Lost in the Cosmos and the Need to Know

Abstract

H r rUNDREDS of special reports, programs, and documentaries about Aum Shinrikyo have been produced for and aired on television in Japan since the 20 March 1995 sarin gas attack on Tokyo subway lines. A is the first independently produced documentary on Aum and the first to be shown in movie theaters. Filmed with the cooperation of a number of members of the group between March 1996 and April 1997, A documents life inside Aum by focusing on the daily activities of the then official Aum spokesperson, Araki Hiroshi :tL i, and several others belonging to the organization. As far as can be ascertained, none of the people associated with Aum appearing in A had knowledge before the fact of the series of crimes committed by other believers. Not attempting to provide a history of either Aum or its crimes, the film focuses resolutely on the daily life and thoughts of a few of its members as they attempt to come to grips with these crimes and to maintain a space for their religious community in the face of condemnation and opposition from surrounding society. A is an important and valuable documentary that merits seeing by anyone with an interest in contemporary Japanese society and culture. In addition to documenting life inside Aum throughout much of 1996 and 1997, A provides occasion for reviewing some of the major issues and debates that have arisen in Japan concerning Aum and how it has been covered by the media. A and the story of its making tell us much not simply about the ways in which the media have shaped perceptions of Aum but also about how the two have interacted, reflected, and at times even created one another. Since at least the fall of 1989, it has been difficult to separate the history of Aum from media coverage of it. A illustrates as well how the dynamics of openness and exclusion, revealing and concealing,