crisis circa 1990. This was the most famous example

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aum_Shinrikyo

however as the bubble economy popped there was a moral panic over financially exploitative cults and closely related multilevel marketing scams.

[_9xrb]

For those skimming, Aum Shinrikyo is the cult responsible for the Tokyo subway sarin attack. What's often overlooked is that the cult synthesized the sarin gas themselves in a self-made sophisticated chemical weapons lab:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_subway_sarin_attack#Chem...

When their headquarters were raided, police found enough weaponry to fight a small war:

>Over the next week, the full scale of Aum's activities was revealed for the first time. At the cult's headquarters in Kamikuishiki on the foot of Mount Fuji, police found explosives, chemical weapons, and a Russian Mil Mi-17 military helicopter. While the finding of biological warfare agents such as anthrax and Ebola cultures was reported, those claims now appear to have been widely exaggerated.[52] There were stockpiles of chemicals that could be used for producing enough sarin to kill four million people.[53]

They bought a sheep farm in Australia to mine uranium in order to enrich it and build nuclear weapons:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banjawarn_Station#Aum_Shinriky...

Had they not been caught, I have little doubt they'd have eventually succeeded.

[JHer]

Murakami wrote a non-fiction book about the Sarin attacks and the Aum cult, Underworld. I’m not sure if it’s accurate (he’s a fiction writer, afterall) but it’s very fascinating and sent many chills down my spine.

[pessimizer]

Best way to understand Aum Shinrikyo is to watch the two ungooglable documentaries about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_(1998_Japanese_film) and A2.

No different than other cults. A bunch of once aimless people who found purpose by subsuming their existences to the will of a venerated man (who teaches yoga in his apartment.)

[Mountain_Skies]

One downside of having an industrialized high technology society with a good education system is that radicals will tend to have the skills and knowledge required to create harm on a large scale.

[KaoruAoiShiho]

God damn someone has a god complex.

[_9xrb]

Yes, the cult leader declared himself Christ:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoko_Asahara

[pessimizer]

Japan and Korea have a cult crisis, a lot of them Christian: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_new_religions https://www.france24.com/en/20181122-mission-god-south-korea... https://thediplomat.com/2014/06/the-cults-of-south-korea/