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DESCRIPTION:No Honors & State Funeral For War Monger & Denialist\nFormer Japanese Prime 
 Minister Shinzo Abe\n\nMonday, September 26, 2022 12:00 Noon\nSan Francisco 
 Japanese Consulate\n275 Battery St/California St., SF \n\nThe assassination 
 of former Japanese Prime Minister has exposed the relationship of him and 
 the Liberal Democratic Party to the Moonies. His assassination by a family 
 member of the Moonies who had been fleeced by this rightwing religious cult 
 based in Korea has also exposed the pro-war agenda of Abe and LDP 
 government which is also the ideology of the Moonies.\n\nAbe and the LDP 
 have supported the militarization of Japan and US military bases in Okinawa 
 and continue to push for US military presence in Japan and Okinawa 
 including with nuclear weapons. The Abe government in its drive for war has 
 also spent $500 million to stop memorials for the Comfort Women in San 
 Francisco and around the world. The Comfort Women were women in Asian who 
 were enslaved by the Japanese Imperial Army for sexual exploitation during 
 the war.\n\nThis denialism is also connected to the efforts of Abe and the 
 LDP to cover-up the Fukushima nuclear disaster and claim that it has been 
 “decontaminated” which is a lie. The LDP also plans to release 1.3 
 million tons of radioactive water with tritium into the Pacific 
 Ocean\n\nJoin with us the day before the Japanese government funeral for 
 Abe on September 27th.\n\nNo State Funeral For Abe\nStop War Drive By 
 Japan\nDefend The Constitution Against Militarization\nNo Release of 
 Radioactive Water From Fukushima Into the Pacific US Bases Out Of 
 Okinawa\nStop Denialism, Tell The Real Truth and History of The 2nd 
 WW\n\nInitial Endorser: No Nukes Action (nonukesaction.wordpress.com) 
 Eclipse Rising, Comfort Women Justice Coalition\nUnited Front Committee for 
 Labor Party\nFor further info: info(at)ufclp.org\nwww.ufclp.org\n\nJapan 
 LDP denials over ties to church ring hollow for lawyers 
 group\nhttps://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14707582\nTHE ASAHI 
 SHIMBUN\nAugust 31, 2022 at 19:12 JST\nKoichi Hagiuda, policy chief of the 
 ruling Liberal Democratic Party, talks to reporters about his relationship 
 with the Unification Church in Tokyo on Aug. 18. (Koichi Ueda)\nPrime 
 Minister Fumio Kishida apologized for the relationships that have been 
 exposed between ruling party lawmakers and the Unification Church, but many 
 politicians continue to deny knowing anything about their ties to the 
 religious group.\n\nThe Diet members’ connections to the Unification 
 Church have often been formed through its affiliated groups, and lawmakers 
 say they were unaware of the affiliation.\n\nBut that claim has been 
 challenged by a group of lawyers as well as a former follower of the 
 Unification Church.\n\nThe use of the many groups, the critics say, has 
 given the politicians a convenient shield to obfuscate their relationship 
 with the church.\n\nKoichi Hagiuda, chairman of the LDP’s Policy Research 
 Council, visited a facility of the church before the July 10 Upper House 
 election.\n\nHagiuda, however, said those in attendance were members of the 
 Women’s Federation for World Peace. He insisted he was unaware the 
 facility belongs to the church, which is now formally known as the Family 
 Federation for World Peace and Unification.\n\nHagiuda also said he has 
 paid fees to the Women’s Federation for World Peace on multiple 
 occasions. “The name of the group is very similar to (the church’s) but 
 I chose not to report it,” he said.\n\nThe Unification Church told The 
 Asahi Shimbun that it has at least 24 related groups, including the 
 Women’s Federation for World Peace.\n\nThey were all established by Sun 
 Myung Moon, the founder of the church, and are each defined as “an 
 organization that shares the same vision” with the church.\n\nThe word 
 “peace” often appears in the name of the groups.\n\nOne of them, the 
 Universal Peace Foundation, hosted an event in September 2021, to which 
 former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delivered a message.\n\nThe man suspected 
 of murdering Abe in July this year has mentioned that speech and Abe’s 
 ties to the Unification Church during questioning by investigators.\n\nHis 
 mother’s large donations to the church that financially ruined his family 
 are believed to have been behind his attack on Abe.\n\nAfter the shooting, 
 Tomihiro Tanaka, chairman of the Japanese arm of the church, told an Aug. 
