My First Steps in Religious Fieldwork: Exploring Aum Shinrikyō in 1995
abstract
This paper is an homage to professor Massimo Raveri and the vivid impact he had on my research more than thirty years ago. After a brief introduction about how I developed my interest in New-new religions in Japan, I present the English translation of my first publication on the subject “Asahara Shōkō and the Aum Shinrikyō: The Teaching of the Supreme Truth” published in 1995 soon after the Sarin attack.
Keywords: New-new religions • Apocalypticism • Shin-shin-shūkyō • Asahara Shōkō • Armageddon • Aum Shinrikyō