This thesis will examine the ways in which the concept of victimhood is produced by victims’ groups connected with the Aum affair and how it was received by Japanese media in terms of a renovated...Show moreThis thesis will examine the ways in which the concept of victimhood is produced by victims’ groups connected with the Aum affair and how it was received by Japanese media in terms of a renovated mutual understanding between victims and journalists, which resulted in an improvement of the victims’ treatment on information channels. The research takes into consideration the experience of three support groups (Chikatetsu Sarin Jiken Higaisha no Kai, Kanariya no Kai and RSC) that will be used as case studies to analyze the evolution and the impact they had both on victims’ lives and information media. It aims to investigate the role of NPOs and victims’ group activities in influencing public opinion regarding victims’ redressing issues. Furthermore, it intends to explore victims’ struggle against the proliferation of New Religious Movements derived from the disbanding of Aum Shinrikyō and constituted mainly by its former members, such as Hikari no Wa 光の環 and Aleph アレフ, which are suspected of harboring the same doctrines that led Aum to be a danger for Japanese society. In doing so, victims used memory, both individual and collective, as a tool to make their case and highlight their instances even when the attention towards the Aum affair declined in Japanese media. Memorial constructions regarding the incidents, commemorative events, documentaries and victims’ groups’ activities accounts established a legacy that goes beyond the individual experience as a victim or a perpetrator, rather producing a collective instance of victimhood.Show less
