Ignored by Japanese media: Investigative team exposes how members of religious minority face widespread discrimination, insults, threats, and harassment
Tokyo, 7th August 2024 – Published as the 16th article in a series in the Japanese newspaper Sekai Nippo. Republished with permission. Translated from Japanese. Original article
Series: Freedom of Religion Under Threat – Part 3: Believers Suffering Discrimination and Human Rights Violations
Threatening Phone Calls Such as “I’ll Kill You”
by the Religious Freedom Investigative Team of the editorial department of Sekai Nippo
prepared by Knut Holdhus
See the first article, second article, third article, fourth article, fifth article, sixth article, seventh article, eight article, nine article, tenth article, eleventh article, twelves article, thirteenth article, fourteen article, fifteen article,
The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (formerly the Unification Church) has revealed that its members and places of worship have been experiencing various forms of harm since the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
At a press conference on 7th November last year, Family Federation President Tomihiro Tanaka (田中富広) stated, “Since the incident, we have been going through truly difficult circumstances:”
“There is a young man who was forced to quit his job,”
“A student who graduated from a Family Federation-affiliated university in South Korea had his job offer rescinded,”
“In social studies classes, teachers have been continuously criticizing the Family Federation, causing children to stop attending school,”
“In schools, there have been test questions that led to conclusions defaming the Family Federation,”
“A young man, excessively stressed by media reports, attempted suicide, and there have been suicides as well.”
Since November 2023, the Family Federation headquarters has been compiling data, and as of July 20th, there have been 351 incidents of harm experienced by members and places of worship nationwide. Of these, 164 incidents involved harm to members, and 187 incidents involved harm to places of worship.
Breaking it down, the harm experienced by members includes 12 cases of physical harm such as violence, hospital outpatient treatment, and suicide; 10 cases of property damage such as vandalism and destruction of belongings; 25 cases of discrimination related to real estate contracts, and speech and conduct at schools and workplaces; 107 cases of insults, threats, and harassment from relatives, work mates and class mates; and 10 other cases.
The damage experienced by places of worship includes 7 cases of property damage such as vandalism and destruction of possessions; 46 cases of discrimination related to real estate contracts, and speech and conduct at schools and workplaces; 116 cases of insults, threats, and harassment from relatives and acquaintances of members; and 18 other cases. However, most of these incidents have not been reported by the media.
This is how Susumu Sato (佐藤進広), the Public Relations Director of the Family Federation, reflects on the situation after the incident [Editor’s note: the assassination of Shinzo Abe on 8th July 2022],
“The media’s perspective has been that they have no interest in the harm suffered by the Family Federation. Rather than seeing it as harm, it has been viewed as a deserved consequence for being the party that produced victims.”
The 351 cases of harm are those identified by the Family Federation headquarters, and there is also information collected by groups such as the “Second Generation Association for Protecting the Human Rights of Believers,” which was established by young believers. Some of this information is posted on the association’s website. For instance, there is a severe case where a parent was denied admission to a hospital after the staff saw “Family Federation” written on the person’s insurance card. Such cases of discrimination in medical settings, which can sometimes be life-threatening, are particularly serious.
Threatening phone calls such as “I’ll kill you” have been received nationwide. The Public Relations Department estimates that the number might well exceed 10,000, making them too numerous to count.
The believers are persons who have no connection to the assassination of Shinzo Abe. However, following the shocking assassination of the former Prime Minister, the National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales (Zenkoku Benren), which has a contentious relationship with the Family Federation, issued a statement on 12th July 2022, regarding the shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The statement read, “As an organization that has long been concerned about the suffering, conflicts, and financial difficulties faced by many former believers, their families, and second-generation believers, we can understand the anguish of the suspect Yamagami and his anger towards the Family Federation.”
The National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales, which expressed “understanding” of the defendant’s “anger”, in other words, his intent to kill, became a source of information, leading to an unprecedented amount of media coverage criticizing the Family Federation and pursuing its “ties” to Shinzo Abe and the Liberal Democratic Party. Former believers who claimed to be victims were featured almost daily.
As a result, many gifts and donations have been sent to the detention center where Tetsuya Yamagami (山上徹也), the defendant, is being held. Two years after the assassination, the defendant reportedly told his defense team, “I did not anticipate the current situation to arise,” and “I don’t know if it has been good or bad for the second-generation believers.”
Kyodo NewsThis was reported by Kyodo News, but some local newspapers, such as the Sanyo Shimbun on 23rd June 2024, headlined it as an “unanticipated situation”.
We cannot overlook this “unanticipated” violation of the human rights of those with the faith of the Family Federation.
Featured image above: English version of illustration used by Sekai Nippo 7th August 2024.