Religious leader takes close look at Japan’s silent complicity in huge “deprogramming” scandal: How faith-breaking was allowed to flourish
Tokyo, 5th May 2025 – Published as an article in the Japanese newspaper Sekai Nippo. Republished with permission. Translated from Japanese. Original article.
Influence on Court Rulings by Deprogrammers (Faith-Breakers)
The Dark World of Deprogramming Spreading Amid the Move to Dissolve the Family Federation (8)
Contributed by Haruhisa Nakagawa (中川晴久), Executive Secretary, Tokyo Institute for Christian Theology (Part 2)
Prepared by Knut Holdhus
Family Federation Believers Are Victims of Prejudice
The issue of deprogramming (faith-breaking) [See editor’s note 1 below] is deeply tied to the structural distortions of Japan’s mental health care system. We have sources such as
- The Dark Side of Mental Health Care by Mitsunobu Sato (佐藤光展) published in Japanese on Kodansha Gendai Shinsho, and
- The Dark Side of the Mental Health Business by Noriyasu Yoneda (米田倫康), published in Japanese on Kitashinjuku Publishing.
According to such sources, the practice of abducting, detaining, and confining individuals deemed “problematic” by society has long been tacitly permitted due to a lack of legal oversight.
This structural gap created an environment where deprogrammers (faith-breakers) could justify forcibly “reforming” the thoughts of religious believers. There are cases where privately run detention facilities, such as Busshō-in, owned by the Buddhist sect Butsuren-shū (佛蓮宗), served as the stage for such acts.
Even more concerning is how the media, police, prosecutors, and courts turned a blind eye to deprogramming (faith-breaking) [See editor’s note 1 below] while regarding Aum Shinrikyo as a terrorist group. As the Aum case was given the status of a national crisis, those involved in abductions and confinement faced no legal or ethical accountability. This tacit approval likely emboldened practitioners by giving them a sort of “license to act”. It is also possible that there were unspoken cooperative ties with public security authorities.
Aum Shinrikyo’s publication Ideal Society No. 12 (released 5th November 1992) included numerous claims of victimization by deprogramming [See editor’s note 1 below] and also accused lawyers and media outlets of supporting illegal actions.
Chronologically, it appears that deprogramming [See editor’s note 1 below] networks initially targeting the Unification Church applied the same methods to Aum followers. Amid rising public anxiety over Aum, propaganda began equating the Family Federation with Aum, which exacerbated prejudice against the Family Federation.
While Aum Shinrikyo committed destructive acts such as the 1989 murder of lawyer Tsutsumi Sakamoto (坂本堤) [See editor’s note 2 below] and the sarin gas attacks, the Family Federation has not been involved in any criminal cases over the past 60 years and has responded peacefully despite facing persecution.
Since its “Compliance Declaration” in 2009 [See editor’s note 3 below], the Family Federation has actively sought to improve. Despite the essential differences between Aum and the Family Federation, deprogrammers (faith-breakers) have continued to spread the narrative that “Aum and the Family Federation are the same,” using this to justify their actions. This propaganda leans on the illogical reasoning that “the Unification Church is even worse than Aum because they are skilled at avoiding arrest.” Believers of the Family Federation have suffered unjust persecution as victims of such prejudice. It is suspected that this kind of widespread propaganda may have influenced court decisions as well.
Those who practiced deprogramming (faith-breaking) [See editor’s note 1 below] should have reflected, especially after witnessing the Tokyo subway sarin attack, on whether their actions might have provoked extreme responses from the groups they targeted. Abduction, confinement, and forced ideological re-education (思想改造) [See editor’s note 4 below] can cause deep trauma and trigger unpredictable backlash. Recognizing this risk, there should have been an ethical decision to renounce such methods as unacceptable. However, with tacit approval in the wake of the Aum incident, deprogrammers continued their activities without reflection, justifying actions that overstepped legal and ethical boundaries.
Thirty years after the Aum incident, the problem of deprogramming [See editor’s note 1 below] remains buried in darkness. While some tolerance for actions taken during a national crisis may be understandable, the continued tolerance of lawless conduct afterward is inexcusable. Deprogramming [See editor’s note 1 below] not only violates individual freedom and dignity but also has grave consequences for society as a whole. The unfair propaganda against the Family Federation is an extension of this broader issue.
To prevent a repeat of the tragedies of 30 years ago, we must have the courage to shine a light on the dark world of deprogramming [See editor’s note 1 below]. Silent complicity without scrutiny breeds further injustice. Now is the time to take action, drawing on the lessons of the past for the sake of the future.
