Criticism
Happy Science is one of many Japanese new religions, or shinshūkyō, which are looked upon as "controversial" by the mainstream press and public. According to The Japan Times, "for many, the Happies smell suspiciously like a cult". Even though Happy Science protested against Aum Shinrikyo before the 1995 Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, comparisons have been drawn between the two groups and they often clashed in the media during the 1990s.
Happy Science have been noted for their use of high profile marketing company Dentsu Corporation, the largest advertising company in Japan, to implement their strategy.
Happy Science has released promotional videos that claim North Korea and the People's Republic of China are plotting to invade and colonize Japan after first subduing it through nuclear warfare.
In June 2012, Happy Science was blamed for a reservation mix-up at the Ugandan national stadium by the Ugandan athletes preparing for 2012 Olympics. Some athletes blamed Happy Science for their failure to qualify as they were forced to use the inferior track for time trials, as the national stadium was booked by Happy Science.
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Famous quotes containing the word criticism:
“Parents sometimes feel that if they don’t criticize their child, their child will never learn. Criticism doesn’t make people want to change; it makes them defensive.”
—Laurence Steinberg (20th century)
“Cubism had been an analysis of the object and an attempt to put it before us in its totality; both as analysis and as synthesis, it was a criticism of appearance. Surrealism transmuted the object, and suddenly a canvas became an apparition: a new figuration, a real transfiguration.”
—Octavio Paz (b. 1914)
“As far as criticism is concerned, we don’t resent that unless it is absolutely biased, as it is in most cases.”
—John Vorster (1915–1983)