This post is a DeepL translation (partially revised by the blog administrator) of the following article.
本投稿は以下の記事のDeepL翻訳（一部、管理人修正済み）です。
Unification Church's "Spiritual Sales Case" Investigation Too Deep in the Dark: Why Didn't the Arm of the Law Reach the Church's Main Body?
Sunday, August 28, 2011 11:32
Daily Shincho
The Unification Church (note 1) is once again attracting a great deal of attention for the huge amount of money it raises in Japan. Particularly problematic is Spiritual Sales. The church tells innocent people that their bad luck is caused by the spirits of their ancestors who are suffering in hell, and then induces them to buy expensive products. Needless to say, it is extremely criminal.
Note 1: The current name of this organization is the "Family Federation for World Peace and Unification," but this article refers to it as the "Unification Church."
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Serious damage is still being caused by Spiritual Sales. What on earth are the police doing? Are they just ineffectively allowing them to run rampant?
In the 2000s, the police investigated the Unification Church for Spiritual Sales. The media also reported on the case extensively.
In May 2009, the Fukuoka Prefectural Police arrested a Korean woman in her 60s on suspicion of violating the 'Specified Commercial Transactions Law'. The suspect had worked for a health appliance and seal sales company.
The suspect told a woman in her 50s living in Fukuoka City, "You have a deep ancestral connection in bad way. You need two more crystal carvings to open your luck. If you don't buy them, you will go to hell," and forced her to sign a sales contract for approximately 3 million yen.
When the prefectural police questioned the suspect, she stated that she was a member of the Unification Church. The prefectural police raided the church's facilities and confiscated a computer and other items. Incidentally, the Unification Church refused to be interviewed by the media, saying that the sales company and the church had nothing to do with the case.
The Mainichi Shimbun published an article "Spiritual Sales: Police searched Unification Church in Fukuoka; self-proclaimed its believer arrested on suspicion of selling 'luck crystals'" in its West Japan edition on May 7 of the same year.
■ The Impact of the Regime Change
The article described the raid of a Unification Church-related facility on suspicion of violating the Specified Commercial Transactions Law as "unusual," and reported that similar raids have begun in other prefectures, reporting as;
"The Nagano and Niigata Prefectural Police have been stepping up raids, arresting company presidents and others on charges of violating the Specified Commercial Transactions Law, including the sale of seals."
The reporter in charge of the case said, "Even just in the media reports, other investigations were conducted by the Osaka Prefectural Police."
Also he mentioned, "The Fukuoka, Nagano, Niigata, and Osaka prefectural police have all uncovered cases of Unification Church-affiliated groups selling expensive seals through Spiritual Sales. It was clear that the National Police Agency was taking the lead and the prefectural police were working together."
What is even more interesting is the timing of the arrests. The prime minister at the time was Taro Aso, 81, but the LDP was defeated in the general election held in August of that year and went into opposition.
"The police had been conducting internal investigations for some time, and just before the Democratic Party of Japan came to power, they launched an investigation into the Unification Church. As you know, the close relationship between the LDP and the Unification Church is currently a problem. It is clear that the police were directing the investigation while also keeping an eye on the national political situation.", said the same reporter.
■ A Means of Gaining Believers
In June of the same year, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, the "main body" of the investigation, made its move. On June 11, the Public Security Bureau of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department arrested seven people, including the president of Shinsei, a seal sales company in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, on charges of violating the Specified Commercial Transactions Law.
The Asahi Shimbun published an article in its evening edition on the same day titled "Suspected of selling seals to stir up unrest; president and others arrested for involvement in Unification Church."
According to the article, the suspects solicited five women in front of Shibuya Station to take a family name test and told them that their families had bad ancestral ties to you and that their families would be unhappy if the situation continued. The suspects then sold them 13 seals priced from 160,000 to 400,000 yen each (total damage: 4.16 million yen).
The report also states that, as a result of an investigation by the Public Safety Department of the Metropolitan Police Department, sales of the "Shinsei" reached an astonishing 670 million yen between 2000 and 2009. This was all the "wealth" of the Unification Church.
The report also revealed that "'Shinsei' was not only profiting enormously from Spiritual Sales, but was also using it as a means of gaining believers. During the raid, manuals for obtaining followers were seized. They took purchasers of seals to a facility called a 'video forum' where new target people were shown videos teaching the doctrines of the Unification Church," said the same reporter.
■ Change of President
Five female sales staff believers were fined 1 million yen each, and the president and another person were indicted. All of them admitted to being members of the Unification Church.
