1. Aum Shinrikyo By Ola and Unna

2. Introduction Aum Shinrikyo (also known as Aleph) is a Japanese doomsday cult. It currently has around 1,650 members, but during the Toyko subway attack, it was said that Aleph had 9,000 members in Japan and 40,000 worldwide[1]. It’s leader is Shoko Asahara, and he claims to be the reincarnation of the Hindu god Shiva. The group’s belief is based on Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity and the writings of Nostradamus (a French astrologer, physician and writer of prophecies). Their terrorist methods mostly involve releasing dangerous gases into large crowds of people. Their goal is the destruction of Japan, the United States and Israel by Armageddon, and then to rebuild Japan and the world and lead it. [1]Japan Portal

3. Shoko ASahara Shoko Asahara was born Chizuo Matsumoto and almost blind in 1955. He first began an occupation in Chinese medicine before later switching to new age philosophy and a diverse combination of spiritual ideas. He later changed his name to Shoko Asahara, and founded the Aum Shinrikyo, was which means ’supreme truth’. Shoko Asahara states that he is the reincarnation of the Hindu god Shiva. He professed to ’lead his followers to salvation when impending Armageddon arrived’ (BBC). After the Tokyo Subway Attack, Asahara was discovered in a builsing belonging to Aum. He faced 27 murder counts. He was sentenced to deah by hanging In February 2004.

4. Aleph Aleph’s primary membership is based in Japan, but an unknown amount of followers has emerged in Russia. Between 1990 and 1995, Aleph had initiated 17 known chemical and biological weapon attacks. Soon, they had a new goal: they had to control the amount through their religious activities. They new that they couldn’t save the world any longer, so they had to save themselves. Ashara announced this to his followers, and they began building nuclear shelters so that they could be safe from the ’inevitable Armageddon’. Some government officials support Aleph, whereas some claim them to be a threat to world peace. 650 of today’s Aleph members are priests, and since Aleph is a very religious group, I should think that some believers of Christianty, Hinduism and buddhism support Aleph’s beliefs.

5. Aleph attacks Matsumoto: Aleph releases sarin gas to test it for the Tokyo subway attack Tokyo: 1995 Toyko subway attack Yokohama: Tsutsumi Sakamoto and his family are killed by Aleph Kamikuishiki: Kiyoshi Kariya, the 69 year old brother of a former Aleph member, was killed by Aleph by a drug overdose

6. 1995 Tokyo Subway Attack On the 20th of March 1995 5 Aleph members attacked three Tokyo subway trains. They boarded the Chiyoda Line, Marunouchi Line and Hibiya Line trains. Five members carried each 2-3 bags full of Sarin and went to this trains. At the same moment, they dropped the bags and as the poison gas was getting wider and wider, people started to jump out of the trains on the next stop. Some of the trains kept going one for an 1hour and 40 minutes and then it finally stopped to deal with the emergency. Because of this emergency the hospital services got too much people. Some of the symptoms were bleeding from nose and mouth, convlusions, paralysis, sensitivty to light, foaming at the mouth, losses of consciousness, memory and vision, and even comas.

7. Matsumoto Incident On 1994 Aum Shinrikyo attacked Matsumoto killing 8 people and injuring over 200. Their target in this attack was Daisaku Ikeda the leader of Soka Gakkai, one of the Japan's new religions. Asahara considered him as a rival and selected him as the target of this attack. Aleph also did this to test the sarin gas for the later Tokyo Subway attack.

8. IB Learner Profiles We think that members of the Aleph group are principled, because they take responsibility for their actions, and they believe they are doing to right thing. They are also thinkers, because they thought and planned their attacks well. Before the 1995 Tokyo Subway Attack, Aleph tested the gas out in Matsumoto to make sure it was deadly and that it worked. This shows that they are thinkers.

9. Results After the 1995 Tokyo sarin attack, numerous Aleph members (including Shoko Asahara) were arrested and/or sentenced to death. Fumihiro Joyu replaced Asahara as leader of Aleph. He changed their doctrine to one that didn’t justify murder. He and the group formally apologised to the victimes of the Tokyo subway attack and founded a special compensations fund. On 8 March 2007, Fumihiro Joyu announced that Aleph was splitting. Joyu created his own group, called Hikari No Wa (the Ring of Light), and he said his aim was to unite science and religion. Aum currently has around 1,500 members. The group was very active and feared in the 1990s, but now, the number of members has decreased greatly, and their doctrine is no longer about taking other people's lives. We think that Aleph will eventually diminish or split off into other, less violent groups.

10. Works Cited Watson, Brandon. "Aum Shinrikyo: The horror…." Polo's Bastards Adventure Travel. Polo's Bastards, 20 Aug 2002. Web. 10 Jan. 2012.. Explain 2012,. "Who Was Nostradamus." Explain 2012. End of The World in 2012?. Explain2012, 2012. Web. 10 Jan 2012.. Hellman, Christopher, and Reyko Huang. "List of Known Terrorist Organizations." Terrorism. The Center For Defense Information, n.d. Web. 10 Jan 2012.. Robinson, B.A.. "Aum Shinri Kyo (Supreme Truth)." Religious Tolerance. Religious Tolerance, 19 Aug 2006. Web. 10 Jan 2012.. Fletcher, Holly. "Aum Shinrikyo." Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations, 28 May 2008. Web. 10 Jan 2012.. Japan Reference,. "Aum Shinrikyo オウム真理教." Japan Reference (JREF). Japan Reference, n.d. Web. 10 Jan 2012.. BBC,. "Profile: Shoko Asahara." BBC News. (2004): n. page. Web. 10 Jan. 2012..http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3504237.stm BBC. Shoko Asahara promised to lead his followers to salvation. 2004. Photograph. BBC News Bellamy, Patrick. "THE AUM CULT OF TERROR." trutv. trutv, n.d. Web. 11 Jan 2012. http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/terrorists_spies/terrorists/prophet/18.html ● J. Miller. The aftermath of the nerve gas attacks committed by Aum Shinrikyo in the Tokyo subway system in 1995.. 2008. Photograph. Violent Extremism Knowledge Base