Talk:Hideo Murai

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this article is in need of a serious rehashing. interesting as it may be, it has some major weak spots. i already changed Nikola Tesla's name, but there are some spots that i found questionable at best, but have no way of checking and if need be, correcting. one is the outrageous claim that the symbol of the japanese imperial family is david's star. as far as i know it's the cherry flower. granted, this may be seen by some non-japanese as similar to a david's star, but this is something a japanese person would never see as such, in my opinion. so, suggesting that by mentioning jews the man had in mind the japanese imperial familiy seems like something a not very educated conspiracy theorist might come up with. number two: to my knowledge, the japanese are next to oblivious to the jewish people and while they may be a lot of things, anti-semitic is definitely not one of them. so the whole anti-semitic remark schtick seems a bit far-fetched. another minor quible: is there any particular reason the satelites supposedly suggested for AUM's cosmic-mega-death-ray-device-thingy are called sputniks and not just simply satelites? 213.172.246.57 20:57, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

re Sputniks: no. Regarding anti-Semitic remarks: not sure whether they are in fact such, but the controversy regarding what Murai uttered in ambulance was in the papers. I.e. that he said 1 word - judaia and that was interpreted as 'the Jews' and later 'the imperial family' as Imperial Family emblem somehow resembles star of David (i.e. Murai hinted at Japans' elite). Not sure if this is important, probably not.

I totally agree with the former commenter. The Imperial family davids star connection I have never heard myself either, and it is not mentioned on the Japanese entry. This seems like a very weak theory. And while the previous commenter is essentially correct about the Japanese in reguards to anti-semitism, Aum were heavily into conspiracy and could have meant the "Jews". But the real problem is that this entry is out and out wrong about the final words Murai left. He did not say one word, and the words he left are open to interpretation. He said "ユダにやられた。。。”(Yuda ni yarareta) which could mean "The Jews got me." or it could also mean "Judas got me". Which could suggest an often rumored connection between Aum and the Yakuza. What Murai might have been trying to say was that he was betrayed. -- Schopenhauer7 06:42, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

There were ZERO connections with yakuza in Aum. Reason: yakuza, as extreme nationalists (not sure if you know it, but yakuza the gangsters themselves evolved from ancient samurai warrior/feudal military clans - that's why they have that strange sense of honor). Therefore they harmed Aum a big deal. Even now nationalists conduct regular raids to Aum-related facilities to cry thru loudspeakers, as you can see in A and A2 (documentaries by Yoshiro Mori)

For the record, the Japanese imperial family seal is the chrysanthemum (daisy).

Yes. It was said that chrysanthenum somehow resembles Star of David. I believe it probably was somehow related with PR needs of Aum of that period. Joyu was in charge of PR and made announcement then. He later apologized and said that thinking how best to defend Aum from accusations he had to lie though he had known the truth.

-- I think its a little misleading to claim that all yakuza are "extreme" nationalists, although they are used as the roving army of right wing groups. They do in fact have many nationalist sentiments, but that does not define them. I know some of them, many are (now) little more than small time thugs. Also, the above poster is in fact correct about the Japanese (now) as reguards anti-semitism. As you state below it has no deep roots. Also, Schopenhauer7 is exactly right about Murais final words. I dont know how they played the story out in the English newspapers and books, but I have screen shots of news orginizations that show his final words as ユダにやられた. It was not "yudaia", which is a different word! Granted maybe thats what he wanted to say, but he didnt.

NPOV, conspiracy theories, cleanup

I took out all the Jewish conspiracy theory stuff--it was ridiculous. Clearly, a lot of the info of the page was written by a conspiracy theorist with some pro-cult leanings. FYI: actually, Japan has a long history of anti-semitism, and was for quite some time second only to the U.S. in production of anti-semitic literature. See: Jews in the Japanese Mind, an excellent book by two respected scholars. It's important to understand, though, that Japanese anti-semitism bears little resemblance to other anti-semitism in terms of virulence, or having deep roots. The cultural context and history of Judaism, anti-semitism, and the holocaust is just largely unknown to most Japanese, so they're basically repeating stuff from other sources that have a veneer of authority, but which are actually B.S., as you can see from the silly assertions like Jewish star resembles imperial chrysanthemum crest. In any event, I cleaned up the page, added some context, took out NPOV stuff (someone had gone through all the Aum Shinrikyo pages on Wikipedia and written in info to cast doubt on Aum's guilt, make opponents of Aum look vile, use weasel words to minimize Aum's crimes, that kind of thing). This is not a very active page, so I've taken out the "cleaup" tag as I think this subject has gotten sufficient attention. If anyone thinks it still needs it, feel free to restore it. QuizzicalBee 15:43, 21 February 2007 (UTC)

I second the serious neutrality issues in this article that still exist. I believe it needs a total rewrite. - Cyborg Ninja 14:00, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

New Sources

Found some new sources. Probably need help going through them for valuable information.

• High court upholds acquittal of gangster in 1995 murder by Kyodo News
• From rackets to real estate, yakuza multifaceted by The Japan Times
• Japanese Cult's No. 2 Official Fatally Stabbed : Asia: Knifing victim had headed chemical work of group linked to Tokyo poison gas attack. by Los Angeles Times
• The Cult at the End of the World by Wired (magazine)
• EXTREMIST KILLS SCIENTIST FROM JAPAN DOOMSDAY CULT by Deseret News
• CULT SCIENTIST STABBED TO DEATH AS CAMERAS ROLL by Deseret News
• Japan Police Arrest 2 Found Beneath Sect Headquarters by The New York Times
• High court clears mob boss of ordering Murai hit by The Japan Times
• DOOMSDAY CULT LEADER STABBED BY RIGHTIST by Associated Press
• DOOMSDAY CULT LEADER STABBED TO DEATH BY RIGHTIST by Associated Press
• Cult leader trial resumes in Japan by BBC News FrankRadioSpecial (talk) 19:28, 31 May 2013 (UTC)