Closure of ‘Unification Church’ in Tokyo Following Assassination of Shinzo Abe

Tokyo intends to shut down the ‘Unification Church’ in the city following the assassination of Shinzo Abe.

Shinzo Abe, former Prime Minister of Japan, was assassinated by an individual named Tetsuya Yamagami. Last year, while delivering a campaign speech in support of one of his party colleagues who was connected to the Unification Church, Yamagami attempted to kill him, resulting in Abe’s death.

The assassination of Shinzo Abe brought the connections between Japanese politicians and this religious organization under scrutiny, and Tokyo sought legal documents and measures to address this religious institution. Additionally, Yamagami stated to police that one of the reasons he targeted the Prime Minister was that Abe’s grandfather opened the doors of the Unification Church to Japan in the 1960s. He further confessed that his mother was a devoted member of the Unification Church and through her financial donations totaling approximately 670,000 dollars to the said church, caused the bankruptcy and collapse of their family.

Japanese citizens filed numerous complaints against the Unification Church based on severe financial abuse, and the Japanese government, through documents submitted by victims who had been pressured by this religious institution to make financial donations, discovered that the said church had violated the ‘Religious Organizations Law.’ According to one clause of the aforementioned law, if it is determined that a religious organization through its activities openly harms public welfare, the Japanese government has the right to shut it down.

According to Japanese citizens, the Unification Church has tarnished its reputation due to ‘spiritual sales.’ The church demands that its followers purchase items such as vases at exorbitant prices to assist the church, and if they fail to make such contributions, the church threatens them with ‘negative ancestral karma.’

Tokyo has decided to shut down the aforementioned religious institution by court order.