Few believe he will walk out of jail alive. Aum followers have been found complicit in 16 of the 17 crimes with which Asahara has been charged, including an earlier sarin gas attack in the small country town of Matsumoto. In all of the cases, the courts have acknowledged that the crimes were carried out under his direction. But Asahara, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, fights on. The long-winded nature of Japanese court proceedings means it could be another five to 10 years before a verdict is delivered.
Experts offer a range of explanations for the stubborn appeal of Aum and similarly weird outfits.
Japan's education system, with its emphasis on group order and discipline at the expense of independent thinking, is cited as a culprit. Many argue that the dismantling of state-based Shintoism after World War II has left Japan without a spiritual core. A lecturer in sociology at Shizuoka University, Dr Kimiaki Nishida, said Japan's disaffected youth had become easy prey for slick recruiting tactics, such as Aum's use of rock concerts and animated videos. The young have also disconnected from mainstream media, so they do not regard the cult as a threat. For the generation that has grown up since the 1970s, things like psychic powers and the occult are nothing special.