Moonies in Japan

20 April 1999
National Network of Lawyers Against the Spiritual Sales

Contents
1. The Aims and Purposes of the Unification Church
2. The Extent of Damages suffered in Japan
3. Problems concerning the Solicitation 'of Believers and the Daily Life Management of Devoted Members
4. Problems concerning the Mass Communal Wedding Ceremonies and Overseas Missionary Activities
5. Unification Church's involvement in Politics
6. Organisations addressing and combating the Unification Church Problem.

 

1. The Aims and Purposes of the Unification Church

The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity (hereinafter, the Unification Church) was established in May 1954 in Korea by Sun Myung Moon. Moon was born in 1920 in present day North Korea. Moon studied in high school in Japan and returned to his home in present day North Korea. After his return in 1948, Moon was arrested and sentenced to imprisonment for the offence of disturbing the social order. However. Moon fled to South Korea and escaped punishment until 1955 when he was arrested in Seoul for the same offence. The arrest came as Moon had allegedly had sexual relations with a large number of women.

In 1960, Sun Myung Moon married for the third time his current wife Hak Ja Han (born in 1944). Moon and Han have had a total of 12 children. The eldest son of Moon married Han Nan Suk, the daughter of a Unification Church Believer. However, Han ran away from and divorced Moon's son on allegations of assault and battery. In the Fall of 1998, Hon published "In the Shadow of the Moons" (titled "Wa ga Bun Sei Mei" in Japanese) based on notes she had written during her life with the Moons.

The Unification Church, which was founded in Korea, began its missionary work in Japan in 1958. Three years later in Korea, the Park government (established in 1961) began to use the Unification Church for its anti-Communist activities. In 1963, the Unification Church was recognised officially as a Foundation in Korea, and in the following year was certified as a religious corporation in Japan. From that time on, the Unification Church was used as a fundamental body of the International Federation for Victory over Communism, by anti-Communist political organisations in Korea and Japan. Further. in 1974, following a meeting between the then US President Nixon and Sun Myung Moon, many political schemes developed in the United states as well. In 1979, at a US Congressional hearing on the Korea-gate incident, the US Congress admitted the testimony of an important member of the Unification Church.

Then in 1982, Sun Myung Moon advocated and established in the US the Washington Times newspaper which maintains a central, influential force on public opinion, the press and political affairs. However, two years later, Moon and his follower Mr. Kamiyama (former Chairman of the Japan Unification Church) were sentenced to imprisonment for tax evasion. From July 1984, both men served over one year prison sentences.

In South Korea, from capital sent from Japan, Moon maintained the Tong Il Heavy Industries Co., the Il Shin Stone Co., Il Hwa and the Sae Gae Times – said to be one of the major financial groups there. Sun Myung Moon was regarded was a great economic success. However, since the recession in the South Korean economy in 1997 and the decrease in money remitted to South Korea from the Unification Church organisation in Japan, almost all organisations related to the Unification Church went bankrupt. Consequently all those persons in South Korea who were earning their living as employees for the now bankrupt corporations (many of whom are Unification Church believers as well) now have become an annoying and troublesome lot to deal with for Sun Myung Moon.

In Japan, the Unification Church began to be noticed in the early 1970s. From about 1975, the Church was able to pocket enormous sums of money by their spiritual sales strategies, i.e. by selling Ginseng extract and marble urns. Many sources concur that between 1975 and 1985 the Unification Church in Japan remitted 5?10 billion-yen each month to Sun Myung Moon. Even today, Unification Church believers in Japan send more than 10 billion yen each year to Sun Myung Moon.

With this money Sun Myung Moon and his followers visit important political figures in Russia (such as Gorbachev), in North Korea (such as Kim Il Sung) and in China. Although Moon states that he wants to contribute to the unification of North and South Korea, his actual motive may very well be to become a national. governing monarch like Kim Il Sung. Currently. sources say that Moon has purchased a large expanse of land in Brazil where he plans to build an "earthly paradise." However. it is unlikely that this venture will be realised.

2. The Extent of Damages Suffered in Japan

On 18 September 1997, the Supreme Court of Japan confirmed the legal responsibility of the Unification Church. The case decided by the Court was a model example of many like cases caused throughout Japan. The elements and merits of the case resemble those of most cases taken on by attorney's member to the National Network of Lawyers Against the Spiritual Sales.

