66.8 billion yen in deposits” and numerous real estate properties… Where will the “massive assets” of the former Unification Church disappear to after the decision to dissolve the church?

Concerns about outflow of funds to Korea

More than three weeks have passed since the dissolution of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (former Unification Church) was ordered. The church has filed a special appeal against the order, and liquidation procedures are underway, including on-site inspections of some 450 facilities related to the church nationwide by a team of liquidators appointed by the court and led by attorney Hisashi Ito.

The symbolic facility of the cult was the Japan headquarters building (second photo) in Shoto, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, and when we visited the “800 million yen headquarters building” in one of Tokyo’s most exclusive residential areas in late March, we found the entrance shuttered. The building was eerily quiet, with a “notice” posted stating, “No one is allowed to enter this facility without the liquidator’s permission.

The Tokyo High Court decision indicated that the church’s assets totaled 104 billion yen. The liquidators will investigate the vast amount of real estate in order to secure funds to compensate the victims.

The second most valuable property in central Tokyo after the headquarters is the Tokyo Compatriots Family Church. The five-story building, completed in 1987, is a 10-minute walk from Shinjuku Station and has a total floor space of over 1,300 square meters. Its asset value is no less than 500 million yen.

The building houses the UPF (United for Peace in the Firmament), the Council of Ambassadors for Peace, and other important organizations that work with local governments and politicians to realize the mission of the church, making it a political base, so to speak. Therefore, until the building is sold in accordance with the liquidation process, the groups can continue their activities here,” said a journalist familiar with the situation of the church.

There are many other buildings and structures in the Tokyo metropolitan area that bear the name of the mission, including Ki-en Family Church, a 30-year-old three-story building with a property value of more than 300 million yen, and Isshin Special Education Institute, which is located near Maihama Station, the same station as Tokyo Disneyland, and is said to have produced “holy salt” used in ceremonies and other events.

One of the most unique buildings in the Tokyo metropolitan area is a land plot of about 1,900 tsubo (about 1,900 m2) located in Tama City, Tokyo. When the author visited the site when it was acquired in April 2010, there were signs warning against religious cults, but the planned construction of a training facility was never realized. When we visited the site for the first time in four years, we found the land had been cleared and overgrown with grass and trees.

While the investigation of the real estate assets is progressing, the concern is the whereabouts of the vast amount of cash and deposits of approximately 66.8 billion yen, which account for more than 60% of the assets of the organization. The concern remains that the money may be forced to flee the country before it can be monitored through the liquidation process.

The most obvious destination is the home country of South Korea. In the five years from FY 2006 to FY 2010 alone, funds remitted from Japan to foreign countries totaled more than 65 billion yen, 90% of which went to South Korea. There is concern that funds will continue to escape to the home country under various names. In addition to official remittances, “black market donations” of less than 1 million yen in cash, which do not need to be declared at customs and are brought directly to South Korea by believers, are also rampant, making it extremely difficult to stop the outflow of funds.

Then I decline.”

Another concern is the fate of the “residual assets” that will remain after the repayment of the debt. In 2009, when a series of lawsuits were filed against affiliated companies, the organization designated a religious corporation in Obihiro City, Hokkaido, “Tenchi Shokyo” as the destination for the remaining assets.

The organization was established in 1987, but a few years later it came to believe in the cult’s founder, Moon Myung Moon, as Maitreya Bodhisattva, and has since been regarded as a substantial umbrella organization. Yasuo Kawai, the secretary-general of the National Unification Church Lawyers Association, points out the risk of the assets of the cult being leaked.

In the liquidation process, there is a difficult balance between speeding up the relief process and maximizing the scope of relief,” he said. Considering the aging of the victims, it is desirable to provide repayment as soon as possible, but if the procedures are hastily completed, the potential victims and active believers who have not yet voiced their opinions may be cut off from relief.

If this happens, the vast amount of surplus assets that should have been allocated for victim relief will be transferred to Tenchi Orthodox Church, which may become a breeding ground for the same kind of damage (as the former Unification Church). Even if the dissolution order is issued, we must avoid a situation where similar damage is caused by affiliated organizations.

Will the organization comply with the liquidation proceedings in good faith and without hiding its funds? We directly interviewed former President Tomihiro Tanaka, who served as the head of the Japan Headquarters for five years until last December and knows the organization better than anyone else.

–He is suspected of hiding assets in the liquidation proceedings. ……

He said, “Are you interviewing me? Then I decline.”

–What do you think about the responsibility of the church?

I won’t be interviewed.”

After saying this, he walked quickly away.

The dissolution of the church in an unprecedented civil action. The end of the liquidation drama is still uncertain.

From the April 10, 2026 issue of FRIDAY

Assets in excess of 100 million yen, led by the headquarters
Major properties owned by the former Unification Church in the Tokyo metropolitan area