ABSTRACT
In the months after the suhvvay attack the Aum affair dominated Japanese society, the media and the political world. The enormous numbers of crimes committed by Aum, the public disquiet over the way in which the movement had seemingly been able to stockpile weapons and commit murders without the authorities taking much notice, and the apparent reluctance of the police to investigate an organisation because it was a registered religion, raised a number of political and legislative issues. The most important of these was how Aum, once its criminal nature had been established, ought to be treated, and whether the privileges and protections granted to religious groups in Japan were too liberal and needed to be amended.
