According to a bizarre, white-clad Japanese cult, the world was supposed to end on 15 May 2003. Paul Sieveking and David Sutton assess what we know about the background and activities of Pana Wave Laboratory.

On 25 April, about 40 members of a Japanese cult called Pana Wave Laboratory took over a 200-meter (660ft) stretch of mountain road in Gifu prefecture, some 185 miles (300km) west of Tokyo, covering up crash barriers and roadside trees with huge white cloths. After three days, local officials ordered the caravan of 13 white vehicles to move on, but the cultists – who dress all in white and wear surgical masks as protection against electromagnetic radiation – refused, explaining that Yuko (Hiroko) Chino, their 69-year-old guru, had terminal cancer after communist guerrillas had attacked her with microwaves.