In August 1987, the husband of Mrs. A (age 46) and father of two daughters passed away. In the period which followed, Mrs. A and her daughters felt great loss and disappointment in their lives. In February 1988, Believer B of the Unification Church was conducting door-to-door visits for the Church. During these visits, Believer B met and got to know Mrs. A. Believer B proceeded to invite Mrs. A to an art picture exhibition. At the exhibition, Unification Church Believers who were organising the exhibition persistently worked to get Mrs. A to purchase a 220,000 yen picture. Mrs. A did make the purchase. Following this incident, Believer B and others repeatedly visited Mrs. A. On these occasions, they worked to convince Mrs. A to see an important and rather difficult to meet teacher and have this teacher look at her Ancestral Lineage Chart (a type of Family Tree). Accordingly, Believer B and others took Mrs. A to a "sacred place" to see the said teacher for the said purpose. The teacher (actually known as Believer C) succeeded in getting Mrs. A to make a 5,000,000 yen donation by threatening her and inducing her to do so over many, long hours by making statements such as "Your husband is suffering in Hell and is seeking your help. Your daughters will suffer misfortune too if you do not donate money with the feeling that you want to sacrifice everything you own and offer it to heaven." Following this occasion, Believer B and others made sure that Mts. A went regularly to the video centre where Mts. A was instructed about the teachings of the Unification Church and was indoctrinated with a great fear of the spiritual world. As a result, Believer B and others made Mrs. A purchase a Maitreya Statue costing 7,000,000 yen and a set of three signature stamps costing 200,000 yen. Further, another Believer playing the role of a teacher persuaded Mrs. A to donate 30,000,000 yen from the money she gained from her husband's life insurance plan following his death. This teacher persuaded Mrs. A by telling her, among other things, "You must offer this money to heaven. Your husband in the spiritual world wishes you to do so."

In short, spiritual sales in Japan are ways of money collecting performed according to the exact or like methods mentioned above.

In this way monetary damages caused by such Unification Church activities are not a one-time affair. As long as the Unification Church judges that a person who has once made a donation still has financial assets, and also has family worries/hardships or is insecure about the future (requisites common to most people in one way or another), the Church will persistently try to make contact with that person, take him or her to a video centre made to look like a salon (comfortable meeting and chatting place) and instruct him or her about the Unification Church teachings in a way that does not reveal the true identity of the Unification Church. Accordingly, for good-willed, honest people like Mrs. A who study about the "eternal truth" in such ways and are then told for the first time on their lives that they must free themselves of the karma of their ancestors, the ability to make judgements becomes impaired.

Moreover, Believer B who was party to the side causing damages to Mrs. A, was also a victim of mind control imposed by the Unification Church.

Believer B became a nurse when she was 25 years old. She felt her everyday life to be very busy, non-fulfilling and empty. After work, her evenings were sad as she would return home, eat and watch television alone. Believer B began going to a video centre after she answered a questionnaire on youth mentality, which was handed out near a train station. At the video centre, discussions about the Bible were brought up but the staff told her that the video centre had "nothing to do with religion" and that it was a place to study about life."

Encouraged by the staff, Believer B kept going to the video centre. Some time afterward, Believer B learned that the video centre was a solicitation facility of the badly reputed Unification Church. However, she thought that because the people there seemed very straightforward and kind and did not appear to be telling lies, that she would continue going to the video centre for a little while longer.

Generally speaking, in Japan, young people have little education about religion and few opportunities to come in ,contact with religion. Therefore, many people have. difficulty in recognising contradictory and sham teachings about religion and the Bible. Believer B was no exception. Within time, she began returning to her home at late hours and increasing her days off from work. Then, after being encouraged to offer up herself to and work for the Unification Church, she quit her job and moved into a "home" where other believers were living communally. Before doing this, Believer B borrowed a large amount of money from a "salary loan" institution and donated this money along with her retirement pay to the Unification Church. She also donated all of , her household items from the apartment where she had been staying to the "home."

Now, to avoid being taken back to her family home by her parents who worry about her, Believer B moves from one "home" to another. She sacrifices her sleep to work daily very hard to sell products of and preach about the Unification Church. She deeply believes this is the only way that she will be saved by the Messiah from suffering in Hell. Every month, Believer B receives a stipend of 15,000 yen and is entitled to one day off. Believer B dreams of participating in the communal wedding ceremony and making an ideal home with a man chosen for her by the true Messiah Sun Myung Moon (called, "Father"). She also dreams about making a paradise on earth.

