Editors; Introduction: Projections and Representations of Religion in Japanese Media

After the sarin attack, efforts to increase state powers in controlling Aum and its later incarnation, Aleph, were met with general public approval. [...]the highly negative image of religion, particularly new religions, continued in media reports. Because the media pick up on current moods that resonate with the people, and indicate and possibly direct those trends, they may not be solely focused on negative depictions of social phenomena such as new religious movements. People who worked in the mainstream media, such as the now famous comedian-actor-director Kitano Beat Takeshi, showed an 7 Nova Religio interest in the 1980s in examining such ideas and the people who promoted them.10 Aum was one of a number of groups that appeared in the 1970s and 1980s that appropriated ideas that were outside of mainstream thought but nevertheless attracted the interest of young people, and that benefited from a general mass media interest in groups that were active in this milieu. [...]the media external to Aum, and the ideas they broadcast, were a crucial part in the promotion of Aum. [...]different media can provide alternative avenues, or venues, for religious expressions, ones which may not have any connection to traditional religious institutions and structures.