Believers’ Last Hope for Fair Trial Crushed

Shattered hope for judicial impartiality in decisive Supreme Court hearings as court rejects bid to remove justice with ties to hostile network of lawyers

The large Japanese news agency Kyodo News reported on 28^th May 2026 on a new controversy that has emerged around the Supreme Court proceedings concerning the dissolution order against the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, formerly known as the Unification Church. The issue centers on Supreme Court Justice Masami Okino (沖野眞已), whose prior public comments about the religious organization became the basis for a motion seeking her disqualification from the case. On 27^th May, however, the First Petty Bench of the Supreme Court rejected that motion, stating that the circumstances cited by the religious organization “cannot be regarded as impairing the fairness of the trial.”

See also Supreme Court Justice with Hostile Views

See also Flawed Reasoning of a Politician Backing Torts

See also Beyond Dissolution: A Religious Purge in Japan?

See also Next Target After Dissolution: Believers’ Rights

See also How to Remain Free in an Age of Inquisition

The dispute arises in the broader context of one of the most consequential religious freedom cases in postwar Japan. In March 2026, the Tokyo High Court upheld a court order dissolving the Family Federation as a religious corporation, citing allegations long advocated by a network of hostile activist lawyers. Several of those lawyers were appointed as advisors to the government, which built their dissolution case against the Family Federation on “harms” connected to large-scale donations and so-called “spiritual sales” practices.

As a last resort, the religious organization subsequently filed a special appeal with the Supreme Court, making the case a major test of the balance between state authority, and constitutional guarantees of religious liberty.

Concerns about judicial impartiality intensified after an article published on 22^nd May by the Japanese online magazine BEST T!MES highlighted Justice Okino’s participation in a July 2024 seminar organized by the Japan Federation of Bar Associations. The seminar focused on “spiritual sales” issues and included lawyers associated with the National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales, a group long critical of the Family Federation.

According to the religious organization’s petition, Okino made remarks utterly condemning the Federation during the seminar suggesting that the Federation’s missionary activities themselves posed serious problems. She reportedly stated that there were “similarities with multi-level marketing schemes”. Critics of her involvement argue that such statements demonstrate a prejudgment of issues directly connected to the pending appeal.

The BEST T!MES article, written by political philosopher and commentator Masaki Nakamasa (仲正 昌樹), portrayed the situation as a profound threat to judicial neutrality and religious freedom in Japan. The article argued that Okino’s comments appeared to go beyond criticism of fundraising practices and instead treated the mere propagation of the Family Federation’s doctrine as inherently problematic. Nakamasa characterized this as incompatible with the principles of a state governed by the rule of law and questioned why the justice had not voluntarily withdrawn from the proceedings.

Against this backdrop, the Supreme Court’s rejection of the recusal motion was brief and categorical. The First Petty Bench concluded that the circumstances raised by the Family Federation were insufficient to establish that Justice Okino’s participation would compromise the fairness of the proceedings. The decision effectively allows her to remain involved in deliberations on the organization’s special appeal.

The Family Federation’s legal team reacted sharply. In a statement released on 28^th May, Attorney Nobuya Fukumoto (福本修也) of Fukumoto Law Office stated:

“On 27^th May 2026, the First Petty Bench of the Supreme Court rejected the motion to disqualify Justice Masami Okino (沖野眞已). The stated reason for the rejection was that ‘the circumstances cited in this motion cannot be regarded as impairing the fairness of the trial.’ We cannot accept this decision at all.”

For supporters of the Family Federation, the issue has become symbolic of what they see as institutional prejudice against the religious organization in the aftermath of the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (安倍晋三) in 2022, which triggered an intense wave of persecution of the religious organization.

The organized opposition to what until 2015 In Japan was called the Unification Church, can be traced back to the 1970’s when members helped conservative candidates defeat leftwing politicians in local and national elections. After parties on the left of the political scale had suffered a series of such election losses, leftwing lawyers formed what became National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales in order to have the Unification Church – now the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification – dissolved by means of systematic lawfare.

Justice Okino herself is a prominent civil law scholar who served at the University of Tokyo and became the first female dean of its law faculty before being appointed to the Supreme Court by the former administration of Shigeru Ishiba (石破 茂) in July 2025. Her academic reputation and public comments have now placed her at the center of a legal and political battle with implications extending well beyond a single religious organization.

As the Supreme Court moves forward with the Family Federation’s final appeal, the debate over judicial neutrality, freedom of religion, and the role of courts in politically charged cases is likely to intensify further.

See also Supreme Court Justice with Hostile Views

See also Flawed Reasoning of a Politician Backing Torts

See also Beyond Dissolution: A Religious Purge in Japan?

See also Next Target After Dissolution: Believers’ Rights

See also How to Remain Free in an Age of Inquisition

Text: Knut Holdhus, editor

Featured image above: The Supreme Court of Japan (Saikōsaibansho). Photo: っ / Wikimedia Commons. License: CC ASA 3.0 Unp

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