 10 news conference that the related groups “deploy independent 
 activities,” and that the purpose of these groups “is not to obtain new 
 members (for the church) nor to collect funds.”\n\nBut the controversy 
 over the donations and the church’s “spiritual sales” prompted 
 Kishida to try to distance the party from the church.\n\n“As the 
 president of the LDP, I apologize without any reservation” over the 
 church’s connections to party members, Kishida said at a news conference 
 on Aug. 31.\n\nHe said he has instructed Toshimitsu Motegi, 
 secretary-general of the LDP, to make “cutting ties with the group in 
 question” a key principle of the party for full implementation among LDP 
 lawmakers.\n\nIf the principle applies to affiliated groups of the church, 
 the list of LDP lawmakers affected could be substantial.\n\nThe Federation 
 for World Peace, for example, has supported Yoshifumi Miyajima, a former 
 LDP Upper House member, in an election.\n\nDaishiro Yamagiwa, the state 
 minister for economic revitalization, participated in an event believed to 
 have been hosted by the church-affiliated Ambassadors for Peace.\n\nSome 
 Diet members have paid fees to the International Federation for Victory 
 over Communism.\n\nA man in the Kanto region who was a Unification Church 
 member up until a few years ago said he played an active role for the 
 International Federation for Victory over Communism in the mid-2000s.\n\nHe 
 said a senior official of the church told him through the Line messaging 
 app, “There is a political event happening.” The man said he ended up 
 handing out leaflets of a Diet member.\n\n“The members of the church and 
 its related groups overlap,” he said. “I was told not to give out the 
 name of the church, but the politician involved knew I was a follower of 
 the church.”\n\nRepresentatives of each of these related groups told The 
 Asahi Shimbun that they operate independently of the Unification 
 Church.\n\nShinsuke Okuno, a Lower House member of the LDP who has paid 
 fees to the Federation for World Peace, has followed the lines of the 
 group’s explanation and denied ties to the Unification Church.\n\n“It 
 is the Federation for World Peace that I have a relationship with, not the 
 former Unification Church,” he told The Asahi Shimbun.\n\nWhen told that 
 the group is related to the church, Okuno repeatedly said: “They are 
 different groups with different leaders. Do some more research.”\n\nThe 
 National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales, an organization that 
 has long criticized the Unification Church and helps former followers 
 recoup their donations, has reacted to the politicians’ denials.\n\nOn 
 Aug. 24, its website listed more than 70 groups that are tied to the 
 church, including those confirmed by the church. The list also includes the 
 names of events and publications that are connected to the church.\n\nThe 
 politicians, the lawyers group said, can simply check the list to determine 
 if a relationship exists.\n\nYasuo Kawai, a lawyer in the organization, 
 said the list is based on information gathered from the publications and 
 websites of the church and its related groups.\n\nSome of the listed groups 
 are now believed to be inactive, Kawai said.\n\n“The church uses these 
 related groups to make it difficult for people to see its identity and to 
 achieve its goal of penetrating society and politics,” Kawai said. “It 
 is possible that some politicians are using these groups to deny their ties 
 with the church.”\n\nOver 100 Japan lawmakers had links with Unification 
 Church: 
 survey\nhttps://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/08/14/national/politics-diplomacy/unification-church-links-survey/\nAt 
 least seven current Cabinet members, as well as 20 senior vice ministers 
 and parliamentary vice ministers, have been confirmed to have links to the 
 Unification Church. | POOL / VIA REUTERS\nAt least seven current Cabinet 
 members, as well as 20 senior vice ministers and parliamentary vice 
 ministers, have been confirmed to have links to the Unification Church. | 
 POOL / VIA REUTERS\nKYODO\nSHARE\nAug 14, 2022\n\nMore than 100 of all the 
 712 lawmakers in Japan have had some connections with the controversial 
 Unification Church, with nearly 80% of them belonging to the ruling Liberal 
 Democratic Party, a Kyodo News survey showed Saturday.\nIn the survey with 
 a response rate of over 80%, 106 had links with the church such as 
 attending events hosted by entities associated with the religious group, 
 which has come under renewed attention following former Prime Minister 
 Shinzo Abe's assassination last month, or receiving electoral cooperation 
 from its members.\n\nLawmakers from the LDP, now headed by Prime Minister 
 Fumio Kishida, accounted for 82 of the total, highlighting close ties 
 between the main ruling party and the church, founded in South Korea in the 
 1950s and identified as a cult by critics.\nThe church has drawn public 
 scrutiny after Abe's alleged assailant said he had harbored a grudge 
 against the group and believed that the former prime minister had ties to 
 it.\nThe alleged gunman, Tetsuya Yamagami, was quoted by investigators as 
 saying that his family was ruined after his mother made huge donations to 
 the church, formally known now as the Family Federation for World Peace and 
 Unification.\nAbe provided a video message for an event held by an 
 organization associated with the church in September last year.\nTomoaki 
 Iwai, a professor emeritus of political science at Nihon University, said 
 the fact that about one-seventh of the country's lawmakers had ties with 
 the group reveals that they have failed to apply adequate risk management 
 practices.\n"They lack the qualities of a politician," Iwai said.\nThe 
 survey's results came as seven current Cabinet members, as well as 20 
 senior vice ministers and parliamentary vice ministers, have been confirmed 
 to have links to the church, despite Kishida reshuffling his team Wednesday 
 in an attempt to reverse flagging public support.\nOne of the biggest 
 reasons for a sharp fall in approval ratings was LDP lawmakers' lack of 
 explanation over their political ties with the church.\nOnly 12 of the 20 
 deputy ministers have admitted to having their relations with the 
 organization in the survey, raising the possibility that the total number 
 may increase, and the issue is almost certain to become a major point of 
 debate in parliament when its extraordinary session begins in the fall.\nAn 
 official at the Unification Church said it is not in a position to comment 
 on the results of the survey.\nThe church is famous for its mass weddings. 
 Its "spiritual sales," in which people are talked into buying jars and 
 other items for exorbitant prices, have become a social problem in the 
 past.\nThe survey asked whether lawmakers have received financial help from 
 organizations linked to the church, such as getting donations or selling 
 fundraising party tickets. It also asked if they got electoral cooperation 
 and whether they had attended events related to the church or sent them 
 congratulatory messages.\nOf all the 712 lawmakers, 583 had responded as of 
 Friday. Kishida did not reply to the questionnaire.\nThe LDP lawmakers who 
 admitted their ties to the church include Nobuo Kishi, Abe's younger 
 brother who served as defense minister before the Cabinet reshuffle, and 
 Akira Amari, a veteran parliamentarian who was one of the closest allies of 
 Abe.\nThe next largest number following the LDP were eleven from Nippon 
 Ishin no Kai, a conservative opposition party.\nThe Constitutional 
 Democratic Party of Japan had seven lawmakers, while Komeito, a junior 
 ruling coalition partner of the LDP, the Democratic Party for the People, 
 and Sanseito each had one such member. The remaining three are 
 independents.\nHakubun Shimomura, a former chairman of the LDP's Policy 
 Research Council, and Yuichiro Tamaki, head of the Democratic Party for the 
 People, admitted to having received donations in 2016 from Sekai Nippo, a 
 newspaper affiliated with the church.\nThe number of lawmakers who sold 
 fundraising party tickets to the church stood at 13, including former 
 education minister Shinsuke Suematsu who raised a total of ¥80,000 ($600) 
 between 2020 and 2021.\nThe survey also found 30 benefited from electoral 
 support from the church-related bodies such as soliciting votes by phone. 
