Questions Emerge Over Fate of Massive Assets Following Dissolution Order on Former Unification Church

Concerns over funds flowing out to South Korea

More than three weeks have passed since the court issued a dissolution order for the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (formerly the Unification Church). Although the organization has filed a special appeal, liquidation procedures are moving forward, including on-site inspections of approximately 450 affiliated facilities nationwide by a liquidation team led by attorney Takashi Ito, who was appointed by the court.

One of the organization’s symbolic facilities was its Japan headquarters building in Shoto, Shibuya Ward (second photo). In late March, when visiting the building located in one of Tokyo’s most exclusive residential areas, the entrance shutters were closed. A notice was posted stating: “No one may enter this facility without the permission of the liquidators,” and the building remained eerily quiet.

The court decision by the Tokyo High Court indicated that the organization’s total assets amount to approximately 104 billion yen. It is believed that about 40% of its roughly 280 churches nationwide directly own land and buildings, and the liquidators are gradually inspecting these vast real estate holdings to secure funds for compensation for victims.

One of the most valuable properties after the headquarters in central Tokyo is the Tokyo Dohokai Family Church. Located a 10-minute walk from Shinjuku Station, the five-story building was completed in 1987, has a total floor area of over 1,300 square meters, and is estimated to be worth at least 500 million yen.

“UPF (Universal Peace Federation) and the Peace Ambassadors Council—key affiliated organizations used to promote the group’s vision to local governments and politicians—are located there, making it essentially a political base. Since affiliated organizations with separate legal status such as UPF have not been subject to suspension orders, they can continue their activities there until the building is sold through liquidation,” (journalist familiar with the organization)

Other properties include the Kien Family Church, a three-story building over 30 years old valued at more than 300 million yen, and the Isshin Special Education Institute near Maihama Station (the nearest station to Tokyo Disneyland), which was reportedly used to produce ritual holy salt. Numerous buildings and properties under the organization’s name exist across the Tokyo metropolitan area.

Among them, a particularly notable site is a roughly 6,300-square-meter plot of land in Tama City, Tokyo. Adjacent to Kokushikan University’s Tama campus, when the author visited in April 2022, warning signs such as “Beware of recruitment by cults” were scattered around the site. However, a planned training facility was never built. When revisited four years later, it had become an overgrown vacant lot covered in vegetation.

While investigations into real estate assets are progressing, concern remains over the fate of approximately 66.8 billion yen in cash and deposits, which accounts for more than 60% of the organization’s assets. There are persistent fears that funds could be transferred overseas before the liquidation process can fully monitor them.

The most prominent destination for such outflows is South Korea. Over the five-year period from fiscal 2018 to 2022, more than 65 billion yen was reportedly remitted from Japan overseas, with about 90% going to South Korea. There are ongoing concerns that funds may continue to be transferred under various pretexts. In addition to official remittances, so-called underground donations also occur, where believers carry cash under 1 million yen—below customs declaration thresholds—directly into South Korea, making it extremely difficult to prevent capital outflow.

“Then I decline.”

Another concern is the fate of the residual assets remaining after debt repayment. In 2009, when lawsuits involving affiliated companies increased, the organization designated the religious corporation “Tenchiseikyo,” based in Obihiro City, Hokkaido, as the recipient of its residual assets.

The group was established in 1987, but a few years later it began to worship the organization’s founder, Sun Myung Moon, as Maitreya Bodhisattva, and has since been regarded as a de facto affiliated organization.

Yasuo Kawai, secretary-general of the National Unification Church Victims’ Lawyers Group, points out the risk of asset outflow as follows:

“What is difficult in liquidation procedures is balancing speed of relief and maximizing the scope of relief. Considering the aging of victims, prompt compensation is desirable, but if procedures are rushed, potential victims who have not yet come forward, as well as current believers, may be excluded from relief.

In that case, the enormous surplus assets that should originally be used for victim compensation could be transferred to Tenchiseikyo, potentially creating a breeding ground for similar harm (as with the former Unification Church). Even if a dissolution order is issued, situations where similar harm is reproduced through affiliated organizations must absolutely be avoided.”

Will the organization truly comply with the liquidation process honestly, without hiding funds? —We directly approached former chairman Tomihiro Tanaka, who led the organization’s Japan headquarters for five years until last December and is said to know the organization better than anyone.

—There are concerns about asset concealment during the liquidation process.

“Is this an interview? Then I decline.”

—What are your thoughts on the organization’s responsibility?

“I’m not taking interviews.”

With that, he walked away quickly.

An unprecedented civil dissolution case. The conclusion of the liquidation process remains highly uncertain.

From “FRIDAY,” April 10, 2026 issue.

Major multi-billion-yen assets across the Tokyo metropolitan area centered on headquarters
Main properties owned by the former Unification Church