In 2009, all members of the Yamagami family, including the future killer, signed a settlement with the Unification Church and got 50 million yen back.
Op-eds Global
Liquidation by Fiat: Japan Imitates China in Its Crusade Against Religious Freedom
The Agency for Cultural Affairs vows to go on with its drastic measures to liquidate the Unification Church if the dissolution decision is confirmed on appeal.
Japan: The Dissolution of the Family Federation is “Arbitrary”
The decision by the Tokyo District Court is ill-founded, unconstitutional, and unlawful. The international community should not accept it.
“Pasaulietė”: Deimantė Rudžinskaitė and the Jehovah’s Witnesses. 3. Weaponizing a Book
While the author presents herself as an enthusiastic convert to atheism, her comments about the Jehovah’s Witnesses are largely inaccurate.
“Pasaulietė”: Deimantė Rudžinskaitė and the Jehovah’s Witnesses. 2. A Unhappy Childhood’s Memoir
A book used to criticize the Jehovah’s Witnesses tells us more about the author’s dysfunctional family than about religion.
“Pasaulietė”: Deimantė Rudžinskaitė and the Jehovah’s Witnesses. 1. The Lithuanian Context
A recent memoir about the conflict between a daughter and her mother, a Jehovah’s Witness, should be understood in the context of local controversies.
A Selective Compassion? President Lee’s Chuseok and the Detention of a Religious Refugee
South Korea celebrates the resilience of North Korean refugees. Yet, it keeps arbitrarily one such refugee, Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, in jail. An emic view from a Unificationist scholar.
“Return Every Child”: Yale’s Forensic Portrait of Russia’s War on Ukrainian Childhood
How Putin steals and indoctrinates Ukrainian children, and why his ICC arrest warrant for crimes against humanity is fully justified.
Grave Religious Liberty Concerns in Japan: The Unification Church Case
The action to dissolve the Family Federation and the indoctrination of unpopular minorities’ second-generation children in schools violate international law.
The Secular Storm: The Strange Japanese Antipathy Towards Religion
Ian Reader and Clark Chilson’s “On Being Nonreligious in Contemporary Japan” is required reading for understanding what’s going on in Japan.