 The number of those who attended events sponsored by them came to 71, while 
 43 said they had sent them messages.\nSome of the lawmakers justified their 
 actions, claiming the church is just one of many entities they have 
 communicated with or that they took part in such events because they were 
 asked by their supporters. Others, meanwhile, said they will review their 
 ties with the group.\n\nJapan LDP's constitutional draft, proposals by 
 Unification Church-linked group bear 
 similarities\n\nhttps://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20220809/p2a/00m/0na/008000c\nAugust 
 9, 2022 (Mainichi Japan)\nJapanese version\n\nPrime Minister Fumio Kishida 
 holds a press conference the day after the House of Councillors election at 
 the LDP headquarters in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on July 11, 2022. 
 (Mainichi/Kan Takeuchi)\nTOKYO -- Many similarities have been found in the 
 constitutional revision plans of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party 
 (LDP) and proposals by a political organization affiliated with the 
 Unification Church -- a finding that has drawn attention.\n\nIn April 2017, 
 the political group International Federation for Victory over Communism 
 released an approximately 17-minute video titled "on constitutional 
 amendments," in which Yoshio Watanabe, vice chairman of the group, 
 explained his own reform proposals. The group is affiliated with the 
 Unification Church, formally known as the Family Federation for World Peace 
 and Unification.\n\nWatanabe listed the establishment of an emergency 
 clause as the first priority for constitutional change. Using the example 
 of a major earthquake, he explained that "the government's authority would 
 be strengthened to protect lives by temporarily restricting property rights 
 and tightly regulating food and fuel prices." In the May 2021 issue of 
 "Sekai Shiso," a magazine affiliated with the political group, it is stated 
 that the emergency clause covers "wars, disasters and so on."\n\nMeanwhile, 
 the draft compiled by the LDP in April 2012, when it was an opposition 
 party, states that in the event of an armed attack from outside Japan, or 
 in a civil war or large-scale disaster, the Cabinet would be able to enact 
 an order with the same force as a law, and that "any person must obey" the 
 instructions of the national government or public agencies in such a 
 scenario. The direction of its proposal is consistent with that of the 
 political group.\n\nIn the video, Watanabe also called for the addition of 
 a clause on family protection as the second priority, stressing that 
 "without this, same-sex marriage, which cannot result in a natural and 
 fundamental unit, will spread." The LDP draft, meanwhile, states that "the 
 family is to be respected as the natural and fundamental unit of society," 
 using terminology consistent with that of the political group.\n\nIn his 
 third proposal, Watanabe stated that "there is not a single word (in the 
 Constitution) that can be used as a basis for why the Self-Defense Forces 
 are allowed to exist," and insisted that a "self-defense military" or 
 "national defense forces" be clearly stated in the Constitution. This, too, 
 is practically in line with the LDP draft, which clearly calls for a 
 "national defense forces."\n\nThe LDP's four-point amendment draft compiled 
 in March 2018 suggested adding an emergency clause that would temporarily 
 strengthen the Cabinet's authority and allow for a special extension of the 
 term of office of Diet members in the event of "a major earthquake or other 
 extraordinary, large-scale disaster," in addition to adding the 
 Self-Defense Forces to Article 9. \n\nOpposition lawmakers from the 
 Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and the Japanese Communist Party 
 have voiced criticism, saying, "The nationalism that emphasizes the public 
 interest and the state over the individual is common to the constitutional 
 amendment proposals of both the LDP and the Unification Church."\n\nOn the 
 other hand, Yosuke Isozaki, a former upper house member who was involved in 
 the preparation of the 2012 LDP draft, said, "No outside groups such as the 
 Unification Church expressed any opinions or requests at the time. If 
 someone were to claim that the Unification Church had an influence on the 
 draft, it would be a false accusation."\n\nIn the July 10 upper house 
 election, the four parties in favor of constitutional revision -- the LDP 
 and its junior coalition partner Komeito, the conservative opposition 
 Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party) and the Democratic Party for the 
 People -- won a combined 93 seats, and together with uncontested seats, 
 they secured more than two-thirds of the seats in the upper chamber 
 required for constitutional amendments to be proposed.\n\nPrime Minister 
 Fumio Kishida said after the election that he would like to lead the debate 
 in the Diet to realize constitutional reform. However, conservative members 
 of the LDP have some opinions in common with the Unification Church, which 
 is anti-communist, and many of them have ties with the group, especially 
 those in the Abe faction, previously led by former Prime Minister Shinzo 
 Abe, who was fatally shot in July. With public opinion being harsh 
 regarding this fact, it is unclear whether the LDP will be able to take the 
 lead in the debate.\n\nA person close to Komeito pointed out, "The Abe 
 faction, which had been the most aggressive in pushing for constitutional 
 revision, may find it difficult to move for the time being because the 
 Unification Church issue has come to light."\n\nThe person also indicated 
 that the constitutional debate will be pushed back for some time due to the 
 similarities between the draft of the LDP and the Unification Church 
 group's proposal.\n\n(Japanese original by Akiko Kato and Kenta Miyahara, 
 Political News Department)\n\nJapan Moritomo Gakuen scandal another history 
 Japan’s nationalists may wish to rewrite and deregulaton of education 
 \nhttp://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/03/26/national/moritomo-gakuen-scandal-another-history-japans-nationalists-may-wish-rewrite/#.WNklNBRBi-Q 
 \nBY ERIC JOHNSTON \nSTAFF WRITER \nMAR 26, 2017 \nOSAKA – It began as a 
 dream. Conservatives and nationalists, angry at what they saw as a public 
 education system that taught a self-denigrating, incorrect view of 
 Japan’s 20th century history and upset at social changes they felt had 
 led to a loss of respect among children for Japan’s traditional values 
 and norms, would create a private elementary school in Osaka tailored to 
 their beliefs. \n\nNow, however, the opening of educational entity Moritomo 
 Gakuen’s new Mizuho no Kuni elementary school (almost named Shinzo Abe 
 Elementary School), scheduled for April 1, has been postponed indefinitely. 
