Kishida office likely broke the Public Offices Election Law: Moonies
Sawako Utsumi and Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
The murky role of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) with the Unification Church (Moonies) continues to reverberate in Japan. Other political parties equally have ties with the Unification Church. However, the number of ties between the LDP and the Unification Church – given the power dynamics of Japan under mainly LDP rule for many decades – entails suspicions concerning the upper echelons of the ruling LDP.
Internationally, the name of the Moonies (Unification Church) is linked to a cult style of religion. Thus with the unmasking of politicians with ties to this cult being published – even if murkier ties remain unknown – it is damning that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is being nonchalant about possibly breaking the Public Offices Election Law.
The Asahi Shimbun reports, “An online article published by the weekly Shukan Bunshun magazine on Nov. 22 said Kishida’s office submitted 270 receipts to the Hiroshima prefectural election administration committee for his campaign-finance report after the election in October 2021.”
Of these 270 receipts, Kishida’s office allowed 141 to provide no details of who made payments. This concerns Kishida’s campaign finances. Indeed 98 of the receipts were left blank. Therefore, with ties being uncovered to various degrees with links to the Unification Church after the assassination of the former leader Shinzo Abe, it certainly provides a murky feeling to events.
The blank receipts might be merely financial irregularities and have nothing to do with the Unification Church. However, in the current climate, suspicions naturally abound.
The Public Offices Election Law specifies complete details of payments made during a political campaign. Thus, information about the motive of the payment – along with the amount forthcoming – must be included. Therefore, receipts naturally should provide details of the individual connected to the support provided to the set politician.
Kishida said, “I have confirmed that the entries for some receipts were insufficient.”
By early September – after the brutal assassination of Abe – NHK reports, “Japan’s main ruling Liberal Democratic Party says its in-house survey has found that 179, or nearly half of its Diet members, had some contacts with a religious group previously known as the Unification Church.”
In August, Kyodo News reported, “The revelations add to evidence of what could be a deeply ingrained network of contact between ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers and the Unification Church. Seven ministers in the revamped Cabinet have also acknowledged their ties of some sort to the group under the renewed spotlight since the assassination of former premier Shinzo Abe.”
Nobusuke Kishi, the grandfather of Abe – and his father Shintaro – had strong ties to the Unification Church. Kishi was anti-Communist and sought to utilize the Unification Church.
In this period of history, America was involved in the killing of communists in many nations – from the Vietnam War to Operation Condor which killed many leftists in South America – and the murky role of America and the United Kingdom in mass killings in Indonesia.
The killer of Abe, Tetsuya Yamagami, said, Kishi “Invited the church (to Japan from South Korea). So I killed (his grandson) Abe.”
The latest issue concerning the possible breaking of the Public Offices Election Law by Kishida’s office – along with some LDP members seeking to downplay or cover up ties to the Unification Church – will raise suspicions, even if it is solely a financial irregularity.
After all, “the cat is out of the bag.”
Thus, even if no links exist with the shoddy office of Kishida – it doesn’t look good given the current climate in Japan.
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