Abe murder spotlights Unification Church controversy in Japan

Dig deeper and cut out the rotten parts within the LDP.

Police say Tetsuya Yamagami targeted Abe because he believed the former prime minister supported a "certain group" to which the man's mother had made large donations.

I am sure the police are accurately reporting that Yamagami coyly said he targeted Abe due to his support for a "certain group".

The church and affiliated groups have regularly enlisted prominent figures, including former US president Donald Trump, for events.

The church has a mouthpiece for their conservative propaganda in the Washington Times stateside, and in Japan their media influence must be working on damage control.

Tetsuya Yamagami has at least brought this evil cult and those who use it for their own ends into the public eye. Hopefully such cults and their abuse will be regulated in the future. Mr Yamagami will be regarded as a hero in the future by many. Public opinion and sympathy has already changed since the incident.

The LDP are obviously corrupt and a new ruling party should take control.

It's ridiculous they are trying to blame everything on thad unification church.

Tetsuya Yamagami targeted abe because he believed the former prime Minister supported a "certain group"

Certain group ? ? ?

Oh no that's BS and incorrect...because Tetsuya Yamagami knew full well Abe and the LDP are supportive of the unification church.

They're a bunch of Loonies, and I can bet my bottom Dollar that the CCP is ultimately behind this, including his Murder.

Cut out the rotten parts within the LDP? That would be a major operation with a low survival rate.

Cutting out the rotten parts within the LDP is like removing dead cells from a corpse

Abe murder spotlights Unification Church controversy in Japan

It's a crime, not controversy, deserving criminal investigations.

Drain the swamp!!

The church and affiliated groups have regularly enlisted prominent figures, including former US president Donald Trump, for events.

Et tu, Brute!?

At the start many including myself, thought that Yamagami's accusations about Abe, the LDP and the cult were the rantings of a psychopath. We now know that everything he said and wrote was actually true.

I'm sure Abe got some of the millions of yen these Moonies have donated. Guranteed. His grandfather, "the monster of Manchuria," (look him up if you don't know him) was a sinister draconian economic minister during the war and always had his hands in money making schemes like these including the Moonies.

At the start many including myself, thought that Yamagami's accusations about Abe, the LDP and the cult were the rantings of a psychopath. We now know that everything he said and wrote was actually true.

Meanwhile, the LDP government with the organs it controls, right-wing media and the "certain cult" itself are all working assiduously 24/7 to create an alternative reality for public consumption so we won't stray from the official narrative and fall into the error of believing "our lying eyes". Unfortunately, these nefarious enemies of democracy are highly skilled in the dark arts of manipulating public opinion and their cynical mischief to mislead, cheat and lie knows no limits.

We don’t need all this fluff fluff. Just give us a list of all members, their political connections, their company connections and their beuracratic connections to local government. Then the JT poster sleuths can investigate more, as Japanese media certainly won’t.

The church offered "spiritual sales" of exorbitantly priced goods including a 43-million-yen ($350,000) statuette, which Japanese believers were told would absolve them or their ancestors.

Many of those "sacred" goods are available at thrift shops such as Mercari online community marketplace. When I just checked it, a statuette was on sale for about 30,000 yen (200 USD) at Mercari. Prices are yet negotiable.

Other sacred goods are also available there for much fair prices.

https://jp.mercari.com/search?keyword=%E7%B5%B1%E4%B8%80%E6%95%99%E4%BC%9A&status=on_sale

My favorites are vases, a symbol of the UC's exploitation, no, spirituality. A vase is at around 200,000 yen at Mercari. Still feels very expensive. Maybe I fail to become a "family" member.

I never mean to promote the UC. Instead I believe in the Invisible Hand of God :P

"Dig deeper and cut out the rotten parts within the LDP." That would be an autopsy.

It seems to me Abe would not have been killed by gun if he did not send a supporting video message to the UC conference. Yamagami saw it and thought Abe belongs to the UC . Abe was an easier target in public (than UC top leader) at that time. It seems Abe was just unlucky as no guards watched enough the street behind Abe during speech.

Controversy not the word I would have used, “exposed”, probably better word. And it’s just one of many dubious again “criminal” (better word). Shinto are well imbedded in the LDP too.

The church offered "spiritual sales" of exorbitantly priced goods including a 43-million-yen ($350,000) statuette, which Japanese believers were told would absolve them or their ancestors.

Spiritual Sales, what a scam! Sorry to critize Christians but you cannot buy Spirituality. Why western thought is flawd.

As a German buddist and practicionar of Indian Satana Dharma, Spirituality is not a belief its a practice, clearing the mind, breathing, stiting still, its meditation, and connecting to nature, connecting with the vibration of the Universe. Takes practice and disipline to be spiritual.

*Spiritual Sales**,* statments like these are why Christian groups who scam people and ask for huge sums of money should not even be taken seriously let alone supported by any government, what so ever!

A list of 35 LDP politicians connected with the church has been published by the media.

Other LDP major players have received political donations from The Sekai Nippo, a publisher and friendship organization of the church.

Tabloid Nikkan Gendai compiled last week a list of 112 lawmakers - including 34 current and former Cabinet ministers and party executives - who have sent congratulatory messages or attended events held by the church or its sister organisations such as the Universal Peace Federation (UPF).

JTC:

They're a bunch of Loonies, and I can bet my bottom Dollar that the CCP is ultimately behind this, including his Murder.

In case your brain hasn't noticed, the Moonies are actually anti-communism, and that's exactly why Abe and his dear grandpa supported them in the first place. But, go ahead, try blaming every single woe in this country on the CCP (or as more educated people say, CPC) and China again.

