Third arrest of the leader… Why the Metropolitan Police Department is on high alert for “Shinmado-Q

On July 13, the Public Safety Department of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department re-arrested three male and three female suspects, including Hiroyuki Kuraoka, 43, leader of the anti-vaccination group “Shinmanto (Yamato) Q,” on suspicion of breaking into a building, and arrested five new members, male and female.

Before noon on March 15, the suspects entered the Tokyo Dome, a vaccination site, and shouted “If you get the vaccine, you will die within five years” and “Don’t let your children get the vaccine alone,” thereby obstructing the vaccination. This was the third time Kuraoka was arrested. A source in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department said, “Kuraoka was arrested in March.

On May 10, he was charged by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office with breaking into a building. With the arrest of the leader, Shinshinto Q executives have notified members to cease radical actions and demonstrations, and the anti-vaccine activities that had been active on YouTube have been toned down, and the group has been completely quiet of late. This does not mean that the group has weakened. With an estimated 10,000 members, the group is still very influential.

This is the third time Kuraoka has been arrested in the past four months. Why did he repeatedly engage in radical activities? Behind this is the existence of a large amount of offerings. Shinshinto Q was created around late 2020 as the Japanese branch of Q Anon, a political organization that advocates conspiracy theories. It was led by YouTuber Mr. X, who developed conspiracy and occult theories together with the suspect Kuraoka. However, as the number of members grew, the two began to start a certain business. An early member of the group reveals.

Mr. X said, ‘If you put this special can imported from “Area 51” in the U.S., you will not get sick or corona and you will be young again. He claimed that the cans were graded according to their effectiveness, and that they could be used for a set of four cans for about 300,000 yen. He told them that there were grades according to their effectiveness, and the large golden ones were sold for about 2.5 million yen. However, these sold like hotcakes. Most of the buyers were housewives in their 30s to 50s who were followers of Mr. X and Kuraoka. Of course, there are people who buy them for the earnest reason of wanting to be rejuvenated or to cure a disease, but the majority are people who buy them with a single-minded desire to support and be close to the two men, as if they were throwing money at them.

The two, who have thus gained a large amount of money, realized that there was a limit to the number of meetings where they could only preach occultism and conspiracy theories in order to increase sales of Tesla cans, and they were seeking a shift to a more realistic approach.

As soon as the lower age requirement for Corona vaccination was announced at the end of last year, Mr. X suddenly began advocating anti-vaccine measures. The first demonstration was held in Osaka, and it attracted more people than expected. In addition, a demonstration would make the news and promote the organization. As a result, the number of members increased, and if we advertised, ‘Even if you don’t vaccinate, you won’t get corona if you have a can of Tesla,’ we could sell a lot. In short, the anti-vaccine movement is just a means to sell Tesla cans.

As soon as Russia invaded Ukraine in February of this year, Shinmato Q began claiming that “Putin is on the side of justice. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department is keeping a close eye on its activities.