Former Japanese Prime Mininster Shinzo Abe assassinated

boing
105

Several media outlets are reporting that the religious organization against which Tetsuya Yamagami held a grudge is the Unification Church (The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification).

I am not sure just how involved Shinzo Abe was with the Unification Church, but sources in Nagatacho (which means to Japan what 10 Downing Street means to the UK or what 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue means to the US) say that it was a longstanding open secret that Abe was closely involved with them. It has been reported that Abe remotely attended and spoke at a Universal Peace Federation (UPF) function held last September 12.

Yamagami evidently blames Abe for spreading the Unification Church in Japan, though I believe that this was just his own assumption and not based on any facts.

ETA: This has not been definitively verified. I personally believe that a lot of the press knows the name of the religious organization, but is holding off reporting to prevent possible reprisals.

According to Gendai Business (which is the most mainstream news outlet I can find willing to mention the Unification Church), Yamagami’s mother is in fact a fervent believer in the Unification Church. She declared bankruptcy in August 2002 (shortly before Yamagami dropped out of college and joined the Self Defense Force), which the paper notes was “probably” due to having donated so much money to the church.

It was previously reported that Yamagami first intended to shoot a religious leader, but changed his mind when the leader did not show up. It is now looking like he tried to get close enough to a leader in the Unification Church over the course of months and, finding no openings, decided to change his target to Shinzo Abe.

12 Likes
106

“I don’t like Mondays” vibe.

The Moonies also love their guns.

5 Likes
107

The bloody Moonies again. Those grifters did get their financial hooks into a lot of conservative politicians outside S. Korea. Japan was always a big target for them.

7 Likes
108

For what it’s worth, they are just one of many far right religious organizations that Shinzo Abe relied on to get the vote out.

I am hearing that the mainstream media is waiting until after the election to say that it was the Moonies, but it is now pretty much public knowledge. The Unification Church has been trending on Japanese Twitter all day, and their Nara branch has closed down suddenly and is refusing to talk to the press.

8 Likes
109
6 Likes
110

The cult’s M.O. is to use bogus foundations to buy off conservative politicians around the world cheaply with speaking fees and no-show board seats and other indirect donations/bribes. Those politicians then ensure that the Moonies can continue to fleece the rubes in their countries without interference. The rubes are also instructed by the cult leaders to vote for those politicians and their parties.

They’ve been running this racket for 70+ years and are very good at it. I can see why Biff would admire them. Abe seems to have had the extreme bad luck of one of the marks’ family members being deranged enough to take out his anger directly on him.

That’s an off-shoot (heh) of the original cult, formed by Moon’s son after he was kicked out of the family grift in a palace coup following the old fraud’s death. He latched on to the whole assault rifle angle as a way to appeal to American right-wingers and to create a revenue stream through the associated arms manufacturing company. It’s still a Moonie cult, but not the main one that bought off Abe (the original Moonies also own a firearms company and promote Second Amendment initiatives in the U.S.).

10 Likes
111

Update:

The Unification Church has verified that the mother of Tetsuya Yamagami is a member. They have announced that they will hold a press conference tomorrow.

The story of the assassination of Shinzo Abe is coming together. It’s a dark, bizarre story, but it’s starting to make sense.

It’s been just about two and a half days since I got the first news alert. It simply said that Abe had been attacked while giving a speech. I thought that a protester must have thrown a punch. It wasn’t until thirty minutes later that I got another news alert that said 心肺停止 (heart stopped) and 2、3発 (two or three shots). Wait, shots? How is that even possible?

It has just been a state of disbelief since then. Like, who would even think up something like this for a movie?

10 Likes
112

The scumbags will say that they’re opposed to gun violence, which will mainly be an attack on the “Iron Rod” offshoot and in any case is BS in light of the main cult’s industrial conglomerate including a weapons manufacturer.

They’ll also claim that this was an attack on religious freedom in Japan, the kind of freedom supposedly championed by their good friend Abe. They’ll pretend they’re unaware of the assassin’s mother giving them a single yen.

It’s always the same garbage with these con artists.

7 Likes
113

Because the Unification Church originated in South Korea, I am very worried that this will lead to discrimination and perhaps even violence against ethnic Koreans in Japan.

The Japanese right has connections with the yakuza, and these people know how to burn down a building or two when one of their own gets hit.

Not many people in Japan had even heard of the Unification Church before today. No matter what they say in the press conference tomorrow, they aren’t going to be getting any new members any time soon. And that may be the only good thing to come out of this.

