Self-representation of two new religions on the Japanese Internet

Japanese new religions, that is religious organizations founded since about the middle of the nineteenth century, are not represented on the Internet as much as one might expect given their propensity towards proselytization. While organizations such as Sôka Gakkai, Tenrikyô or Aleph (the former Aum Shinrikyô) admittedly run several extensive Web sites, other new religions equally active on an international level, such as Sekai Kyûseikyô, Kôfuku no Kagaku or Sekai Mahikari Bunmei Kyôdan, have but few sites which contain – or contained when research for this chapter was done in 2001 – little more than most of their pamphlets.1