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© Thomson Reuters 2022.Why the Unification Church has become a headache for Kishida
By Tim Kelly and Ju-min Park TOKYO©2025 GPlusMedia Inc.
45 Comments
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diagonalslip
....because the Abe killing forced it into the open?
Garthgoyle
Because now everyone know?
Sh1mon M4sada
I'm still surprised that there is any LDP links at all to the (Christian) Unification Church given their reputation with Soka Gakkai and links to Shinto shrines.
Fighto!
Shut down this dangerous cult by removing tax-free benefits, raiding their offices - and put the 600,000 members on notice : cut all ties, or have their name, address and workplace exposed on an online government register.
They'd lose half their members overnight.
kennyG
Why the Unification Church has become a headache for Kishida
Because ties to this evil criminal cult alone, the more you know about what it has been doing, is fatal enough to lose majority LDP supporters
Cricky
New rule politicians with links to this cult need to wear paper crowns when at work.
BigP
LDP mixed up with Soka Gakkai, Nippon Kaigi, Unification church, etc.....
They really sell themselves cheap to any group to get re-elected. Completely without honor or honesty.
kennyG
It is too late for LDP if it just reviews, announces or cuts ties to this cult. It must become a driving force even more than other oppositions to exterminate this cult
Toshihiro
Now that this issue has blown, what will Kishida do next?
travelbangaijin
Another sore point of Japanese jealousy is sushi served in America is dominated by Unification Church members - and Americans love UC sushi better than Japanese sushi. Rev Moon promoted the idea that church members create sushi spots around America to fund their operations.
As an American who cannot travel to Japan until the unnecessary and discriminatory foreign travel ban is lifted, South Korean Unification Church best sushi I ever tasted, and other Americans will say the same thing. The South Korean texture is tender and the soy sauce has a spicy kick better than anything in Japan.
If the Japanese do not open their borders, more and more Americans are going to get used to and love Unification Church sushi sold in supermarkets across America and there will be no turning back .
Mark
""After the incident, the church said it had returned around $400,000 to the mother. It denied coercing her or declined to comment on the total sum.""
As they say too little too late, she is already bankrupt, her son is possibly facing the death penalty, she is almost homeless, and who knows what her condition is given her age, and yet the UC has the balls to only return half of what they have scammed out of her, Shame on you people, redeem yourself.
noriahojanen
It's half true. What we know now is that the UC is the anti-Japanese chauvinist, justifying its exploitation of wealth from the Japanese due to "its wartime sin." The church has been cheating on the LDP and conservative supporters.
kurisupisu
A problem for Kishida?
What about the hundreds if not thousands of Japanese that have already been squeezed out of their savings and salaries?
Those are the people that the focus should be on not the politicos!
antifun
Japanese conservatism is ripe for cultist exploitation as it has no cultural background. Traditional Japan had no issues with neither homosexuality, nor pornography, nor psychoactive substances. So they have to find whatever allies they can to gear up support for this fake conservatism.
Hiro
The man who shot Abe has now officially become a legend. Not only did he brought the church into the spotlight and LDP connection with them, but he also expose the lack of training and competence of the security and police who are in charge of protecting others.
juminRhee
Do they not see the irony?
nakanoguy01
No, it was formerly known as the unification church/cult. The organization legally changed its name in hopes of shedding past luggage. A lot of good that has done.
Simon Foston
kennyG
Today 07:58 am JST
It's too late for that too. LDP politicians must have known what the Unification Church was really like when they were getting support from it, or they should have. People will reasonably ask why they didn't do anything before, and the only honest answer is that they have no principles when it comes to getting re-elected.
shogun36
Because now he’s sweating that someone will somehow find out his faint link with them.
SDCA
I'm not sure if it is the conservatism that is causing this, but I do agree that the Japanese are probably more prone to brain washing in the 21st century compared to other developed countries due to the unified nature and hierarchy status. These cults have exploited this issue and brought it to light.
itsonlyrocknroll
This cult (Moonies), must be expunged from every nook and cranny of government, of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida cabinet, of any political influence in parliament.
To aid this, a full Independent public inquiry/investigation into why and how all aspects of this cults activities has infested J politics.
All Diet politicians must be required to fully disclose there association with this cult.
So there constituents are fully aware who or what they are voting for.
itsonlyrocknroll
Look, this is a first hand account of how poisonous and toxic this cult is.
'I was a Moonie cult leader'
Steven Hassan spent two-and-a-half years being 'brainwashed' by the Rev Sun Myung Moon's controversial Unification Church. This is his story
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/sep/03/moonie-cult-leader
Nibek32
This may be Abe’s greatest contribution to the improvement for Japan.
starpunk
Because they're a headache for everyone who has anything to do with it. They're a dangerous exclusionary brainwashing cult that takes its members away from family and friends. Members get blinded by 'the light' and the Moonies try to influence government officials anywhere they can, incl. the US.
The Moonies and other CULTS try to get the whole political pie. Religion and state must be kept separated!
wallace
The state and the religion are separate and the state does not support any church, shrine, or temple but the constitution protects religious freedom. No citizen can be prevented from deciding if they follow a religion or not.
In the case of the Unification Church, if it can be shown and proved it has made serious criminal activities then like the Aum Shinrikyo it should be banned.