 \n\nIt was revealed in February that the government land purchased for the 
 school had been heavily discounted in a shady deal. That scandal led to 
 revelations of Moritomo Gakuen’s links to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s 
 wife, Akie, and Defense Minister Tomomi Inada, as well as to allegations so 
 far unproven beyond a reasonable doubt by the entity’s chief Yasunori 
 Kagoike that the new school received, via Akie Abe, a ¥1 million donation 
 from the prime minister himself. \n\nKagoike gave sworn Diet testimony last 
 week, where he repeated his assertions about Akie Abe, suggested Osaka Gov. 
 Ichiro Matsui betrayed him by blocking approval of his new school, and said 
 that three Osaka-based Diet members were involved. This has raised the 
 stakes and national media attention, ensuring the scandal won’t go away. 
 \n\nAs forceful as Kagoike’s allegations have been, the denials from 
 those named as of late last week have been equally forceful. \n\nAfter 
 saying she could not remember, Akie posted a strong denial on social media 
 that she’d handed over ¥1 million. Same with the three politicians named 
 by Kagoike. \n\nNippon Ishin’s Toru Azuma of the Upper House denied doing 
 anything on Kagoike’s behalf. Fellow councilor Takuji Yanagimoto of the 
 Liberal Democratic Party said his office did little more than provide an 
 introduction to officials over the phone. Former LDP lawmaker Issei 
 Kitagawa said he’d never met Kagoike or even heard of him until the 
 scandal broke. \n\nIn Osaka, attention has shifted to what Osaka Gov. 
 Matsui, a close Abe ally despite heading the nominal opposition party 
 Nippon Ishin no Kai, knew about the land deal and when he knew it. This has 
 raised still unanswered questions about what the political and financial 
 relationship other conservative groups and individuals might have had with 
 Abe, Matsui and Moritomo Gakuen. \n\nThe scandal also has Osaka prefectural 
 officials in charge of private school applications and central government 
 officials at the Kinki Regional Finance Bureau blaming each other over who 
 is responsible for selling Moritomo a hunk of land valued at ¥956 million 
 for only ¥134 million. Earlier this month, a delegation of ruling bloc and 
 opposition Diet members visited Osaka to try to determine how the deal came 
 about but were told the prefecture had not kept detailed records. \n\nWhat 
 they did learn was that in summer 2011, the entity had asked the Osaka 
 Prefectural Government to relax the restrictions on setting up private 
 schools. The request was granted in April 2012, just a few months after 
 Toru Hashimoto stepped down as governor and became Osaka mayor, and his 
 ally, Matsui, became governor. \n\nIn September 2013, Moritomo told the 
 Kinki Regional Finance Bureau, part of the Finance Ministry, that it was 
 interested in acquiring government-owned property in Toyonaka, Osaka 
 Prefecture, for its new elementary school. Negotiations began, with the 
 finance bureau indicating Moritomo could reply about its interest if the 
 project was approved. The prefecture, however, said that without land and a 
 building, approval to operate could not be granted. \n\nThat October, the 
 prefecture phoned the finance bureau to ask about progress and was told the 
 bureau was relying on Moritomo to provide detailed documentation of its 
 plans. A month later, the bureau said it told the prefecture that, once a 
 final decision about the project was made, it would reply about whether it 
 would negotiate the land deal. \n\nAfterward, there was a long waiting 
 period and the details are not clear. In October 2014, Moritomo submitted 
 an application to have the elementary school approved by the prefecture. In 
 December, the prefecture told Moritomo it was still discussing the matter. 
 But in January 2015, the private-school section replied that authorization 
 was considered “appropriate.” \n\nIn May 2015, a 10-year rental lease 
 for the property was drawn up. But the following month, after deducting 
 ¥800 million as the cost of removing garbage on the site, Moritomo was 
 able to buy land originally valued at ¥956 million for only ¥134 million. 
 \n\nBut official records of the negotiating process, especially from 2013 
 to 2014, do not exist, prefectural officials told the Diet delegation. The 
 chronology they were presented with was based on interviews with officials 
 who were in charge at the time. \n\n“Notes were not taken and 
 negotiations were done over the telephone. Preparing documents (of the 
 negotiations) would leave a huge volume of paperwork,” Osaka Gov. Ichiro 
 Matsui said. \n\nThe governor denied any suggestion he intervened with 
 prefectural officials on Moritomo’s behalf. \n\n“If I ordered 
 preferential treatment to be given to Moritomo, I’ll resign,” Matsui 
 said. \n\nFor his part, former Osaka Mayor and Ishin co-founder Hashimoto, 
 who had been governor in 2011 when the entity originally asked for the 
 rules regarding new private schools to be relaxed, blamed his lack of 
 attention to the details of deregulation for the problem. \n\n“It was my 
 mistake. When I was governor, I had to make deregulation of private school 
 regulations and the strengthening of the system of prefectural checks for 
 private school applications part of a set. There were voices of concern 
 about Moritomo’s finances. The prefecture appeared to confirm they were 
 OK and this led to approval with certain conditions. But the origin of the 
 problem is that my efforts to strengthen the prefecture’s system of 
 checking on private school applications was insufficient,” Hashimoto said 
 on his Twitter account and on television last week. \n\nThe mea culpa did 
 little, however, to negate suspicion that the good deal Moritomo received 
 had something to do with gubernatorial successor Matsui’s cozy relations 
 with Abe. Both men share similar views on perceptions of history and 
 education. \n\nAs do many of the groups in Osaka that support Nippon Ishin. 
