Japanese politician warns that any religious organisation could become a target of the current persecution of minority faiths.
Tokyo, 16th July 2024 – Published as the tenth 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 2: Ripples to local assemblies
“The prime minister’s methods are unfair,” says Toride City Council Member Norio Hosoya (細谷典男)
by the Religious Freedom Investigative Team of the editorial department of Sekai Nippo
prepared by Knut Holdhus
Toride and KanazawaIn the Toride City Council election in Ibaraki Prefecture held in January this year Norio Hosoya (細谷典男) raised human rights issues related to the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (formerly the Unification Church) and was re-elected. Despite opposition from his supporters, who disagreed with including the Family Federation in his campaign promises, he remained steadfast in his beliefs. In the previous election four years ago, he was ranked 18th out of 24 candidates, so “although I felt a sense of crisis, I delivered my views on the Family Federation to the voters without hiding anything.”
Hosoya was elected in second place this time, with 1.9 times the number of votes he received previously.
“It’s challenging to increase votes by even 100 in local elections,” he said. “My views were not rejected, and I gained considerable support. I believe the citizens of Toride have shown that a dissolution order is unnecessary.”
Hosoya had no prior involvement with the Family Federation. His stance against discrimination towards the Family Federation began in September 2022, when a citizen submitted a petition requesting an investigation into the relationship between the Family Federation and council members. The petition was introduced by a Communist Party member.
“I personally had no ‘connections’ as the media claims. In my legislative activities, I made it a principle to listen to both sides of an issue. However, I struggled to hear opposing views to the petition. Through an acquaintance, I was able to hear the Family Federation‘s side. When I listened, the people from the Family Federation did not seem like the ‘anti-social’ or ‘fraudulent group’ described in the petition.”
Hosoya felt uneasy about the media coverage because they labeled the Family Federation without any specific evidence of harm. When he asked the petitioner, “Has there been any harm or are there people in trouble in Toride?” the answer was, “No confirmed cases.”
“If you look at the principle of criminal legality in Article 31 of the Constitution, the Japanese authorities are to punish those who have committed a crime. It is against the Constitution to try to exclude those who have not committed a specific crime.”
After debating this in the city council, the overwhelming majority agreed with Hosoya’s view. After much discussion, only the four members of the Communist Party supported the petition. Hosoya is confident that “if proper discussions are held in other local councils, they will reach the same conclusion as Toride.”
Toride is a hilly area that often experiences flooding. Hosoya argues, “When flooding occurs, can we say, ‘We won’t help here because it’s a Family Federation home’?” In the council, he questioned whether there would be any differential treatment of citizens based on their affiliation with the Family Federation at any public service counters. The authorities responded that “such a thing is impossible.”
Regarding the incident in Kanazawa City where student volunteers from the Family Federation who wanted to remove snow were turned away by the authorities, Hosoya declared, “This is a significant loss for the administration. The government cannot function without the cooperation of its citizens. Since it is clear that affiliated groups of the Family Federation are beneficial to the administration, dissolving them would be a loss.”
He criticized the government for submitting and passing a victim relief bill in the Diet based on one-sided opinions, and for exercising its right to question the organization and requesting its dissolution. Hosoya emphasized, “It may be presumptuous, but I want to say from the local level that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s approach is unfair. It labels people as ‘anti-social’ and removes them from society, which is akin to totalitarianism. This method is truly dangerous. It must be nipped in the bud.”
Hosoya intends to continue sounding the alarm, as he believes that any group could potentially be targeted, not just the Family Federation.
Featured image above: Norio Hosoya (細谷典男), Japanese author and politician. Among his books is one titled “The Constitution and the Former Unification Church” (憲法と『旧統一教会』) (2023). Photo (May 2024): Sekai Nippo