Erica Baffelli is a Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom. Her research covers "new religions" in Japan. You can read some of her publications in the links below. 

Note: at some point, Taro compared Japanese new religions to the American Christian Science. He meant Scientology, not Christian Science. 

Music credit: Ai IMAZATO from the Senri International High School of Kwansei Gakuin. 

Erica Baffelli publications: 

https://online.ucpress.edu/nr/article-abstract/25/3/7/119585/Living-AumAusterities-Emotion-and-the-Feeling?redirectedFrom=fulltext

https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/book/dynamism-and-the-ageing-of-a-japanese-new-religion-transformations-and-the-founder/introduction

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-mono/10.4324/9780203075036/media-new-religions-japan-erica-baffelli

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