 One that has come under the spotlight is the conservative Japan Conference 
 (Nippon Kaigi), which also advocates nationalist causes. \n\nIn a statement 
 earlier this month, the group said Kagoike had once been a member but left 
 in 2011. In an online interview published last week in Shukan Asahi, Japan 
 Conference Chairman Tadae Takubo said his organization had no connection 
 with Kagoike. \n\nBut Hashimoto said that while everybody who once 
 supported, directly or indirectly, Moritomo and Kagoike may now be 
 reluctant to admit it, the school’s nationalist educational philosophy 
 enjoys a lot of support among prominent people. \n\n“I wouldn’t make my 
 own kids recite the Meiji Imperial Rescript on Education like Moritomo was 
 doing. But from what I’ve seen and heard, the school taught respect and 
 courtesy. Without a doubt, a lot of politicians, including within the LDP 
 and even Nippon Ishin, supported the school’s educational philosophy. 
 Therefore, a lot of prefectural officials took notice,” Hashimoto said. 
 \n\nKansai Perspective appears on the fourth Monday of each month, focusing 
 on Kansai-area developments and events of national importance with a Kansai 
 connection. \n\nJapan’s Leader Hurt by New Disclosures Over Ties to 
 Right-Wing Education Group 
 \nhttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/16/world/asia/japans-leader-hurt-by-new-disclosures-over-ties-to-right-wing-education-group.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fasia&action=click&contentCollection=asia&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0 
 \nBy JONATHAN SOBLE \nMARCH 16, 2017 \n\n<17Japan1-master768.jpg> 
 \nYasunori Kagoike, the administrator of Moritomo Gakuen, spoke to the 
 media in Osaka prefecture, Japan, last week. CreditKyodo, via Reuters  
 \nTOKYO — The leader of a scandal-tainted Japanese education group known 
 for extreme right-wing views said Thursday that Prime Minister Shinzo 
 Abehad donated money to it in 2015, a claim that directly contradicted 
 accounts by Mr. Abe. \n\nThe assertion, if true, has the potential to 
 inflict significant political damage on Mr. Abe. The group’s leader, 
 Yasunori Kagoike, did not immediately offer evidence to back up his claim. 
 \n\nAccusations that Mr. Kagoike received improper financial favors from 
 the government have escalated into a scandal that has dominated headlines 
 in Japan and hurt Mr. Abe’s approval ratings. \n\nNetwork news crews 
 followed a group of parliamentarians to Mr. Kagoike’s home in Osaka in 
 Thursday, broadcasting live as the lawmakers waited to question him. 
 \n\nMr. Kagoike’s extreme views have become a contentious issue in Japan, 
 partly because of his links to prominent political figures. A kindergarten 
 operated by his group seeks to promote “patriotism and pride” by 
 reviving elements of Japan’s militaristic prewar education system. He has 
 been accused of making derogatory statements about Chinese and Koreans. 
 \n\nHis political connections took on a newly troubling dimension after it 
 emerged last month that officials had allowed Mr. Kagoike’ group, 
 Moritomo Gakuen, to buy government-owned land at a discount. The land was 
 to be used for an elementary school, for which Moritomo Gakuen has been 
 soliciting funds and drawing encouragement from the right. \n\nMr. Abe’s 
 wife, Akie, has been a prominent supporter, serving until recently as 
 “honorary principal” of the planned school. She resigned the position 
 last month amid the escalating furor. \n\nBut Mr. Abe has denied that he 
 had direct personal links to the group. \n\n“He did not donate money, or 
 donate through Akie or his office or any third party,” Chief Cabinet 
 Secretary Yoshihide Suga, the government spokesman, said on Thursday after 
 Mr. Kagoike made his assertion. \n\nPhoto \n<17Japan2-master675.jpg> 
 \nPrime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan in Tokyo on Thursday. Accusations that 
 Mr. Kagoike received improper financial favors from the government have 
 mushroomed into a scandal that has dominated headlines in Japan and dragged 
 down Mr. Abe’s approval ratings. CreditToru Hanai/Reuters  \nPreviously 
 Mr. Abe had said he would quit politics if he or his wife were found to 
 have influenced official dealings with Moritomo Gakuen. \n\nAtsuo Ito, a 
 political analyst, said that while a donation by Mr. Abe of his own money 
 would have been legal, it would be “an ethical problem” for him, 
 because “it could mean his statements until now have been lies, which 
 would be a big incident that would shake the government.” \n\nMr. Kagoike 
 said he recalled having receiving donations in September 2015 “including 
 money donated by Abe.” \n\nHe did not elaborate but said he would provide 
 more information to Parliament. Mr. Abe’s party, the Liberal Democrats, 
 had resisted opposition demands to call Mr. Kagoike to testify, but 
 relented on Thursday after Mr. Kagoike’s remarks, according to NHK, the 
 national broadcaster. Mr. Kagoike will testify on March 23, NHK said. 
 \n\nIn Mr. Kagoike’s meeting with the lawmakers in Osaka on Thursday, he 
 elaborated somewhat, members of the parliamentary group said afterward. Mr. 
 Kagoike told them he had received 1 million yen from Mrs. Abe when she gave 
 a speech at the kindergarten in September 2015, they said. The lawmakers 
 also quoted him as saying he believed some of the money had come from the 
 prime minister. \n\nMr. Abe’s defense minister, Tomomi Inada, has also 
 been embroiled in the scandal. A former lawyer, she helped defend Moritomo 
 Gakuen in a lawsuit in 2004, but under questioning in Parliament she 
 initially denied working for the group. She retracted that statement this 
 week and apologized, saying she had forgotten, but opposition parties have 
 demanded that she resign. \n\nOfficials in Osaka prefecture said this week 
 they were considering filing a criminal complaint against Moritomo Gakuen 
 over irregularities in the school’s licensing application. \n\nIn early 
 publicity materials for the new school, Mr. Kagoike proposed naming it 
 after Mr. Abe, a champion of conservative causes who has driven changes to 
 Japan’s school system, including revisions in history textbooks to soften 
 depictions of Japan’s wartime atrocities in its former Asian empire. 
