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Doktor Zoom's avatar

Oh! Another cult story! When we lived in Osaka, my now-ex accidentally joined a Shinto-adjacent nationalist cult that worshipped the Emperor as a god like in the good old days, and sought to officially restore him to godhood. She knew a couple of the women in the group casually, and they basically kept dropping by to invite her for what they made sound like a social club, so after several "no thank you's," she finally went to a meeting, and once the pamphlets came out she realized what was up. She stayed and didn't make a scene, but didn't hang around for tea after. They dropped by a couple times after to ask her to come again. They pretended not to hear or understand NO.

She realized after that meeting that she'd probably been targeted because she was the nice gaijin lady in the neighborhood who spoke Japanese fluently from her previous teaching jobs in the country. Having an American in the group would have been some kind of win for them, apparently.

I did Japan all wrong and never learned the language, but my complete cluelessness meant I never had to deal with any of that. Sumimasen, Nihongo dekimasen!

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Doktor Zoom's avatar

One of my best friends in college got into Amway briefly but fanatically, but dropped it after a while and too much money.

37 years later she will very pleasantly offer to murder anyone who brings it up. You can tease her about some things, but that is not among them.

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