Aum Shinrikyō and Religious Terrorism in Japanese Collective Memory.

Drawing on a remarkably wide range of evidence, Ushiyama sets out a definitive account of a famous modern Japanese tragedy. The book exposes many fundamental aspects of Japan at the present time, while being much more than simply a study of that country alone. It draws out multiple implications for wider sociological analyses of culture, collective memory and trauma, belief, and religion. * David Inglis, Professor of Sociology, University of Helsinki *
The 1995 Tokyo subway attack by the Japanese religious group Aum Shinrikyo was a seismic event that triggered debates about the nature of Japanese society and culture. Rin Ushiyama's book, the first full-length study in English of Japanese memories of and responses to the Aum Affair, is a theoretically nuanced examination that analyses how public intellectuals, political agencies, media concerns, and the victims of Aum reacted to, thought about and remembered Aum's violence. In examining how the Aum Affair has shaped Japan's collective memory, Ushiyama not only sheds light on the nature of contemporary Japan but provides theoretical insights into wider theories about social memory and responses to trauma. * Ian Reader, Professor Emeritus, University of Manchester *
Mistakenly, I believed I had read as much as I needed or wanted to read about Aum Shinrikyo by 2018, when Asahara Shōkō was executed as a result of the 1995 release of sarin gas in the Tokyo subway. Now, however, Dr Rin Ushiyama has taken the action forward by meticulously recording the varied and changing narratives of those affected, both directly and indirectly, by Aum's nefarious actions. Be they perpetrators, victims, officials, media, 'anti-cultists', scholars or intellectual commentators, each contributes to the collective memory and subsequent actions of a traumatised Japan. This is a story well worth telling - and, indubitably, well worth reading. * Eileen Barker, Professor Emeritus, London School of Economics *
The book really reads like a story. I was constantly eager to know how the plot would continue. This is especially commendable when taking into account that Ushiyama studies a wide variety of actors, each with their own perspectives on the event. * Social Forces *
The book really reads like a story...This is especially commendable when taking into account that Ushiyama studies a wide variety of actors, each with their own perspectives on the event. * Social Forces *
Ushiyama's informative and well-articulated work is a valuable contribution to contemporary religious studies that encourages reflection and further scholarly dialogue. * Yuxin Qin, Nova Religio *