Because of this teaching, Japanese church members were pressured to donate huge sums of money to erase "negative ancestral karma'', a tactic called "spiritual sales".
Abe's grandfather Kishi allowed the UC to use his official residence for its activities and attended their meetings as well as those of an anti-communist organization known as the "International Federation for Victory over Communism".
The Ministry of Education spent a year investigating the church and its internal documents and collected testimonies from people about its finances and allegations of excessive donations.
According to the then chief of the Religious Affairs Division, Kihei Maekawa [ja], the application was rejected by the ACA because the church was involved in civil lawsuits under its old name at the time.
In 2015, while Hakubun Shimomura was Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology under the Third Abe Cabinet, the Unification Church again applied to change its name, and this time it was approved.
Shimomura denied any involvement in the approval process, explaining that the decision was made by the head of the ACA, but acknowledged he had received reports about it and that this was unusual.
A legal network in Japan aimed at reclaiming donations from former members and employees of the church has filed around 35,000 compensation claims, resulting in the recovery of over $206 million since 1987.
[13] Yasuo Kawai suggested it negatively impacts families and accused Japanese politicians and administrators of taking no action against the Unification Church for over 30 years.
National Association of Parents of Victims of the Moonism) claimed that the Unification Church views Japan as having a historical obligation to serve Korea due to past aggression, leading to financial fraud through "Fortune telling.
[23][24][25] Yoshifu Arita suggested the Church exploits young Japanese people's guilt over Japan's colonial rule of Korea to defraud them.
[27][28] Tanaka claimed at a press conference that the Unification Church had had problems with its follower sin the past due to illegal solicitations and large donations.
[15] In 2009, the Tokyo District Court issued a suspended prison sentence to Unification Church members for pressuring passersby to buy expensive seals, ruling that their actions involved exploiting anxiety about ancestral pasts.
[34] On December 10, 2022, Japan enacted a new law aimed at providing relief to individuals affected by the Unification Church, along with an amendment to the Consumer Contract Act.
[35][36][37][38][39][40] On 8 July 2022, Shinzo Abe was assassinated by former Maritime Self-Defense Force seaman Tetsuya Yamagami, whose mother is said to be a member of the Japanese Unification Church since 1998.
It was found that almost half of the 379 National Diet (parliament) members of Abe's Liberal Democratic Party "admitted to some kind of contact with the Unification Church".
[48] Police authorities were instructed by the chair of The National Public Safety Commission Satoshi Ninoyu alleged to have promoted a Unification Church event[which?
[52] Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced in October 2022 the Japanese government would start an investigation into the extent of Abe's relationship with the Unification Church.
On 12 October 2023, the ministry formally declared its intent to seek a "Dissolution Order" under Article 81 of the Religious Juridical Person Law against the Unification Church.
This decision was driven by the presentation of evidence suggesting that the church's objectives had deviated from legitimate religious practices, potentially impacting public welfare through its activities.
[60] Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expressed agreement, noting that the decision to propose a dissolution order was based on objective facts and rigorous judgment.
[61] Before this, only two religious organizations faced dissolution proceedings initiated by the government: Aum Shinrikyo in 1996, concerning its involvement in the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin gas attack, and Wakayama Myōkakuji in 2002, for fraud conviction.
[68] On 7 March 2024, while the court hearing for the dissolution case was still ongoing, the Japanese government, under the new law passed in December 2023, approved a plan to subject the church to stricter monitoring of its assets in anticipation of providing relief to victims of unfair solicitation.
[70][71][72] The Unification Church came under investigation by Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare for allegations about organizing children being transferred between members' families without authorization from the prefectural government.
[89][90][need quotation to verify] On February 1, 2023, the Unification Church of Japan revised their believers' handbook to remove references to child adoption.