 \n\nThe Finance Ministry allowed Moritomo Gakuen to acquire the land — a 
 two-acre vacant lot near an airport in an Osaka suburb — for 134 million 
 yen, or about $1.17 million, one-seventh its assessed value. Additional 
 subsides for clearing landfill reduced Moritomo’s outlay to next to 
 nothing. \n\nMakiko Inoue contributed reporting. \n\nReactionary Corrupt 
 Japan PM Abe denies allegations in scandal-hit school chief's sworn 
 testimony 
 \nhttp://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20170324/p2g/00m/0dm/042000c \nAbe 
 denies allegations in scandal-hit school chief's sworn testimony \n\nMarch 
 24, 2017 (Mainichi Japan) \n\n<7.jpg> \nAkie Abe, the wife of Prime 
 Minister Shinzo Abe, is pictured on March 22, 2016. (Mainichi) \nTOKYO 
 (Kyodo) -- Prime Minister Shinzo Abe denied Friday that he or his wife Akie 
 gave money or favorable treatment to an Osaka school operator at the center 
 of a growing political scandal as alleged the previous day by the chief of 
 the organization in sworn testimony before the Diet. \n\nOpposition 
 lawmakers argued that further investigation is needed into whether a 
 government aide to Akie Abe was involved in the sale of a heavily 
 discounted piece of state-owned land last year to the school operator, 
 Moritomo Gakuen, which recently dropped its plan to open an elementary 
 school on the site. \n\nYasunori Kagoike, head of Moritomo Gakuen, had 
 produced under oath in the upper and lower house budget committees Thursday 
 a document purporting to show that Akie Abe's aide, Saeko Tani, made 
 inquiries to the Finance Ministry about the plot of land in 2015 at his 
 behest. \n\nKagoike also repeated his claim that Akie Abe gave him a 
 donation of 1 million yen ($8,900) on the prime minister's behalf for the 
 purposes of building the elementary school. \n\nDiet affairs chiefs from 
 the Democratic Party, Japanese Communist Party, Liberal Party and Social 
 Democratic Party agreed Friday to seek the summoning of Akie Abe and Osaka 
 Gov. Ichiro Matsui as further sworn witnesses. \n\nBut this would require 
 the agreement of ruling coalition lawmakers, something the Abe 
 administration's top spokesman seemed to dismiss Friday. \n\n"The prime 
 minister is explaining (the situation) carefully," Chief Cabinet Secretary 
 Yoshihide Suga told a press conference when asked about the oppositions' 
 plan. \n\nStanding in the same room where Kagoike gave part of his 
 testimony Thursday, Abe maintained on Friday that the content of the 
 testimony had "made clear that there was no specific involvement by 
 politicians in the sale of the state land or the accreditation of the 
 elementary school." \n\nThe prime minister's office admitted Thursday that 
 Tani had contacted the Finance Ministry for Kagoike about the plot of land 
 in Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture, which Moritomo Gakuen was leasing from the 
 state at the time. \n\n"The inquiry was asking what would happen (to the 
 land lease) institutionally and legally, and there was no request, lobbying 
 or of course any inappropriate press," Abe insisted at a session of the 
 upper house budget committee Friday. \n\n"It's extremely regrettable that 
 (Kagoike) has made statements that go against the truth by reeling off a 
 bunch of things that cannot be verified, such as the 1 million yen issue 
 and talk of backroom dealings," he said. \n\nAbe continued to insist Friday 
 that neither he nor his wife had any involvement in subsequent negotiations 
 that ended with the stridently nationalist school operator buying the 
 government land for 134 million yen -- just 14 percent of its appraised 
 value. \n\nThe price was lowered supposedly to account for the costs of 
 removing buried garbage, but the murky deal, the school's unusual 
 acquisition of provisional accreditation from Osaka Prefecture, and past 
 links between Kagoike and the Abes have fueled public scrutiny of the 
 matter and eroded approval ratings for the Abe Cabinet. \n\nAkie Abe 
 refuted Kagoike's testimony, including the donation claim, in a post on her 
 personal Facebook page Thursday night. \n\nThe prime minister's wife has 
 documented links with Kagoike. \n\nShe was until recently named the 
 honorary principal of the planned elementary school, and gave speeches at a 
 Moritomo Gakuen kindergarten that was probed for suspected hate speech 
 after parents of pupils were given pamphlets denigrating Chinese and 
 Koreans. \n\nKagoike testified Thursday that a recent exchange of emails 
 with Akie Abe via his wife, Junko Kagoike, could be interpreted as an 
 attempt to silence him. The prime minister on Friday called this claim 
 "malicious." \n\nAbe also expressed disappointment that Kagoike had not 
 explained why the school gave three different amounts for construction 
 costs on contracts it submitted to prefectural authorities and others. 
 \n\nDefense Minister Tomomi Inada on Friday played down her connection with 
 Kagoike and also denied any involvement of her husband, who had been hired 
 by Moritomo Gakuen as a lawyer, in the land purchase deal. \n\n"I may have 
 met Mr. Kagoike when he came to meet my husband at (our) office, but, 
 anyway, we're talking about something more than 10 years before -- before I 
 lost access with Mr. Kagoike," she said in a statement released Friday. 
 \n\nKagoike testified the day prior that Inada was among the lawyers who 
 dealt with him at the office when her husband signed a contract to become a 
 legal adviser for the school operator. \n\nInada reiterated that she has 
 never been a legal adviser for Moritomo Gakuen and it was only her husband 
 Ryuji Inada who had performed the role. Even the contract between her 
 husband and the school operator ended around August 2009, she said. 
