Police raid 27 Aum Shinrikyo facilities

"Circle of Rainbow Light"

If it was a circle, it wouldn't be a rainbow.

Raid = Inspection ?

Yes, Paul, headline is misleading. These were inspections that were expected. A "raid" evokes images of SWAT teams bursting in, chasing the suspects down, cuffing them and hauling them away.

Serrano, you are wrong about that. In the tropics you can see circular rainbows. I have seen some. It was a surprise for me when I first saw one in Malaysia,

gaijintraveller quite so! I've seen them through jungle canopy as well.

gaijintraveller and Yubaru, are you speaking of sun halos?

Circle of Rainbow Light, sounds like an episode of Teletubbies. These scary people really need to be watched closely.

I think it's more about a circle of people, as a group, so-to-speak. Rather than an actual circle of rainbow coloured light...

Asahara remains on death row. No date for his execution has been announced.

The writer obviously doesn't know, or chose to ignore, that in Japan the names of executed persons are not, as a general rule, announced beforehand, or for that matter even after the fact, and the media depend on information provided by the condemned person's attorney or leaks from the authorities.

The J-Police have been on the march lately. Considering the events in Norway...

Circle of Rainbow Light, sounds like an episode of Teletubbies. These scary people really need to be watched closely.

Definitely. Especially the yellow one....

Since 1998, the Japanese Ministry of Justice has made public the names of all those executed.

are you speaking of sun halos

Don't know if that is what it was, looked like a circular rainbow to me. Saw it during a light rainfall as I recall.

This game is still being played. When will it ever end? Not even Shakespeare on LSD could have come up with this stuff!

I know where i would shove the p.c. if Aleph tried to recruit any of my family,

The Public Security Intelligence Agency, still believing the two groups are influenced by Asahara, will soon decide on whether to seek an extension of the surveillance on the cult for another three years before the current law expires in January, it added.

Let's hope citizens here can remember the terrorist actions of these people, the thousands of lives they ruined, and continue to monitor their facilities after the govt. stops doing it. Heck - I say "monitoring" their temples with baseball bats is a good start.

If not for the Earth blocking your view, all rainbows would appear circular. A rainbow is more or less an illusion anyway. It all depends on angle.

With the Japanese government having its thumb up its ass I bet they are able to recruite a rather large number of new followers through the Internet. Lots of people out there who are fed up with Nakatacho and Kasumigaseki for them to consider taking the law into their own hands. A "take action" group like Aum under a different name would be a platform for them to voice their frustrations and eventually they will demonstrate, march the streets and when their voice isn't heard they will very likely resort to more extreme measures. Can you really blame them?

I have seen rainbows around a full moon too. Very round. I also make rainbows with the sprinkler hose. Who cares what their name is, they are a sick organization and still praying on misfits. Perhaps if they aim for the Akiba otaku, they might get a better following.

Since 1998, the Japanese Ministry of Justice has made public the names of all those executed.

That is not quite correct. According to the anti-death penalty organization Reprieve (reprieve.org.uk/) the Japanese Ministry of Justice only began "confirming" executions in 1998 and "releasing names" of those executed in 2007. Confirming means they will respond to a query, but not "make public" as in the form of an official announcement to the media.

I'm sorry, but when did this article about making an inspection of a cult's facilities be about astronomy and weather?

The group's Japanese name is ひかりの輪, and I doubt it has anything to do with sprinklers, full moons or Uranus FFS.

@Mr Dog

I doubt it has anything to do with sprinklers, full moons or Uranus....

I'd disagree. When you get to the bottom, Uranus is definitely involved....

Uranus also can create a brilliant rainbow if the right conditions. Involves a match and a release of methane gas.

A good thing that the police in Japan shows action as the whole society now needs inspiration.

They wil be the leading and first revolutionaries of this doomed country. They already see themselves as the "oppressed underground" and will rise to power within a few years. The Japanese army (non-existent atm) will join them (after being infiltrated to the highest ranks) and they will be able to put a stop to all this madness.

How poor is Japanese faith... and how stupid his followers are ... Still around him . When Asahara is jail his daughter went see him, she told the press..that my father masturbated there watching at me.

Poice raid 27 Aum Shinrikyo facilities

JT: Should be "Police"

Moderator: It has been fixed. Thanks.

@Skeptical Hippo,

Aren't you confusing legitimate protests with a more devious underground cult movement? Are you saying that we should assume that people who protest against, say, nuclear accidents, should be assumed to be members of a dangerous antisocial movement? Then your post two above this one is really over the top--how else would an army "be able to put a stop to all this madness" than through martial law and assassinations? What makes you think that the SDF can be so easily swayed to start murdering fellow countrymen? Aren't they trained to be on a defensive footing against other nations?

These Aum dudes are BRAIN WASHED, horrible, evil doom day cult, pure evil! I was almost on the wrong train, got lucky back in 1995 and did miss a morning train, but those who did get on that train, we poisoned by sarin gas etc..I will never forgive these Aum supreme truth bastards!

It never fails to boggle my mind that an organization like this is allowed to exist in the open. I don't understand why the government and the police aren't using every marginally legal tactic they can think of to harass Aum out of existence.

Hmm, a group that did nothing to the rest of japan; only a few members did. And now you want them all to suffer for a few? Thank god we're not in the UK, or they'll be hanged and stoned to death

What kinds of idiots would be part of such a cult? If there is anything I've learned about cults throughout history, is that they have all been wrong.

So, where were these raids? Across the nation seems a bit vague.

So, where were these raids? Across the nation seems a bit vague.

That's easy -- just look for the places with huge banners posted by neighbors that read: AUM, YOU'RE NOT WELCOME HERE SO GO AWAY!!!

There may be a link to the Norwegian Breivik as he is wanting to be a follower on receiving consultation from the leader

Maybe Shoko Asahara needs a Norwegian psychiatrist!

@Mr. Dog: Don't be so uptight, let people wander off-topic now and then! The moderators are strict enough without group policing as well.