
Aum: The Cult at the End of the World (1996) - ChrisArchitect
https://www.wired.com/1996/07/aum/
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xrd
I was studying in Japan when the sarin attack occurred. An interesting time to
be learning Japanese, words like kidnapping come up a lot more often in the
newspaper than they did normally.

In hindsight, throwing a party at our foreigners dorm and putting up posters
with Asahara Shoukou dancing with a bear were probably done in poor taste, as
the university president asserted to us.

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ChrisArchitect
posted/dug up because today members of Aum were _hanged_ in Japan

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neonate
Not only does Japan still have the death penalty, they don't tell people which
day they're to be executed.

[https://twitter.com/TimothyS/status/1015029767450423296](https://twitter.com/TimothyS/status/1015029767450423296)

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1123581321
I am having trouble finding more information on this. Do you mean that the
sentence is approved, and then they intentionally wait a random number of days
to carry it out? Or that it happens as soon as it’s approved and the defendant
is kept in the dark about the process?

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sandworm101
There is a schedule based on availability and procedures. The time between the
final legal decisions and the act isn't random, it just seems that way because
those decisions happen behind closed doors. Outsiders don't see the full logic
behind the dates/times but that doesn't make it random.

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1123581321
That makes sense. Where could I read a detailed account of these hearings and
procedures for a typical case, in English?

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sandworm101
There isn't one. These things are not simple. You won't even find one for US
death penalty cases. Death penalty proceedings don't follow a set timetable or
pattern. There is a system, but the path each case takes through that system
is very unique.

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1123581321
I understand, but I could come up with some US death row case histories that I
think are representative of how things work here, even though none process
identically. I am sure there is a way to review some Japanese death row cases
from start to finish. If they aren’t currently available in English, this
could be the start of an educational project. Thanks for pointing me in the
right direction.

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andrewflnr
It was easy to forget, reading this, that it was actual news and not the
synopsis of a scifi thriller. It's surreal.

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ojbyrne
Good book about the attacks:
[https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003XT604U/](https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003XT604U/)

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senatorobama
Why do cults always steal woo from Eastern religions?

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bdowling
In the article it’s noted that the Aum cult borrowed the idea of Armageddon
from Christianity.