 \n\nKagoike insisted Thursday that he sought advice from Ryuji Inada in 
 January 2016 about the land, but Inada said her husband has denied being 
 asked for consultations over the deal. \n\nInada initially denied her links 
 to the operator but admitted last week that she represented Moritomo Gakuen 
 as a lawyer at a civil case hearing in December 2004 before she became a 
 lawmaker. \n\nEx-chief of Japanese scandal-hit nationalist school operator 
 quizzed over illegal subsidy fraud \n\nEx-chief of scandal-hit school 
 operator quizzed over subsidy fraud 
 \n\nhttp://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20170728/p2g/00m/0dm/015000c \nJuly 
 28, 2017 (Mainichi Japan) \n<7.jpg> \nYasunori Kagoike (Mainichi) \n\nJunko 
 Kagoike (Mainichi) \nOSAKA (Kyodo) -- Prosecutors questioned the former 
 chief of a scandal-mired nationalist school operator and his wife on 
 Thursday in connection with the alleged receipt of fraudulent public 
 subsidies for their businesses. \n\nThe criminal investigation into 
 Yasunori Kagoike, 64, former chief of Moritomo Gakuen, and his wife Junko, 
 60, who served as a senior official of schools run by the operator, 
 followed a controversial sale of public land that embroiled Prime Minister 
 Shinzo Abe, whose wife Akie was named honorary principal of the school 
 planned for the site. \n\nAfter the questioning at the Osaka District 
 Public Prosecutors Office, which lasted around three hours, the Kagoikes 
 declined to make any comment to reporters and hastily left for home. 
 \n\nLater Thursday, Kagoike told reporters that he "remained mostly silent" 
 during the questioning. \n\nKagoike drew attention for securing a huge 
 discount for the purchase of the state-owned land in Osaka for the 
 construction of an elementary school. Akie Abe was named honorary principal 
 of the planned school but resigned after the deal was revealed. \n\nThe 
 office's special investigation squad brought the couple in on Thursday 
 after it received a complaint in March that the school operator unlawfully 
 received state subsidies worth about 56 million yen ($505,000) related to 
 the construction of the elementary school in the city of Toyonaka. \n\nThe 
 school was scheduled to open in April, but Moritomo Gakuen gave up 
 following the scandal and Kagoike stepped down as head of the school 
 operator in March. \n\nKagoike also faces another criminal complaint filed 
 in May that he swindled around 62 million yen in subsidies between fiscal 
 2011 and 2016 from Osaka Prefecture for a kindergarten in the city of 
 Osaka. In June, the prosecutors raided sites linked with Moritomo Gakuen. 
 \n\nIn applying for state subsidies for the elementary school construction, 
 Moritomo Gakuen submitted a document showing building costs totaled around 
 2.38 billion yen. But the operator is suspected of having padded the costs 
 to obtain increased subsidies, investigative sources said. \n\nThe office 
 also intends to build cases over the two allegations, believing that 
 Kagoike initiated the actions, according to the sources. \n\nThe Osaka 
 prefectural government has also said the school operator illegally received 
 the subsidies for its Tsukamoto kindergarten by making false reports about 
 teachers' working conditions and pupils requiring special assistance due to 
 disabilities and other reasons. \n\nRegarding the controversial land deal, 
 Moritomo Gakuen was found to have acquired the 8,770-square-meter plot in 
 June last year for 134 million yen, roughly 14 percent of its appraisal 
 value, following negotiations with the Finance Ministry's local bureau. 
 \n\nThe prosecutors have accepted a criminal complaint against senior 
 officials of the ministry's Kinki bureau for breach of trust over the land 
 deal, which came to light in February. \n\nMeanwhile, the mother of a 
 former pupil at Tsukamoto kindergarten has lodged a damages suit against 
 Kagoike, seeking about 1.65 million yen for mental anguish. The plaintiff 
 claims her child was forced out of the kindergarten after she refused to 
 join the school's parent-teacher association. \n\nDuring the first 
 in-person pleading at the Osaka District Court on Thursday, Kagoike's 
 representative demanded the suit be dropped, saying, "Participation in the 
 PTA was not mandatory and the school did not tell the pupil to leave." 
 \n\nAccording to the suit, the mother refused to join the PTA as long as 
 details of its financial reports remained undisclosed. In April 2016, when 
 Kagoike headed the facility, she was notified that her child should leave 
 the kindergarten because her participation in the association was 
 compulsory. \n\n-Japan PM Kishida denies Unification Church ties after 
 magazine report \nhttps://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14702234\nBy KEISHI 
 NISHIMURA/ Staff Writer\nAugust 24, 2022 at 18:53 
 JST\n\nPhoto/Illutration\nPrime Minister Fumio Kishida takes questions 
 online from reporters on Aug. 24. (Koichi Ueda)\nPrime Minister Fumio 
 Kishida on Aug. 24 again denied having any relations with the Unification 
 Church after a weekly magazine reported that one of his key supporters 
 did.\n\n“As I have said before, to the best of my knowledge, I myself do 
 not have a connection to the former Unification Church,” Kishida, who has 
 tested positive for COVID-19, told reporters in an online news 
 conference.\n\nAn online article the Shukan Bunshun published the previous 
 day said Mineo Nakayama, president of Sojo University in Kumamoto, used to 
 head an organization that promoted a “Japan-Korean undersea tunnel” 
 project with ties to the Unification Church.\n\nNakayama currently chairs 
 Kishida’s support group in Kumamoto Prefecture.\n\nKishida said Nakayama 
 was unaware that the organization was involved with the Unification Church, 
 now formally known as the Family Federation for World Peace and 
 Unification.\n\n“I heard that (Nakayama) already quit (the 
 organization),” Kishida said.\n\nThe magazine also reported that Kishida 
 contributed an article to a newsletter published by an educational group 
 that is also related to the church.\n\nKishida said he submitted the 
 article because the chair of the educational group was his 
 supporter.\n\n“The chairperson has declared that the (educational group) 
 is not related to the former Unification Church,” Kishida said.\n\nIn 
 addition, Shukan Bunshun reported that politicians and others based in 
 Kishida’s constituency of Hiroshima Prefecture have connections to the 
 Unification Church.\n\nKishida said about the report, “I am not in a 
 position to know their every activity.”\n\nHe said the magazine’s 
 report about other people in the prefecture “was something I don’t know 
 anything about.”\n\nLawmakers of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party have 
 been distancing themselves from the Unification Church ever since its 
 donation-collection activities came under scrutiny again following the 
 shooting death of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July.\n\nKishida said 
 he will step up LDP efforts to establish an effective system to review 
 members’ ties with the group.\n\nBut he declined to provide details of 
 the enhanced efforts.\n\nNakayama held a news conference at the university 
 on Aug. 24 and said he had no idea that the tunnel-project organization was 
 related to the church.\n\nHe said he took the chairman’s post at the 
 organization in 2011, when it was established, because he was asked to do 
 so by a former Kumamoto city assembly member.\n\nNakayama on Aug. 23 
 submitted his resignation from the position after reading the magazine’s 
 report, he said.\n\nHe has been chairman of Kumamoto Kishida-kai, a group 
 that supports the prime minister, since its inception in 2020.\n\nThe group 
 solicited votes for Kishida from local LDP members when he ran in and won 
 the party’s presidential election in September 2021.\n\nKishida received 
 6,109 votes in Kumamoto Prefecture, the most of any candidate, in the 
 election.\n\nNakayama said he did not ask people related to the tunnel 
 project to help Kishida in the presidential race.\n\n“I understand that 
 the former Unification Church had no influence in garnering votes,” 
 Nakayama said.\n\nHe also said the magazine report gives the impression 
 that Kishida has ties to the church.\n\n“I feel sorry for that,” 
 Nakayama said.\n\nThe project to build a more than 200-kilometer-long 
 undersea tunnel connecting northern Kyushu and southern South Korea was 
 proposed by Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the Unification Church, in 
 1981.\n\nJapan Agency oversight of Unification Church halted after ’09 
 lawsuit\nhttps://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14701288\nTHE ASAHI 
 SHIMBUN\nAugust 23, 2022 at 18:34 JST\n\n\nPhoto/Illutration\nThis building 
 in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward houses the offices of the Family Federation for 
 World Peace and Unification, more widely known as the Unification Church. 