(End)
Featured image above: Haruhisa Nakagawa (中川晴久), Secretary of the Tokyo Christian Theological Institute. Photo: Sekai Nippo
[Editor’s note 1: Coercive faith-breaking (“deprogramming”) in Japan refers to the practice of coercively attempting to separate individuals from their religious affiliations or beliefs, typically through intervention by family members, professional faith-breakers (deprogrammers) or organizations hostile to new religious movements (NRMs). This phenomenon often targets members of such movements, e.g. relatively large faiths like the Family Federation or Jehovah’s Witnesses, but also smaller groups like Happy Science (Kōfuku no Kagaku) and other newer religious movements.
However, also Soka Gakkai, a Buddhist-based lay organization with more than 8 million Japanese members, and affiliated with Nichiren Buddhism, has occasionally been subject to faith-breaking attempts.
The practice gained attention in the latter half of the 20th century, particularly in the 1980s and 1990s. Parents or concerned family members often hired faith-breakers who taught them how to abduct and forcibly detain believers. Almost all such cases involved confining the individual believer and cutting him or her off from the religious community. During the confinement, the believer was subjected to intense questioning or indoctrination designed to break his or her faith. The aim was to “rescue” the person from what the family often had been tricked by faith-breakers or lawyers to regard as harmful influence from the religious organization.
Critics of forced de-conversion argue that it violates fundamental human rights, including freedom of thought, religion, and association. Reports of psychological trauma and accusations of unlawful detention have sparked debates over its ethical and legal implications. In response, some religious groups, particularly NRMs, have lobbied for greater protections against such practices.
Japanese courts have been inconsistent in addressing cases of coercive faith-breaking. While some verdicts have condemned the practice as illegal detention, others have been more lenient, citing family concerns about “mental health” or alleged “exploitation” as mitigating factors.]
[Editor’s note 2: Tsutsumi Sakamoto (坂本堤, 1956–1989) was a Japanese lawyer and a key member of the notorious “anti-cult” organization National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales (全国霊感商法対策弁護士連絡会, Zenkoku Reikan Shōhō Taisaku Bengoshi Renraku-kai). He was especially known for his work against the Aum Shinrikyo group, which later carried out the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin gas attack.
Sakamoto’s legal efforts were seen as a significant threat to Aum Shinrikyo. This led its leader, Shoko Asahara, to order Sakamoto’s assassination in 1989. In November 1989, Sakamoto, his wife Satoko, and their one-year-old son Tatsuhiko were murdered by Aum Shinrikyo members. The attackers entered the Sakamoto’s home in Yokohama at night, drugged the family, and strangled them before disposing of their bodies in three different prefectures.
The case remained unsolved until 1995, when Aum Shinrikyo members confessed after being arrested for the sarin gas attack. The murders shocked Japan.
Tsutsumi Sakamoto is known for his activism pursuing legal action against Aum Shinrikyo based on the use of consumer protection law to reclaim donations to the organization. He represented so-called apostates, members who had left the group and become hostile to it. Sakamoto claimed that the Aum Shinrokyo were involved in unlawful activities years before the sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subway.]
[Editor’s note 3: The 2009 compliance declaration of the Unification Church of Japan (now the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification) was a formal commitment by the organization to reform its practices in response to longstanding public criticism and legal challenges.
The Unification Church in Japan had faced numerous allegations related to recruitment tactics and donation solicitation, termed “spiritual sales” (霊感商法) by a hostile network of activist lawyers who had declared the religious organization an enemy. These issues led to multiple lawsuits orchestrated by the activist lawyers and significant media backlash. This prompted the organization to take measures to restore its reputation and demonstrate compliance with legal and ethical standards.
The religious organization pledged to stop possibly unethical donation practices, including what the hostile network of lawyers claimed amounted to “pressuring members into making large financial contributions under spiritual pretexts.”
This was in response to accusations from the same activist lawyers that followers “were being manipulated into giving away substantial amounts of money or property.”
The Unification Church stated it would enhance internal oversight to ensure compliance with ethical and legal standards. Measures included better training for leaders and stricter guidelines for evangelization and solicitation of donations.
After this compliance declaration, there was a significant decrease in the number of lawsuits against the Unification Church – since 2015 called the Family Federation. The religious organization has used this as evidence that it has improved its practices and should not be subject to dissolution.]
[Editor’s note 4: Ideological re-education. The Japanese term 思想改造 (shisō kaizō) is best translated as “thought reform” or “ideological re-education”.
It refers to the deliberate effort to change someone’s beliefs, ideology, or worldview – often through coercive or manipulative means. The term has strong historical and political connotations, especially associated with authoritarian regimes (e.g., Communist China under Mao or Xi Jinping), where it has been used to describe systematic campaigns to reshape people’s thinking to align with state ideology.]