9 Likes
114

Probably because they’ve worked mainly through front organisations per their M.O. They’ve been in Japan since at least 1958, though, and had political associations not only with Abe but with his father and grandfather.

https://www.japan-press.co.jp/2006/2499/cult.html

To be clear, none of that excuses the assassination. It just shows how poisonous this cult can be on the body politic of any country it sees as a source of revenue.

7 Likes
115

Isn’t this always the risk amoral pols run by pandering to religious groups? They are so focused on the money and power, but if they fall off the pedestal (or the rubes wise up) their former followers will turn on them. All those signs of the non-believer they ignored at the beginning will be the same things they scream about as reasons to attack.

8 Likes
116

Wouldn’t be the first time.

IIRC Japanese nationalists have a special hatred for Koreans because they see them as ungrateful for the supposed benefits of Japanese colonial rule.

9 Likes
117

And to fascist groups. “We can control them” is an evergreen when it comes to famous last words.

7 Likes
118

And I’m sure you know this, but for the benefit of others it’s worth noting Japan has a near 100% conviction rate. This definitely isn’t because everybody is an Ace Detective or Ace Prosecutor, it’s because the justice system has pretty troubling practices including a storied history of coerced confessions and uncritical judges. Not saying this guy isn’t guilty as sin and shouldn’t serve time, just saying the scales of justice are in the best of scenarios already tipped pretty heavily against the defendant.

(Side note: a key plot point of the Ace Attorney series (逆転裁判 in Japan) is that the justice system has become so backlogged that every trial has to be streamlined to take no longer than three days from start to finish, and convictions are all but certain with the deck stacked so heavily against the defense. This sets the tone of urgency and peril of every case for the defense attorney protagonist.)

I’m a big fan of the Yakuza series of video games (called 龍が如くin Japan), and its spin-off series Judgment (called Judge Eyes in Japan). The games’ stories don’t shy away from shining a critical light on government and police corruption and cronyism, law enforcement corruption and cronyism, human trafficking, abuse of ethnic Korean and Chinese populations, homelessness, drug abuse, suicide, abuses and corruption in schools, abuses in the entertainment business (the dark sides of idol culture becomes a central plot at one point in the series), mental illness, and other uncomfortable topics. Getting to my overall point here — naturally, there’s a crime and violence throughout, but it’s generally of the fists/improvised/bludgeon/blades variety (in that order). Whenever someone brandishes a firearm, it’s always treated as a shocking record needle scratch with a mic drop moment to let you know that shit is about to get real.

9 Likes
119
7 Likes
120

A lot of media outlets are suggesting that the assassination of Shinzo Abe led to a lot of sympathy votes for the Liberal Democratic Party, which won big in yesterday’s House of Councillors election.

The LDP picked up 8 (out of 245) seats to win half of all the seats in the Upper House on their own, while their longtime coalitions partners Komeito* lost one seat and the Japan Innovation Party* picked up six seats. These three parties combined now have enough seats to change the Constitution of Japan, which requires a 2/3 majority.

*Komeito is literally the political party wing of Soka Gakkai, which is a cultish sect of Buddhism.
*Japan Innovation Party is a bizarre populist party founded by the asshole former governor of Osaka Prefecture, Toru Hashimoto.

On the assassination front, the only new news that I am seeing is that Tetsuya Yamagami used Youtube to learn how to make the guns, because of course he did.

7 Likes
121

Ugh. On the one hand I would like to see Japan have a more capable role in its own defense, since I don’t think that if push comes to shove it can rely on the Umbrella Doctrine, or on the United States fulfilling its obligations. On the other hand, these asshats are the last ones I’d want to decide what that actually means.

4 Likes
122

A Few Minor Updates

The mainstream media in Japan is still not mentioning the Unification Church, even though they are verifying all of the other details pointing to the Moonies. They are describing it as “a religious organization that originated overseas” and confirming that Yamagami’s mother is (though some sources are saying “was formerly”) a member and that Shinzo Abe sent a video message to a conference held by an NGO that the organization had established. The mainstream media is taking a lot of flak for holding back this information, leaving people to depend on tabloids and the foreign press for information.

Tetsuya Yamagami is now saying that Abe’s grandfather, former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, was the person who first invited the Unification Church into Japan, and that was part of the reason why he turned his ire against Abe. I honestly do not know enough about Kishi (who also served in the cabinet under Tojo during the war) to say how much veracity this claim has.

