...Helen Hardacre Religion and Social Crisis in Japan: Understanding Japanese Society Through the Aum Affair . Edited by Robert J. Kisala and Mark R. Mullins . New York : Palgrave Macmillan , 2001 . 239 pp. $68.00 (cloth). Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 2002...

...Paul B. Watt A Poisonous Cocktail? Aum Shinrikyō's Path to Violence . By Ian Reader . Copenhagen : NIAS Books , 1996 . 116 pp. Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1997 1997 802 THE JOURNAL OF ASIAN STUDIES dehistoricized notion of culture as ethnic consciousness...

... of an era of single-party rule by the Liberal Democratic Party, and the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake and Aum Shinrikyō sarin gas attacks that came in rapid succession in 1995—these events forced upon us the reality that the “affluent postwar” was over. Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc...

... freedom and expression, a realm that elicited a devotion almost religious in nature. It was this culturally distended form of liberalism . . . that so easily allied itself with the emerging idiom of Japanism" (p. 244). J. VICTOR KOSCHMANN Cornell University A Poisonous Cocktail? Aum Shinrikyo's Path...

... issue of Aum's use of violence, Reader identifies a number of contributing factors, all of which led the leadership to isolate itself from the world and to adopt increasingly hostile measures in responding to it. These factors include Aum's original character as a world-rejecting religion, the anxiety...

... with the historical fact of women's loss of status. SONJA ARNTZEN University of Toronto Religion and Social Crisis in Japan: Understanding Japanese Society Through the Aum Affair. Edited by R O B E R T J. KISALA and M A R K R. MULLINS. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2001. 239 pp. $68.00 (cloth). This collection...

...), and Shimao Toshio's “The Farthest Edge of the Islands” ( Shima no hate , 1973); chapter 3, “Aum, Underground (1997), and Murakami Haruki's Other Side,” including a reading of Kafka on the Shore ( Umibe no Kafuka , 2002); and chapter 4, “Literature of the Soul: Ōe Kensaburō's Somersault ( Chūgaeri...

... facets of the contemporary religious situation, as well as an article on Aum Shinrikyo BOOK REVIEWS JAPAN 215 that was included as an appendix after the rest of the volume had already been completed. In this way the editors sought to achieve the twin aims of maintaining the integrity of the previous...

... and a research perspective. The historical frame, which delves into the history of prewar and wartime new religions but also connects with the Aum shinrikyō disaster in the 1990s, makes this both historically and sociologically relevant. At times it can be a frustrating read, however, when the story is too often...

... as centers of nationalistic belonging in postwar Korea (David Kim), on the sacred and mystical elements of the Juche-Kimilsungism political ideology of the North Korean state (Emma Leverton), and on the role of capitalist exhaustion and alienation on the formation of the violent Aum Shinrikyō movement...

.... This got Ōmoto-kyō's supporters into trouble with the authorities on two occasions. This vision of apocalyptic millenarianism resonates with millenarian movements in other countries and with some new religions in contemporary Japan, notably Aum Shinrikyō. I recommend this book to scholars of early...

... contemporary discussion on globalization. Kawawata's brief chapter, while informative, could perhaps have been included in a more extensive discussion on religion and state in Nakano's earlier article. Finally, a second contribution by Ishii, a short description of Aum Shinrikyd, is included as an appendix...

... of the earlier work, incorporates six new thematic articles describing various facets of the contemporary religious situation, as well as an article on Aum Shinrikyo ...

... censorship and the information economy. Shinichi Saito's chapter on Japan is one of the weakest; he briefly mentions press clubs, but fails to address controversies over journalistic ethics and professionalism, such as those highlighted by mis-coverage of the Aum cult's sarin gas attacks in 1994 and 1995...

... tells us, these successive "Path" have separate articles, one identifying styles are all of them Nepalese transformations the path with moral qualifications, the other of originally Indian style and iconography from with knowledge. The proper spelling AUM the Kushan period onward. In every instance...

...-Awaji earthquake and the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system by members of Aum Shinrikyō, and of the March 11, 2011, “triple disaster”—the earthquake, tsunami, and meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Mullins argues that the social crises that follow these events led...

.... However, where Bhatkhande's interpretation does not conform with the general practice of today, for instance in rags such as Lalit, Candra\aums, and Patdip, he adds the modern version, to some extent bringing Bhatkhande's work up to date. Perhaps the only real criticism of Dr. Kaufmann's treatment of rags...

... and is, for the most part, a fairly accurate representation of Bhatkhande's tradition. However, where Bhatkhande's interpretation does not conform with the general practice of today, for instance in rags such as Lalit, Candra\aums, and Patdip, he adds the modern version, to some extent bringing Bhatkhande's work up...

... the skill amount of scholastic discourse; they also con- / of the bowman, Love . . ." (vs 330). Let tain a mild criticism of Iyer's oversimplifica- the reader in these cases not dwell too much on tion of the AUM complex; and they promise the translation, but contemplate for a moment much more than...

... writer. His footnotes gently explain the basics for the reader not familiar with the field: what is the history of shingeki (realist modern theater) in Japan; what is Article 9 of the Constitution; what is Aum Shinrikyō's Sarin Gas Attack and the impact of the Great Hanshin Awaji earthquake of 1995? He...