Very interesting, I had not realised the connections until I read of them here.

Judging by their uncommon brevity, the other commentors must be shell-shocked. While Japan is unique, the story also says something about human society and mentality, maybe something profound as attraction to cults turns up everywhere. If not entirely a consequence of language and the ability to construct narratives – I expect Daniel Dennett and Richard Dawkins would argue that these things co-opt faculties evolved for some other function – it is not likely to go away or succumb reliably to reason. If the human species, and even life on Earth, is to survive, a way of containing this in the context of social atomisation and instant communication needs to be found. That is not to say it’s all about media, as cults have arisen readily throughout history, and the simplest facilities appear sufficient to enable humans to embrace voluntarily or be brainwashed into religious convictions.

This actually looks a little like the reasons given for the assassination were an attempt to smear the former PM, who was much more sceptical about lockdowns etc than many wanted him to be…