Aum Successor Aleph May be Hit with Stronger Regulation; Failed to Report Assets, Positions of Founder’s Son, Widow

The Yomiuri Shimbun

20:00 JST, July 22, 2025

The Public Security Intelligence Agency on Tuesday requested the Public Security Examination Commission to take stronger regulatory action against Aleph, the primary successor of the Aum Supreme Truth cult, over its failure to make the necessary reports to the agency stipulated by law.

The agency for the first time identified the second son of Chizuo Matsumoto, the cult’s founder executed in 2018, as leading Aleph’s organizational operations.

Currently, the group is subject to its fifth regulatory measure. The agency has now requested a harsher measure be imposed, which would include a ban on acquiring new land and buildings, over the Aleph’s failure to make the reports required by the Law on the Control of Organizations Which Committed Indiscriminate Mass Murder.

According to the agency, its investigation confirmed that the second son is an officer of Aleph calling himself the second “guru,” and has been involved in Aleph’s decision-making and leading the organization’s management since around 2014. Matsumoto’s widow is also an officer of the organization and is said to be in a position to assist the son. The agency also noted that an apartment in Koshigaya, Saitama Prefecture, where Matsumoto’s second son and widow are said to reside, is being used as the base of Aleph’s activities.

Aleph has since 2000 been subject to observation under the law, which requires it to report to the agency every three months on the organization’s membership and assets.

However, according to the agency, Aleph failed to report its base in Koshigaya and the fact that Matsumoto’s second son and widow were either members or officers of the organization. The agency stated that the reason for the fresh request for another recurrence prevention measure is that “it has become difficult to ascertain the extent of the risk of indiscriminate acts of mass murder.”

Aleph received its first regulatory measure in 2023 for failing to properly report the status of its assets and other matters. Under the fifth such measure, aside from residential use, the group has been prohibited from making use of land or buildings at either all or part of 16 of its 20 facilities nationwide, as well as from accepting donations.

In addition to the restrictions already in place, the current request seeks to prohibit the acquisition or lease of land or buildings in the 12 prefectures where group facilities are located, including Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka. The current disposition expires on Sept. 20, and the Public Security Examination Commission will decide whether to approve the request.

According to the agency, Aleph had about 1,190 members in Japan as of the end of April.