Playback ’93] Junko Sakurada, who was forced to leave the entertainment industry after her “joint wedding ceremony and pregnancy,” in maternity during her secret new marriage. | FRIDAY DIGITAL

Playback ’93] Junko Sakurada, who was forced to leave the entertainment industry after her “joint wedding ceremony and pregnancy,” in maternity during her secret new marriage.

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Sakurada and her sister (left) head to the supermarket for shopping together.

What did “FRIDAY” report 10, 20, and 30 years ago? In “Playback Friday,” we take a look back at the topics that were popular at the time. This time, we will look back at the “I took this picture,” which was published 30 years ago in the November 26, 1993 issue of FRIDAY! Junko Sakurada’s life in hiding in her maternity clothes” from the November 26, 1993 issue.

Since the ’80s, psychic business has become a social problem, and the former Unification Church (now the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, now known as the Unification Church), which was often featured in the media, has been a major source of controversy. The former Unification Church (now the Family Federation for the Unification of World Peace, referred to as the Unification Church in the articles of that time) was often mentioned in the media. What particularly shocked the public was that in 1992, Hiroko Yamazaki, Junko Sakurada, and other celebrities confessed to being believers and participated in a joint wedding ceremony held in Seoul in August. Later, in April of the following year, ’93, Yamazaki declared her renunciation of the church, while this magazine discovered Sakurada, who had been chased from the entertainment world and had quietly disappeared.

Playback! Escaping the Public Eye…A Secret Life in the Town Where He Was Born and Raised

A woman walking in the city (photo above). She is wearing a loose-fitting jacket and loose-fitting pants. She wears a hat on her head, which is quite “strange”. On the contrary, she seems to stand out from her surroundings. In addition, she walks like a duck, and her footing is not very good. If you look closely, you can see her belly, which is bulging. It seems that she must be a pregnant woman. But for some reason, the lady in the quirky maternity look always turned her head down whenever we passed her. It was no wonder, because she was that Junko Sakurada (35 at the time). She must not want to be noticed.

As you know, Junko tied the knot with Mr. A (then 37), a company executive, at the Unification Church’s joint wedding ceremony that caused a stir throughout Japan last August. Since January of this year, they have been living as newlyweds in an apartment in Tsuruga City, Fukui Prefecture. Mr. and Mrs. Sakurada had been hounded by the media, with rumors of divorce last November and pregnancy this past June, but we had not heard anything about seeing her in Tsuruga recently and wondered how they were doing. ……. From Tsuruga City, where they lived with Mr. A Junko was seen in Akita City, far away from Tsuruga City where she was living with Mr. A, wearing a pregnant woman’s clothes. Akita is, of course, where she was born and raised. Akita is, of course, where her mother (65 at the time) and her older siblings lived. In her hometown, Junko lived quietly, away from the public eye.

Sakurada was living in the home of his older sister, who was also the catalyst for his joining the former Unification Church. At the time, there were no reports of any sightings of her among the residents of the area, so much so that Sakurada seemed to be living in seclusion.

It was on a Sunday morning in November that this magazine saw her. When her sister and her husband and their three children were getting into their car to go out, Sakurada was the last one to get into the car to hide herself. Sakurada and his sister and her family visited a park five to six kilometers away, where there was also a gymnasium and a track. The family was running and exercising, and Sakurada, who is pregnant, was happily spending her time capturing the action on camera. But even in the sweaty weather, she never took off her jacket and kept her hat on.

After their marriage, Sakurada was blessed with three children.’ In 2006, she broke her silence and published a collection of essays entitled “Eisuru Jumban” (published by Shueisha), in which she wrote about her life during the 14 years she had disappeared, including childbirth, child rearing, and neighborhood relations. She also seems eager to return to show business.’ In 2005, she made a guest appearance and sang at a music event in Tokyo, and in ’18, she launched the “Junko Sakurada Project” website and released her first album in 35 years, “My Idolology.

However, she is still a member of the former Unification Church, and many criticize her performing activities. In fact, when she attempted to do so in ’17 and ’18, the National Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales issued a statement against it. As long as she is a believer, the image of a “billboard” will follow her. As a result, nothing seems to have been done about her return.

The shooting of former Prime Minister Abe has brought the issue of the former Unification Church back into the spotlight, and an order to dissolve the church is currently being deliberated. What does she think about this now?

Sakurada walks through the park with camera in hand. She was happily taking pictures of her sister and her husband’s family
chatting in the sunshine inside the park’s gymnasium. But he kept his hat on deeply.
Mr. and Mrs. Sakurada at a joint wedding ceremony in Seoul in August ’92.
  • PHOTO Takashi Yoshida and Takehiko Kohiyama (joint wedding ceremony)

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