ABSTRACT
In general the motivation for major terror plots in Japan has been either political or religious. During the 1970s and 1980s the Japanese Communist League–Red Army Faction and its splinter group, the Japanese Red Army, were responsible for several acts of terrorism worldwide, including shootings, bombings, hijackings, and hostage taking for ransom. However, the most infamous terror incidents involved a new religious movement known as the Aum Shinrikyo—a group that led a campaign of terror, killing a total of twenty-seven people and injuring thousands more between 1989 and 1995.
