On November 4, 1989, Tsutsumi Sakamoto (坂本 堤 Sakamoto Tsutsumi April 8, 1956 - November 4, 1989), a lawyer working on a class action lawsuit against Aum Shinrikyo, a controversial and destructive "new religious movement" in Japan, was murdered, along with his wife and child, by perpetrators who broke into his apartment.
In the 1990s, after characterizing the Yoga practices of Asahara Shoko of Aum Shinrikyo as expressing the inner core of early Buddhist asceticism, Yoshimoto was criticized along with Nakazawa Shin'ichi as a defender of Aum following the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway.
1989 - TBS became culpable in the Sakamoto family murder by Aum Shinrikyo, resulting in complaints against the network after the case was solved several years later.
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In that month of that year, the Tokyo Broadcasting System taped an interview with Tsutsumi Sakamoto regarding his efforts to unveil the deceptive dogmas of the Japanese Aum Shinrikyo sect.
Aum Shinrikyo | AUM | Aum |
The book also includes an extensive chapter on manga "god" Osamu Tezuka and information on developments in manga that took place since the publication of Manga! Manga!, such as the use of manga as propaganda by the Aum Shinrikyo cult, the evolution of "otaku" culture, and the role of computers in manga creation.
Groups, movements and individuals discussed in the book include UFO religions, Scientology, the New Age movement, Aum Shinrikyo, Meher Baba, Sufism, Children of God, Divine Light Mission, Deepak Chopra, Aleister Crowley, Werner Erhard, Erhard Seminars Training, and Landmark Forum, Falun Gong, Hare Krishna, Heaven's Gate, Peoples Temple, and many other groups.
Targets included offices of the Japan Teachers Union, buildings in Osaka and Tokyo of the terrorist sect Aum Shinrikyo (which had perpetrated the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995), the pro-North Korea Chongryon association, and in the only threat taken seriously by the Japanese police, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Hitoshi Tanaka, who had attempted rapprochement with North Korea in 2002.
However, after the much larger attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995, Kouno was cleared of blame, Aum Shinrikyo was deemed responsible.