I was sure I had a thread here about Aum Shinrikyo, but I must have been thinking of my earlier site. Anyway, there are no shortage of resources!
I just came across this, and it very much reminded me of the recruitment tactics of Shincheonji and some other cults. That is no surpise of course, but it is a good example of the tactics a cult will use when it has something to hide from new targets. In this case, they have more to hide that most!
Recruitment activities by Aleph (https://www.moj.go.jp/content/001330391.pdf) (Ministry of Justice - Japan)
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May 6, 1995: Alleged Persecution of Cult Investigated: US Activists Visit Tokyo (https://web.archive.org/web/20191028123000/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-05-06-mn-62967-story.html) (The LA Times/Internet Archive)
Oct. 31, 1995: Japanese Cult Had Network Of Front Companies (https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1995/11/01/japanese-cult-had-network-of-front-companies-investigators-say/09a99ac8-49d4-409f-baf0-560a8bc60060/) (The Washington Post)
QuoteFrom offices in New York, Japan, Russia, Australia and Taiwan, the Aum Supreme Truth cult was able to purchase advanced technology, arrange military training for its members and engage in other illicit or questionable activities for several years -- all without attracting the notice of any government's intelligence service, investigators said.
The five-month study by the Democratic staff of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations indicates the group's efforts to develop a stockpile of weapons of mass destruction -- in the improbable belief it could then take over the Japanese government -- were more carefully planned and further along than previously confirmed.
Jan. 31, 1997: Commission Preserves Aum Shinrikyo From Ban (https://web.archive.org/web/20190107212650/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/1997/01/31/national/commission-preserves-aum-shinrikyo-from-ban/#.XDPEJOzP32c) (The Japan Times/Internet Archive)
Dec. 2012: Aum Shinrikyo: Insights Into How Terrorists Develop Biological & Chemical Weapons (https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/156879/CNAS_AumShinrikyo_SecondEdition_English.pdf) (Center for New American Security)
2017: The Risk of Skilled Scientist Radicalization and Emerging Biological Warfare Threats (https://ebooks.iospress.nl/volumearticle/47634) (NATO Science for Peace & Security Series - Abstract)
Sept. 29, 2018: Involvement of Doctors in Aum Shinrikyo (https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0140-6736%2818%2931869-5) (The Lancet)
May 21, 2022: US Removes Aum Shinrikyo from Terror Blacklist, Retains al-Qaida (https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14626811) (Asahi Shimbun)
June 27, 2024: Japan Authorities Remain on Alert Over Aum Successor Group (https://sp.m.jiji.com/english/show/33878) (Jiji Press)
Quote"Basically, nothing has changed," an official of the government's Public Security Intelligence Agency who investigated Aum Shinrikyo said of Aleph. The assessment comes as altars decorated with a portrait of Matsumoto, headsets purported to inject the cult leader's brain waves into wearers and videos of his sermons have been found in on-site inspections of Aleph facilities.
About 45 pct of Aleph worshippers are in their 20s to 30s. The group is believed to have succeeded in attracting young people by soliciting them through yoga classes and psychology seminars while hiding its name.