Joyu Makes His Move (For Like The Billionth Time)

File under: Gurus Doin' Time, The Siddhi of PR and Wackadoo Gurus

The webernets has been somewhat aflame with news of Fumihiro Joyu's Aum Supreme Truth Cult schism as of late, but it's not like the guy hasn't been blowing that horn for the last six months. It may have bored us silly, but it's good PR and marketing nonetheless.

It turns out that Joyu, who did 3 years for perjury after that nerve gas nastiness, is a bit of a teen heartthrob in Japan:

Joyu was often seen on Japanese television denying Aum's involvement in the attack and won admirers, especially among teenage girls, who saw him as handsome and articulate.

If he's smart and plays his cards right, he should be able to establish a nice little harem for himself after he gets his new cult fired up and in gear.

As for their former, subway-gassing guru, Shoko Asahara sits in his jail cell diddling himself as he waits for the warden to take him on his "dead man" walk to the execution chamber.

Meanwhile, the authorities in Japan are still scared shitless as to what his nutjob followers are planning to commemorate the hanging of their living God. We suggest a mass suicide, allowing those dumb enough to still believe in Asahara to spend the rest of eternity burning in Hell with him while leaving the rest of Japan alone to find something else to be afraid of.

Joyu Gets Jammed Up... Again

File under: The Siddhi of PR and Wackadoo Gurus

What happens when you take a bunch of loonies who once believed their mass-murdering guru was God? You get the cops raining down on your head to placate a paranoid Japanese public:

Intelligence agents swarmed the offices of the new "Ring of Light" religious group to scrutinize its activities, authorities said. The group on Wednesday announced its split from a successor to the deadly Aum Shinrikyo cult of the 1990s.

Even though new sect leader Fumihiro Joyu claims they have nothing to do with their former wackadoo brothers and sisters, the authorities are determined to nip any terrorist activities in the bud:

The raid, part of continuing surveillance of a cult designated by law as a terrorist group since the subway attack, was aimed at inspecting teaching materials and interviewing members for traces of apocalyptic teachings.

We said it before: take on a bunch who supported mass-murder, and folks are gonna think you still have murderin' on your mind, despite what you may be telling the press.

Joyu has got his work cut out for him. He may as well remove all the locks from the doors of his HQ, 'cause this ain't the last time the cops are going to bust them in.

Update: Oops! Some folks must have missed the memo and kept their Asahara pictures after the purge. That ought to be worth five or six more police raids in the next few months.

Fumi Fesses Up

File under: Gurus Doin' Time and The Siddhi of PR

Subway-gassing splinter cult guru Fumihiro Joyu recently apologized for his role in the Aum Supreme Truth cult nerve gas attacks in Japan:

A former leader of the Japanese doomsday cult behind deadly nerve-gas attacks has met a high-profile survivor for the first time to offer a direct apology, his group said Thursday.

Fumihiro Joyu, former spokesman of the Aum Supreme Truth cult, met Yoshiyuki Kono, 57, on Wednesday and apologised for the 1994 attack in the central city of Matsumoto.

But Japanese security authorities, which closely monitor the cult and Joyu's splinter group, criticised the meeting as a mere publicity stunt.

Do ya' think?

Fumi keeps trying to distance himself from his former, murderin' guru, Shoko Asahara, who is still waiting to hang for coming up with the whole thing. But the authorities in Japan just aren't having it. Imagine if Osama bin Laden's right hand man suddenly started saying he was sorry for covering New York in powdered World Trade Center. Do you think anyone here would be buying it?

Tug-Of-War With Terrorist Guru

File under: The Siddhi of PR, Wackadoo Gurus and Gurus Doin' Time

Fumihiro Joyu has got his work cut out for him. He is attempting to rehabilitate the notorious AUM Shinrikyo "doomsday cult" while weaning the remaining members of their space-daddy addiction to one of the world's all-time wackadoo gurus, the subway-gassing Shoko Asahara.

The fact that Asahara is skedded to hang may not rid Joyu of the object of the cult's veneration. Like so many others who have succumbed to the effects of their space-daddy gene, these folks are dumber than paint:

Members routinely gather in front of the facility in Tokyo's Kosuge district to offer prayers to the man who masterminded the March 20, 1995, sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo subway system that left 12 dead and thousands sickened.

Asahara will become another of the millions of gurus worshiped after their death. A space-daddy in life, a space-daddy forever.

Joyu seems confident that without a space-daddy to lead them, his movement will do fine nonetheless. He's banking on the tried-and-true delusion of supernatural power to keep folks on the hook:

"There still are innovative aspects in Aum discipline which can help people to experience supernatural power. It will be a carrot to attract new followers."

Too bad that "power" renders its wielders blithering idiots.

Japan's Fear Fixes On Joyu

File under: Gurus Doin' Time and Wackadoo Gurus

Poor Fumihiro Joyu, who just learned the valuable lesson that if you make a new cult out of a terrorist guru's old one, it comes with all the fear that the old one created.

AUM To Abandon Canon

File under: Wackadoo Gurus and The Siddhi of PR

As his former master sits on death row awaiting his date with a noose, Fumihiro Joyu is bringing the flock into a new era, free from some of the apocalyptic stylings of its past:

“To break away from the former leader, we’ll advance reform of our educational materials, and make the changes visible by February next year,” Joyu said at the cult’s premises in Tokyo.

While it may be not much more than a ploy to throw the Japanese Intelligence Agency off the trail, just about anything will be an improvement from the guru-centric nonsense that the subway-gassing Shoko Asahara spouted.

Just look where he ended up.

AUM Apostate Accelerates Away

File under: Gurus Doin' Time

AUM splinter guru Fumihiro Joyu took his cut of the AUM faithful on a 3-day pilgrimage around Japan that mirrored subway-gassing guru Shoko Asahara's same excursions in the early 90s.

The AUM faithful countered with their own retreat. It's the second time there's been dueling events that have split the congregation. Given AUM's penchant for terrorism and mass murder, Joyu had better be watching his back. But with AUM's fauxcotic leader jerking-off in front of his daughters on the way to a date with a noose, the fundie AUMies may soon face even more fragmentation as they see their fervent hope that Asahara will save himself with his omnipotent powers as Shiva die along with their guru in one quick drop through the chute.