3. Problems concerning the Solicitation of Believers and the Daily Life Management of Devoted Members

An estimated 400,000 persons are believers of the Unification Church in Japan. However, in reality there are about 5,000 persons who are like Believer B (mentioned above) who spend all their hours awake preaching, collecting money and doing other activities according to the instructions of the Unification Church. Believers like Mrs. A (mentioned above) who maintain a family and/or work independent of the Unification Church number about 15,000 persons. Further, about 100,000-200,000 persons are considered to be sympathisers with the Church.

Recently, the number of persons who become devotees or offer themselves up to serve and work for the Unification Church like Believer B is decreasing while believers who work and donate a large sum of money to the Church on a monthly basis are increasing. Also recently, the Church is seeking to increase its number of believers who are housewives and make them significant financial supporters of the Church.

The greatest problem with the Unification Church's activities involving solicitation is the devious methods they employ. First, people are encourage of persuaded to go to video centres but the facts that the video centres are organs of the Unification Church and that what is being taught is religion are concealed. Next, people are indoctrinated with feelings of insecurity over such things as the karma of their ancestors, misfortune in the future, or suffering in Hell for eternity. By these methods of solicitation, people end up becoming unable to leave or quit the Church. Meanwhile, the Unification Church labels families which oppose it as Satanic, tries to destroy families and homes, and seeks to make people into robots who will work 24 hours a day for Sun Myung Moon.

Most people are solicited at video centres, which are often presented falsely as "self enlightenment centres." Several hundred of these centres exist throughout Japan. Also, in addition to the Women's Federation for World Peace (WFWP) and the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU), such organisations as the Tenchi Seikyo (an official religious organisation formerly known as the "Reiseki Aikokai," now functions as a daughter organ of the Unification Church), the Korea-Japan Association, the "No no Hana Kai" (Wild :Flower Group), and the Cattleya Group, are actually bodies of the Unification Church which solicit new members by concealing their real identity. For example, the Unification Church created the PLA (pure Love Alliance) which carried a new, fresh campaign seeking to attract young persons and housewives.

Many people who do join the Unification Church come to believe that unlawfully collecting money such as Be1iever B did is legitimate so as to realise a paradise on earth. Further, because information, emotions, and thinking are controlled in the communal daily life at the "homes" set up by the Unification Church, doubting Sun Myung Moon or other superiors itself is considered to be a sin. Moreover, people are taught that if they leave the Unification Church, they will suffer eternally in Hell and they will bring misfortune to their ancestors and descendants. Consequently, many people cannot leave the Unification Church.

However, every year more and more people are coming forward to claim damages they incurred as a result of spiritual sales. According to figures compiled by the National Network of Lawyers Against the Spiritual Sales, between 1987 and 1998, a total of 19,689 cases were reported. The total sum of damages claimed in the cases totalled 74,676,016,952 yen. However, most certainly this sum is only a fraction of all real damages incurred by people in Japan as a result of Unification Church activities.

The Unification Church teaches that all property in the world is to be used by the Messiah, Sun Myung Moon. This teaching is called "Banbutsu Fukki" (All Things Return). Because of the deep impact of this teaching, no matter how much spiritual sales are criticised publicly, putting an end to such means of money collecting is impossible. Furthermore, Japan as a prosperous nation is said to be obligated to support the Unification Church organisation by supplying financial and human resources. Clearly Sun Myung Moon has no qualms about bringing unhappiness to people in Japan so long as his own wants are fulfilled.

4. Problems concerning the Mass Communal Wedding Ceremonies and Overseas Missionary Activities

The Unification Church periodically has .conducted mass communal wedding ceremonies in August 1992, August 1995, November 1997, June 1998 and February 1999. The Unification Church requires that Japanese participants each donate a sum of 1,400,000 yen and pay a sum of 300,000 yen for expenses involved. The Unification Church boasts that 360,000,000 couples participated in the communal wedding ceremony in February 1999. However, few if any people believe this astronomical figure. To the contrary, the number of couples participating in such wedding ceremonies is on the decrease. Nevertheless, the ceremonies remain a vital source of income for the Unification Church. The spectacular ceremonies also offer an opportunity for the Church to display its power and influence in the world.

