The footage of the devotees of this guys cult on the breakfast news are astonishing. Rows of people adorned with large foam elephant heads.
"Aum Shinrikyo during its formative phase deployed an array of exotic (for Japan) symbolic forms mostly of Indian provenance, designed to emphasise Asahara's guru status. These included elephant-head (Ganesh) masks worn by devotees. Devotees also sometimes wore replicas of the head of Asahara himself. Indian-style clothing, long hair, beards etc. were reminiscent of the garb of Indian renunciants. Some believers wore a ceramic 'purusha box' and technical-looking 'astral teleporter'. On the other hand, catchy musical tunes and choreographed dance steps which owed more to modern cartoon culture than to Indian tradition were used in the group's publicity and recruitment activities."
http://philtar.ucsm.ac.uk/encyclopedia/easia/aum.html