<figure id="attachment_255289" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 2067px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-255289"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="e34863a1"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2022/07/005-1.jpeg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-255289" class="wp-caption-text">Yamakami Suspect Targets Prime Minister Abe from Behind Just Before the Incident</figcaption></figure>
It is well known that the incident in which former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot and killed had in the background a grudge against the Unification Church (now known as the United Federation of Families for World Peace, referred to as the &#8220;Unification Church&#8221; in this report). The arrested suspect, Tetsuya Yamagami, is said to have had his family disintegrated after his mother, who had joined the church, donated a total of 100 million yen to the Unification Church. A career member of the National Police Agency revealed, &#8220;Yamakami was extremely candid during the interrogation.
 Yamakami has been extremely frank in his interrogation. &#8216;I have nothing against former Prime Minister Abe, but it turns out that for the Unification Church, he has such a deep relationship with them that he would give them video messages. I made up my mind that if that was the case, I had no choice but to kill (Mr. Abe). He did not seem to blurt out anything in his response to the investigation, but calmly and without hesitation,&#8221; said a career police officer.
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Although the relationship between the Unification Church and former Prime Minister Abe remains unclear, reports of the group&#8217;s deep involvement in politics continue to emerge.
 In 1995, Mr. Arita was asked by officials of the National Police Agency and the Metropolitan Police Department to give a lecture on the Unification Church, in front of 20 to 30 people, on its history and activities to date. At that time, the police were looking to expose the Unification Church. However, 10 years later, there was no investigation. He commented that this was the result of &#8220;political power,&#8221; in other words, some kind of pressure.
For a while after that, &#8220;political power&#8221; became a &#8220;trending word&#8221; on the Internet.
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How long had the connection between the Unification Church and politics existed? A former member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), who served in a number of ministerial posts and held key cabinet positions, testified.
 I remember the 1976 general election for the House of Representatives. I remember the 1976 general election for the House of Representatives, and I said, &#8216;We must not let communism take Japan. We want to support your election. He said, &#8216;I don&#8217;t need money. I will support you as a volunteer. It was his first election, and no amount of manpower would suffice. He said, &#8220;I will do everything for free. The next morning, about 10 young campaign workers in suits were waiting for me in front of my office. I think many of them were women.
 The LDP&#8217;s election campaign at best only appeals for support to influential members of neighborhood associations, but these young mobilizers all had detailed maps of the district. The areas where they went door-to-door were marked with an X. They would go door to door, all door to door. This was amazing. Thanks to this, I was able to run for office for the first time and win my first election.&#8221;
<figure id="attachment_255291" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 750px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-255291"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="11345eb7"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2022/07/c935b07621181d1cf8f853c7c236a9cb.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-255291" class="wp-caption-text">Mr. Yamagami as a student. He was a member of a support group.</figcaption></figure>
This former LDP member testified that the person who volunteered to support him is believed to have been affiliated with the Unification Church. He continued, &#8220;The Unification Church&#8217;s power has been growing from the beginning.
 The Unification Church&#8217;s expansion of power does not start out with the name of the denomination. Of course, they don&#8217;t call themselves the &#8216;Society for the Study of Christian Principles&#8217; or anything like that. The only approach to politics is the ideology of anti-communism, so it was easy for the LDP to accept. They didn&#8217;t force their doctrine on us afterwards just because we accepted it. Because of this attitude, some of the politicians&#8217; wives took to it and became executive directors of Meisha (Women&#8217;s Association for Creating a Bright Society), a Unification Church-affiliated organization. These people were called &#8216;devotees,&#8217; and they made very little in the way of donations, but became billboards, so to speak.
According to this former legislator, around the same time, a Diet member elected in Niigata was elected thanks to the dedicated work of these mobilizers, and he hired them as his public secretaries to reward them for their labor.
But nothing is worth more than free money. Of course, the Unification Church mobilizers did not cause any problems at the political office they entered. The trick was to go door to door.
 The mobilizers went door to door to make a list of names,&#8221; he said. They would invite people to seminars and then solicit them to join the organization. If you told them you were from a congressman&#8217;s office, it made it easier for them to approach you. This must have been their purpose in approaching politicians.
 At the same time, if they could get into the office, they could seize the politician&#8217;s weak points. By making full use of their weaknesses, they hope for political patronage from the Unification Church. I have not heard whether the police investigation into the Unification Church was stopped by &#8220;political power. However, this relationship has been going on for decades. However, this relationship has been going on for decades, and there is no doubt that the political ties are quite deep.
The issue of the United Church of World Peace and Family (former Unification Church) became the focus of media coverage in the 1990s when Junko Sakurada, at the height of her popularity as an idol celebrity, and Hiroko Yamazaki, a rhythmic gymnast, announced their participation in a Unification Church joint wedding ceremony. In fact, however, an examination of his political involvement reveals that he had been close to the church long before that. In fact, an examination of his relationship with politics reveals that they were close long before that.
 In order to be considered a full-fledged politician, you need ground (supporters&#8217; associations), signs (name recognition), and bags (money), but I was lucky to have a religious group in my district. If you can talk to the head of a religious organization and get their support, their followers will silently cast their votes for you. From then on, political activities are guaranteed, and nothing is easier.
The despicable act of the suspect Yamagami in the shooting is unforgivable. But on the other hand, the politics that led to such a result must be examined.

 Shutaro Iwashiro

 It is no secret that the shooting death of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was motivated by a grudge against the Unification Church (now the United Church of Christ in Japan, referred to in this report as the Unification Church). The suspect, Tetsuya Yamagami, was arrested because his mother, who joined the church, was a member of the Unification Church.

LDP Members Testify of Unification Church’s Unusual Relationship with “Political Power

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