Police did find notebooks explaining Yamagami’s grudges in his apartment, but the police are in no hurry to release those, as this is still an active investigation.

Bullet holes have been discovered on a Unification Church facility, but the press is not saying where the facility was (in fact, they are just calling it a “facility of the religious organization”). Neighbors of the facility described hearing loud noises like explosions at around 3am. Wooden boards peppered with bullet holes were also found in Yamagami’s car, suggesting that he took it upon himself to test the guns out first.

Also, one detail that I keep forgetting to mention: Tetsuya Yamagami’s older brother died by suicide around the time their mother went bankrupt. He had long struggled with illness, and apparently his mother paid more attention to her religion than her sickly son.

ETA: It was previously reported that Yamagami had two younger sisters, but it now appears that he has only one. The Japanese language does not have plural nouns, so the fact that his mother had three children and the fact that he used to live with his mother and sister(s) seem to have overlooked the deceased older brother and assumed two sisters.

11 Likes
123

Update:

The Unification Church is going to hold a press conference at a hotel in Tokyo at 2:00pm (about 10 minutes from now). I will update this post as I get more information.

Update 1: Prime Minister Kishida is also giving a press conference right now (on the election), and that it is what seems to be getting coverage.

Update 2: I have found a live feed of the Unification Church press conference. It just started with a moment of silence for the departed.

Update 3: Tomihiro Tanaka, the leader of Japan’s Unification Church. He may well have been the original target.

Screenshot_20220711-141001_YouTube
Screenshot_20220711-141001_YouTube1920×864 93 KB

Update 4: They are denying that Tetsuya Yamagami is or ever was a member of the Unification Church, but are confirming that his mother was and is still a member. They say that she attends church meetings about once a month. They are refusing to discuss Yamagami’s mother’s past donations to the church, as this is still an ongoing police investigation. They are saying that they will cooperate fully with the police if asked. Lastly, they are asking the press not to spread unconfirmed rumors and to check with the church before reporting, indicating a willingness to respond to the press. They are now moving on to Q&A.

Update 5: The questions are pressing them about donations. The press asked whether members are required to donate a certain amount and whether people actually donate large sums. The church replied that people do donate large sums, but only by their own will and not by any requirement from the church. The press asked whether the church was aware of people going bankrupt from donations and whether they would continue to accept donations from somebody who had gone bankrupt, which the church denies (saying that they would have no way of knowing, but would not accept money from somebody whom they knew to be bankrupt).

Update 6: The church complained about how the press mentioned their name, causing them to receive some phone calls. They are saying that they have no records from the time of Ms. Yamagami’s bankruptcy, and nobody who was around at the time is still there to remember what happened then.

Update 7: They are denying a close relationship with Shinzo Abe and telling the press to direct their questions to the UPF (Universal Peace Federation), which is the name of the actual organization to which Abe sent a video message. They are saying that it was UPF that was primarily involved with politics and getting out the vote. They are pretty much flat-out denying that the Unification Church is directly involved in politics, but telling the press to ask UPF.

Update 8: The church denies having any records of ever being contacted directly by Testuya Yamagami, but says that it is possible that he attended religious events in the late 1990s when he was still a teen. They reiterated that he never became a member, and they have no records of him from the time.

Update 9: Incidentally, the Unification Church has been sued over 100 times in Japan for trouble involving donations. They also got into legal trouble in 2009 for selling fraudulent “good luck” charms. When pressed on this, the church says that they have reformed since then and now don’t do anything like that anymore. When pressed about Yamagami’s mother (who went bankrupt in 2002), they reiterated that they have no records from that time and said that that information will probably come out in the police investigation as the police question Yamagami’s mother directly. They are basically saying, “We don’t know. Ask her.” They also say that she stopped attending and was out of touch with the church between 2009 (which is when the church got in trouble with the law) and 2016, but has been coming about once per month recently. Her last visit was about two months ago.

Update 10: The church denies making any political donations to LDP candidates. They also deny that former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi played any role in spreading the Moonie faith in Japan.

Update 11: The church admitted that adherents are taught to tithe 10% of their earnings to the church, but stressed that it is encouraged but not required. (Tanaka actually said that this is common in all Christian churches, which is a stretch.) He also said that adherents “are free to” make additional donations out of gratitude for special life events like marriage or childbirth, etc.

The press conference closed after 1 hour. It was not at all informative.

11 Likes
124
3 Likes