Hideomi Kuze
No politicians who even declared to discontinue relation with Unification Church in LDP clearly.
One of minister had concealed relation with Unification Church until cabinet reshuffling.
Hideomi Kuze
LDP pressured police to discontinue investigation against Unification Church.
Moreover, LDP govt had approved change domestic name of Unification Church to make they active easy.
Alan Harrison
Why the Unification Church has become a headache for Kishida
Because in a country with a culture of no accountability, somebody else is always to blame. Coupled with an inadequate legal system, it is a recipe for this kind of disaster.
wallace
All LDP politicians as individuals are free to donate to whatever shrine, like Yasukuni or temple church they want.
The LDP needs to change its party constitution so no individual politician can receive donations and instead go to the party as a whole and also limited in size like the Komeito which limits personal donations to ¥1.5 million per person per year.
LDP Constitution
CHAPTER XV
ACCOUNTING AND BUDGETING
Article 95
The Party's expenditures shall be met through membership dues, contributions, and other kinds of funding.
LDP Membership (2021): 1,136,445
itsonlyrocknroll
If I could, infer, presume, the Mother of murder suspect 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami donating some 100 million yen ($736,000), the family’s lifesavings, indoctrinated into this cult, is the provocation for a defence in a subsequent trail, for the homicide of former Prime Minster Abe.
Imagine the state of mind of Tetsuya Yamagami, the deranged twisted hatred that drove Tetsuya Yamagami to commit a heinous act in full public view?
How far has the Moonies cult infiltrated J political establishment/Government?
What is this Cults motivation? I believe these are pertinent questions that allegedly cost Japan longest serving elected Prime Minster his life.
Is Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reluctance to fully address these unanswered questions an admittance that this cult could have a stranglehold over more than just a few LDP/Opposition Diet Members?
Suretto
Japanese are absolutely the least susceptible to brainwashing in the 21st century compared to other developed countries. Look at e.g. the massive momentum of the toxic woke cult elsewhere
Septim Dynasty
Nippon Kaigi is the equivalent of American GOP rally. It is nowhere powerful as either Unification Church or Soka Gakkai. Either one is a Korean organization (Ikeda of SGI has Korean heritage).
Japanese nationalists like Kishida, if there is actually a legit one, can't fathom the facts that the "filthy Koreans" have been ruling Japan in shadow for decades. It is bloody humiliating for Japanese ultranationalists to eat out from the hands of Korean "anti-communists" (both UC and SGI have North Korean ties), while these ultranationalists dehumanize Koreans and other minorities in Japan whenever they can.
This scandal has shattered the Japan's invincibility myth (pure Yamato against foreign domination) among the Japanese ultranationalists. Japan is ruled on the top by American interests, Korean fascists on second tier, Japanese elites on the third tier (dead last). With the current rising population of Chinese, Vietnamese, Indians, and other Southeast Asians in Japan, I can expect all of them will nicely sit on top with Americans to rule over Japan. You can clearly see this on how Japanese top elites (like Kishida or Abe) has been salivating towards Chinese, Vietnamese, Myanmar, Cambodian, Thai leaders in the past years and recently. It just provides an image that Japanese elites drooling over these authoritarian leaders so hard for more cash handouts after Korean fascists in Japan can no longer provide for the long terms. This shows how pathetic is the Japanese political world!
Yubaru
If the government couldnt do it to AUM, pray tell, how are they going to with this group?
TrafficCone
One of their members came to my eikaiwa, and asked me how I react when people say that my children have dirty blood?
Dango bong
its a headache because you want their money and and you need public support but can't have both
kennyG
Interesting post.
OK I marked Ikeda has Korean heritage. But He is (was?) a Japanese. I wouldn't be interested in academic theory where Yamato originally came from here in this thread nor in your naked racism.
Those who have Korean heritage have been ruling Japan? really? Sounds very much like Zainichi wish.
You wish such way
kennyG
@Septim
Thanks for your typical anti-Japan sentiment of blind ordinary Korean people causing major part of the reasons why Japan-Korea cannot still get along with each other. Your ilk always spew grudge and insist your superior status only to feel good just at each moment.
Mark
I only have one ward to say the average follower of the UC, REPENT, It is never too late that is IF you are a Christian !!!?
Alan Harrison
I'll have only have one ward to say the average follower of the UC, REPENT, It is never too late that is IF you are a Christian !!!?
Agreed. The above commenter, I feel will know what I mean when I say that I consider UC as a "False Prophet".
Joey Zen
This is more than just a problem with this cult. It highlights the bigger problem of low voter turnout in Japan. The reason the churches have so much political power is because their followers can have significant influence on the election due to their voting power. Not only that, but they provide free support during election time. They are almost guaranteed to use their vote, while many Japanese people don't bother to vote at all. 600,000 votes can mean the difference between winning and losing an election.
So Kishida is in a tough situation because he needs the support and votes from the church followers, but at the same time needs to distance himself from the church due to the negative publicity around it. Hence, the headache, and all because of the assassination.
Simon Foston
wallaceAug. 12 03:02 pm JST
Quite right. As the Constitution separates government from religion they should also keep quiet about it.
Good idea, but it won't happen. LDP politicians will fight tooth and nail against having to give up their personal campaign cash pools.