What happened on March 12 in the General Affairs Committee of the House of Councillors should be put in context, considering that the NHK Party is a small political organization, originally created to dispute the mandatory license fees Japanese taxpayers should pay to support the national broadcasting organization NHK.
It is a sort of contrarian party, often picking up populist protests.
Yet, as they say, one is always better than none.
On March 12, Satoshi Hamada, a member of the House of Councillors for the NHK Party, asked some questions about the Unification Church, now called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, and the subject of a dissolution request filed by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) at the Tokyo District Court.
In 2022, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated by a man who claimed he wanted to punish the politician for his support of the Unification Church, an organization that according to the assassin had ruined his mother by inducing her to make excessive donations.
A national campaign against the Unification Church followed, and alleged “victims” of the religious movement were given prominence in both the media and political debate.
Less frequently mentioned, however, were other victims: the members of the Unification Church that were kidnapped, confined, and “deprogrammed” in an attempt to break their faith, a barbarian practice outlawed in the United States and the European Union in the 20th century and stopped in Japan only in 2015 by a decision of the Supreme Court in a civil case.
Nor was it mentioned that many of those who filed lawsuits against the Unification Church did so after having been deprogrammed.
In the General Affairs Committee, Hamada asked. “According to the Family Federation, 4,300 believers have been abducted, confined, and forced to abandon their faith by deprogrammers. Is the government aware of this matter?”
He got a non-answer from an officer of the MEXT, Deputy Director-General Kobayashi of the Agency for Cultural Affairs: “MEXT has filed a request for a dissolution order against the former Unification Church, and the case is currently being heard in court behind closed doors. Therefore, I will refrain from answering your questions.”
Hamada went on referring to an especially notorious case and asking for “the government’s opinion on the case of Toru Goto, who was imprisoned for 12 years and 5 months” by his relatives who tried without success to have him deprogrammed and “persuaded” to leave the Unification Church.
This question was not answered either, as Vice-Minister Akiko Honda of the Agency for Cultural Affairs claimed she could not comment on “individual cases.”
But in fact the deprogrammers’ obnoxious activities in Japan, including the Toru Goto case, became well-known internationally, and it is unclear why a political discussion of these facts would jeopardize the “closed door” nature of the dissolution case.
Considering Hamada’s party’s long-lasting quarrel with the NHK, not surprisingly he also noted that the national broadcaster “has reported on the Family Federation a lot, but I don’t think it has reported on the abduction and confinement of believers of Family Federation by deprogrammers. Does NHK consider the abduction and confinement by deprogrammers to be an important matter to report?”
Hamada was not very lucky again in his attempt to obtain specific answers, as NHK Managing Director Yamada told him: “We will refrain from discussing specific individual decisions such as what will be covered in news programs. NHK makes comprehensive judgments each time based on its own editorial judgment.”
Hamada then mentioned a very delicate question.
In Japan there is a Religious Corporations Council, including representatives from different religions and scholars, which should advise the MEXT on various matters, including the dissolution of religious corporations.
Officially, in the case of the Unification Church the Council supported the request of dissolution unanimously.
Yet, investigative journalists reported that several Council members were not persuaded, and the government lobbied them one by one asking for their support in a matter of national concern.
Hamada noted that “The minutes of the Religious Corporations Council meeting, which led to the MEXT’s decision to request a dissolution order for the Family Federation in October last year, have not been made public. Since the dissolution order has already been issued, there is no reason for keeping it secret. I think the Council minutes should be made public. What is the government’s opinion?”
Deputy Director Kobayashi of the Agency for Cultural answered that “The minutes of the Religious Corporations Council can be withheld from the public if it is deemed necessary by agreement and arrangement. In this case, it was unanimously decided by the Council that the minutes of the proceedings would not be made public until the court’s decision was finalized.”
Implicitly, this may be interpreted as an admission that the meeting of the Religious Corporations Council did not go as smoothly as it was claimed.
Hamada added another provocative remark: “Many politicians have severed ties with the Family Federation, but from the perspective of religious freedom, I believe that now is the time for politicians to listen to the voices of the Family Federation’s members. I decided to attend the Family Federation meeting to be held in Chiba Prefecture this month. Is it inappropriate for me, as a member of the Parliament, to participate in a meeting of the Family Federation despite the Liberal Democratic Party declaring that it would sever ties with the organization?”
The answer by Vice Minister Honda was predictable: “MEXT is not in a position to express our views on the activities of individual Diet members.”
However, Hamada’s aim was clearly to call the attention on the fact that the actions of other parties, which forbade their members to attend Family Federation events, were against both freedom of religion or belief and political freedom.
Hamada concluded: “I think Mr. Moriyama, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, should listen to the voices of Family Federation members from the perspective of religious freedom.”
One swallow does not a summer make.
But perhaps other politicians will find the bravery to ask additional pertinent questions.