Furthermore, in July of the same year, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported a scoop story titled "Tens of millions of yen transferred to believers under the guise of salaries; donations made to the Unification Church?"
The article stated that "'Shinsei' was paying 70 million yen a year to about 100 believers under the guise of salaries. About 70 of them had never actually worked for the company; when the 100 believers received their nominal salaries, they donated the entire amount to the Unification Church as a contribution. The Asahi Shimbun's report brought to light the inseparable relationship between 'Shinsei' and the Unification Church."
A short time after the Asahi Shimbun article appeared, the president of the Unification Church of Japan announced his resignation. He did not admit any relationship between "Shinsei" and the Unification Church, but apologized for the involvement of his followers.
"At the time, an investigation by the National Association of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales (Zenkoku Benren) revealed that the real power of the Unification Church of Japan was in the hands of Korean executives. The replacement of the Japanese president was nothing more than a "lizard's tail," so to speak. The successor president had long served as president of the International Union for Victory and was known to have deep connections in the political world. It is quite understandable that the Unification Church, feeling a sense of crisis, expected the new president to have political power,' the reporter said.
■ Investigation concluded
The first trial in the Tokyo District Court was held on September 10, 2009. The change of government had already taken place, and the Cabinet of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, was scheduled to start on September 16.
"In their opening statement, the prosecutors pointed out that Spiritual Sales was a religious activity of the Unification Association, and that its ultimate goal was to make believers donate their entire fortune. The content of the statement was so in-depth that even the National Federation of Bar Associations gave it high marks, and some people involved in the case expressed hope that the criminal trial might be used as a springboard for an investigation into the Unification Church itself."
In November, the Tokyo District Court sentenced the president of Shinsei to two years in prison, suspended for four years, and fined 3 million yen.
The presiding judge harshly criticized the company for "making its sales staff aware of illegal seal sales methods through manuals and other means that were mixed with religious beliefs," and for "being part of a continuous criminal activity that was recognized to be highly organized" (Note 2).
Note 2: Tokyo District Court convicts president of selling Shinsei seals "for the purpose of gaining believers" (Asahi Shimbun: November 11, 2009)
This was the first criminal case in which the court found a connection between Spiritual Sales and the Unification Church. It shows that not only the police and prosecutors, but also the court, strongly considered the Unification Church's antisocial activities to be a problem.
The Unification Church did not appeal and the ruling became final. However, the investigation did not reach further after that.
■ Intervention by Politicians
There were no raids on the Unification Church's headquarters, nor were any Japanese or Korean leaders of the church interrogated.
Even though we know that "history has no ifs, but "many of us may wonder what would have happened if the Unification Church's leaders had been investigated at that time."
Hiroshi Yamaguchi, a lawyer with the National Federation of Bar Associations, who is familiar with the investigations of that time, says, "Of course, it is understandable that there are various opinions about the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's investigation from the current perspective."
Also, "however, as I fixed my eyes in the investigation, I was surprised by what the Metropolitan Police Department was doing. Top-secret documents were found in the raid, and the fact that the Unification Church was directing Spiritual Sales was exposed in the light of day. The Tokyo District Court's ruling was also harsh in its condemnation of the Unification Church. I realized that if the investigative agencies and the courts were serious, they could achieve so much," he said.
However, the investigation did not go any further. According to Attorney Yamaguchi, there were multiple factors.
"Even though it was under the Democratic Party of Japan, there was still intervention by politicians who were well acquainted with the police. In cases like this, public opinion is the key. In the 2000s, many people thought that the Unification Church was a thing of the past."
■ The Value of the District Court Decision
When Junko Sakurada, a famous actress, attended a Mass Wedding in 1992, the Japanese media reported the Unification Church's problems day after day.
But then, Aum Shinrikyo committed a number of heinous crimes. As a result, in the 2000s, interest in the Unification Church had waned considerably.
Even after the Tokyo District Court handed down a guilty verdict in November 2009, investigative agencies were slow to act thereafter. Then, on December 16, 2012, the DPJ suffered a crushing defeat in the general election.
On December 26, the same year, a new cabinet was formed with Shinzo Abe as prime minister. Many people involved thought that this would be the end of the investigation into the Unification Church.
However, Attorney Yamaguchi points out that this is precisely why the Tokyo District Court's precedent should be reexamined.
"Even today, there are victims of Spiritual Sales by the Unification Church. It is not a story of the past. Whether the police conduct investigations or the media pursue the Unification Church's problems, the 2009 Tokyo District Court ruling should provide various suggestions."
Daily Shincho editorial staff