Unification Church Believers are indoctrinated with the belief that they must be blessed by Sun Myung Moon, the Messiah who alone can save human persons from original sin, and must make a home and have children with a member of the opposite sex whom the Messiah has chosen for them. In order to participate ill the mass communal wedding ceremony, the believers work hard to preach and collect money, and after the ceremony, actively carry out the instructions of the Unification Church.

Importantly however, people who do participate in the wedding ceremony are not forced to officially register their marriages with a respective government, nor are they required to have sexual intercourse or even to make a home and family. Surely, going through such a wedding ceremony cannot constitute a real marriage when, in particular, the spouses did not choose each other by their own will and decision.

The Japanese Supreme Court ruled on 25 April 1996 that it did not recognise as valid the marriage of a Japanese man and woman who had participated in the communal wedding ceremony and had registered their marriage in Japan, wherein the Japanese woman has ceased to be a member of the Unification Church. To date, about 50 like cases have been filed in which a spouse claims his or her marriage invalid on the basis that s/he has left the Unification Church and is no longer a believer, despite the fact that the marriage was officially registered.

Today, about 3,000 Japanese women believers are involved in missionary work throughout the world. The Unification Church dispatched them to these places. These women disguise their relationship with the Unification Church and present themselves as volunteers working for the Women's Federation for World Peace (WFWP). This enables the women to get close to people in the community and to seek out participants for the next mass communal wedding ceremony.

In general, many Japanese housewives, especially those who are dependent on their husbands or in-laws and have young children, experience depression in varying degrees. These women are prone to follow the propaganda of the Unification Church, become believers and work for the Church.

5. Unification Church's involvement in Politics

One strong characteristic of the Unification Church is that it is involved in politics and the press. The Church aids and supports financially conservative Japanese politicians running for office. Although there are few politicians who co-operate with the badly reputed Unification Church, well-known politicians such as Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Takamura and former Prime Minister Nakasone have received financial and election support from the Unification Church.

The Sae Gae Times, a Korean daily newspaper, maintains an established social influence in South Korea, despite it not being well known in Japan. Former Korean President Kim Dae-jong attended a party hosted by this newspaper in February 1989, where he also gave a welcome address.

Similarly, Former US President George Bush, knowing that the Women's Federation for World Peace is a puppet organisation of the Unification Church, spoke at this organisation's assembly in Japan, and gave a welcoming address to members of this organisation visiting from Japan, in the US. According to recent reports, the former President's son may run for the office of US President in the next election. Perhaps he will do so with support from the Washington Times newspaper.

The Unification Church has been active in Canada as well. It has claimed co-operation with well-known political and social figures including former politicians and Prime Ministers such as Brian Mulroney.

6. Organisations addressing and combating the Unification Church Problem.

As of May 1987, about 300 lawyers have registered with the National Network of Lawyers Against the Spiritual Sales. The Network seeks to eradicate spiritual sales and to aid those persons who have suffered damages as a result of spiritual sales. At present, the Network is counselling about 300 damaged parties who claim, if calculated in total, a sum of 7,000,000,000 yen. The families of the believers who have suffered damages are co-operating in most cases.

Members of religious organisations as well are helping to combat the threat of the Unification Church in Japan. Because the Church claims it is a sect of Christianity, over 200 Christian ministers, scholars and volunteers in Japan are organising counselling services for the families of Unification Church believers and those believers who have left the Church.

Currently, there is no nationally co-ordinated organisation for the families of believers but small groups do exist in local communities throughout Japan. Likewise, while former believers organise meetings locally amongst themselves, they have not created a national organisation for their causes.

Nevertheless, these small groups and organisations are co-operating together to address the problems of mind control and the dangers of destructive cults in Japan. They have succeeded in bringing these issues and dangers to the attention of the general public in Japan.. These groups were also active in information campaigns a following the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system by the Aum Shinrikyo. While the work of these small groups is not enough in many cases, it is making headway in terms of creating social awareness among the general public.

Nevertheless, the number of destructive cults and groups pursing unlawful and immoral money collecting in the name of religion is increasing in Japan. Japanese society, in particular the legislative and administrative branches of government as well as the mass media, has been slow in coming to terms and dealing with these problems.

The National Network of Lawyers Against the Spiritual Sales hopes to co-operate and work with people throughout the world to increase public awareness about and appropriately counter destructive cults.