 (Eishi Kado)\nThe Agency for Cultural Affairs, after learning about dodgy 
 donation-collection practices at the Unification Church, held at least nine 
 interviews with the group over 11 years from 1998, documents obtained by 
 The Asahi Shimbun showed.\n\nAt these meetings, the agency instructed the 
 Unification Church to conduct “adequate management and 
 administration.”\n\nBut these interviews stopped in 2009 when a former 
 follower of the group sued both the church and the government.\n\nThe 
 agency acknowledged on Aug. 22 that the halt in interviews weakened its 
 oversight of the group.\n\nIts previous objections to the church’s plan 
 to change its name also disappeared after the lawsuit was filed.\n\nThe 
 agency in 2015 gave the green light to the new name, the Family Federation 
 for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU), despite complaints from a lawyers 
 group and other concerned parties that the organization was trying to 
 conceal its notoriety.\n\nKihei Maekawa, who headed the agency’s 
 Religious Affairs Division, had told public gatherings that he informed the 
 Unification Church in 1997 that the agency would reject its application for 
 the name change to the FFWPU.\n\nMaekawa said the church’s so-called 
 spiritual sales that involved pressing followers and lay people to buy 
 items, such as pots, at exorbitant prices was widely recognized as a social 
 problem over many years.\n\nHe said he also believed at that time that the 
 name change could “cover up the true nature (of the church).”\n\nThe 
 concern was that many people would not recognize the FFWPU as the 
 Unification Church. The FFWPU could gain new followers and continue its 
 spiritual sales and pressure for large donations.\n\nIt was those practices 
 that prompted the agency to interview the church on a voluntary basis 
 between January 1998 and April 2009, according to the documents and other 
 sources.\n\nThe agency conducted those sessions because “damages have 
 been reported from (the Unification Church’s) missionary activities, 
 spiritual sales, coercion for donations and commitments.”\n\nThe agency 
 said in the document that it “has been aware of such issues since they 
 were first brought to public attention.”\n\nIt also said the agency 
 “needed to make some response to the Unification Church within the range 
 acceptable under the Constitution and the Religious Corporations 
 Law.”\n\nThe agency said it instructed the church to exercise “adequate 
 management and administration” and “sincerely respond to individual 
 cases,” based on a 1997 Supreme Court ruling that found the church liable 
 for financial damages that it caused with its practices.\n\nSuch oversight 
 of the group ended after a former follower brought a lawsuit against the 
 church in 2009 and demanded the return of donations.\n\nThe plaintiff also 
 sued the state, arguing that the government allowed the church to continue 
 with its activities despite the many allegations brought against the 
 group.\n\nThe Asahi Shimbun obtained copies of documents submitted to a 
 court by the state side in the lawsuit.\n\nMaekawa later became the 
 highest-ranked bureaucrat at the education ministry, which has oversight of 
 the Agency of Cultural Affairs.\n\nThe agency accepted the application for 
 the name change in 2015.\n\nMany lawmakers of the ruling Liberal Democratic 
 Party with ties to organizations linked to the church said they didn’t 
 know about the affiliation to the Unification Church.\n\nAn official who 
 now heads the agency’s Regional Affairs Division told The Asahi Shimbun 
 on Aug. 22 that “the agency back then may have thought having contact 
 with the church when they were both sued in the same lawsuit could lead to 
 unnecessary misunderstandings.”\n\nThe official acknowledged that the 
 suspension of interviews could have weakened the agency’s watch for the 
 church.\n\nBut the official said the name change and the suspension of 
 interviews are “separate issues.”\n\nThe official added that it is not 
 clear if the agency has resumed interviews with the church from 2017, when 
 another church-related lawsuit brought against the state was 
 settled.\n\nHiroshi Segi, a former judge and professor of the law of civil 
 procedure at Meiji University, raised doubts about the agency’s 
 approach.\n\n“Generally speaking, the agency should make a distinction 
 between interviews it conducts as a government agency and its exercise of 
 restraint as a party involved in a lawsuit,” he said.\n 
 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2022/09/02/18851887.php
SUMMARY:No Honors & State Funeral For War Monger & Denialist Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo
LOCATION:Japanese Consulate\n275 Battery St./California\nSan Francisco
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2022/09/02/18851887.php
DTSTART:20220926T190000Z
DTEND:20220926T203000Z
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