As usual Colts will always target the Weak and Vulnerable, they can't manipulate the healthy and strong.

Mr. Yamagami mother was the ideal and perfect target for any Colt, she was sucked into their web and taken to the cleaners too.

One could understand why her son lost control and committed this act of violence.

The LDP needs to amend its constitution on what donations it can receive from individuals and external groups and organizations and all donations must go to the party and not to individual members.

All parties use volunteers during elections and they are not vetted so impossible to deny church members as volunteers. But they would be working as private individuals, not as members of the church.

It's also impossible to ban any politician from being a member of any religious organization which is protected by the constitution.

There needs to be a law, if possible about religious groups like this church having "spiritual sales" costing hundreds of thousands of yen.

The church offered "spiritual sales" of exorbitantly priced goods including a 43-million-yen ($350,000) statuette, which Japanese believers were told would absolve them or their ancestors.

Many religious organizations offer funerals to their members costing many hundreds of thousands of yen. Or Shinto rituals to bless a new car.

Mr. Abe, Mr. and Mrs. Yamagami, Japan as a nation are all victims in this case, the LDP must clean up it's ranks and come clean or this Colt will just continue it's operation.

My late friend was a brilliant but troubled individual. Some time in late 60s she found solace with the "Moonies" and became happy for the first time in her life.

One morning we happened to meet and have coffee and she said out of the blue: "Jean, why don't you believe in God?"

It was too early in the morning for me to deal with theology. Trying not to offend my friend, I gave her the standard agnostic answer of not knowing whether the divinity existed or not as being a spiritual quest.

She told a story of how she and her comrades were stranded and short of cash. They appealed for help and suddenly everyone was giving them money. Money, money, money. "How can you not believe in God we suddenly had more money than we imagined we could get!"

Later in the day I found myself thinking about my friend and money. Money, money, money. It was all about getting money. There was nothing else. Just money.

As the coffee started to do its stuff, I hoped we might about Augustine, Aquinas, Luther or maybe even Unomuno. But all I got was talk about getting money of people--which my poor friend truly believed was proof that benevolent God existed.

Long ago while back home two guys approached me and one said Jesus Died for you, so why can't you respect that and follow him.

I don't care what faith you choose or follow or no faith at all, they all use tactics to try to intimidate you then control your mind, and once they find that weak spot in your head, they lock on it till you either wake up and reject their poison, or you get lost in their world of lies and deception.

Colts are the worst of all and Japanese in general are not fully aware of their tactics because they haven't got the knowledge nor the experience yet, but I am hopping that this event will prompt schools, educators, and the media to start exposing these groups so the public is better prepared.

Colts are the worst of all 

who are they?

Congratulations. You follow a religion invented by the National Intelligence Service of the South Korean government.

That is one really disturbing, fundamentally corrupt organization.

There needs to be a law, if possible about religious groups like this church having "spiritual sales" costing hundreds of thousands of yen.

The church offered "spiritual sales" of exorbitantly priced goods including a 43-million-yen ($350,000) statuette, which Japanese believers were told would absolve them or their ancestors.

The simple answer is to tax them like any other business. Property taxes, income taxes both corporate and individual, sales taxes, etc.

Generally speaking Christianity is a good religion, but deviant groups run by self-centred, self-serving narcissistic psychopaths are absolutely evil. There needs to be increased public education about how they work and how they attract and abuse people, and a greater readiness, backed up by firm legislation, to prosecute them. They destroy people's lives whilst claiming to improve them.

God is money.

I am God representative.

Please send notes and coins, especially the bit one.

The less you have , the more free your mind is .

You will become a son or daughter of this family.

Me : standard rubbish from all religions, at one time or another. Please note even most famous ones you pay sooner or later. Especially at time of burials...

Yamagami was just in despair and Abe-san to close to Moonies organization. Japanese media have not still made any single investigation about the real situation about Abe. Probably forbidden to ask what was going on.

Tony W....

Generally speaking Christianity is a good religion.

Your opinion. Mine is that they are all man made forms of social control.

I don’t think Yamagami faces to the death penalty since 1) just one killed, not a rampage, 2) his motif is a grudge towards the Moonies, not an attempt to overthrow the democracy, 3) Mr. Abe had links with the cult as this article says and 4) Investigators couldn't find a bullet which came out of his homemade gun to cause fatal damage on Mr. Abe: the plantiff's evidence is inpefect to determine his guilty.

In light of this article, the court may determine Mr. Abe is indirectly responsbile for being Yamagami's target by approving this cult as a tax-free reglious organisation and incoporating them into LDP: this has eventually energized the cult to survive in Japan.

If so, Yamagami would be guilty but the sentencing may be lighter than originally expected.

Any murder can’t be tolerated, though.

blue...

some donations (pretty low amounts though) to DP and LDP

"official" donations of course.

Its good to see how the investigation is going after the "real" cause of Abe's murder instead of just home-made gun and bullets. This group should be taken down specially after listening to all those suffered individuals.

Redstorm

Thanks and I understand your point.

But I suppose those sigle munder cases which resulted in the death penalty was mostly robbery munders occacionally with sexual assults, where victims were completly innocent.

Japan's criminal court puts weight on precedents.

This muder happned at the election campain but unless the plantiff can evidences that Yamagami's motif was for ruining democracy, I see a slim possibility of death penalty imposed on him.

Shining on the hypocrisy of Japanese ultranationalist elites. They spend years of dehumanizing Koreans but they secretly eat out from the cash of Korean fascists who literally want to turn Japan into new Korean territory. Korean fascists also have a strong tie with North Korea too!