Doctor’s Ordeal of Abduction and Faith-Breaking

A believer’s two-year long ordeal at the hands of notorious deprogrammers in Japan: “They made my own family lock me away.”

Inside Japan’s Notorious Coercive Faith-Breaking Movement: “I Was Locked Up for My Faith”

1st part of a speech by Dr. Hirohisa Koide at a side event organized by the Universal Peace Federation (UPF) at the 59th session of the Human Rights Council, in hall 25 of the United Nations Office in Geneva, Switzerland 16th June 2025. Dr. Koide was introduced by the moderator Heiner Handschin as “a Japanese national, a medical doctor, and a victim of kidnapping and also so-called deprogramming, forced de-conversion, or forced renunciation of his belief. And this has happened based on non-state actors, but with the blessing of state and local authorities which turned a blind eye to it.”

See part 2: Parents Wasted $200,000 on Failed Faith-Breaking

My name is Hirohisa Koide (小出浩久). I have worked as a medical doctor in Tokyo. I’m a believer of the Unification Church / the Family Federation.

First of all, I’d like everyone to know that the act of abduction and confinement of members of the Family Federation was supported not only by people who are money-oriented or anti-religious but also by mainstream Christian pastors.

When [adult] children [Dr. Koide used the word “children”, but he speaks about adult men and women who are someone’s children] join a new religion, many parents may find it difficult to understand their [adult] children’s words and actions. Worried parents visited Christian churches seeking advice on how to deal with their [adult] children.

The pastors of the Christian churches were generally simple and honest, and the atmosphere in the churches was peaceful. But the pastors who engaged in “forced rescue” of believers had become extremely, extremely radical under the influence of leftwing activists. So the churches became such places where the terrible acts of abduction and confinement were recommended.

Without the loving atmosphere of the Christian churches, worried parents would not have been so easily convinced to resort to abduction and confinement for their own [adult] children. Two major groups of Christians, the United Church of Christ in Japan and Japan Alliance Christ Church, provided a strong foundation for anti-Family Federation groups.

Now I’m going to tell you about my own experience of abduction and confinement. I developed my faith in the Family Federation when I was a medical student. In 1990, I began working as a physician at a hospital in Tokyo.

The hospital was created by a female doctor who was a member of the Family Federation, and many doctors who were believers gathered at the hospital. I was very satisfied to work there.

However, at that time, a lot of negative “information” against the Family Federation had been spread throughout Japan by the mass media. My parents got a lot of this “information” from my friends and teachers of my medical school. Some of them introduced my parents to an anti-Family Federation group. The leader was Takashi Miyamura (宮村峻), a professional deprogrammer.

The group’s meetings were held at the Shinjuku West Church. At those meetings, they were taught how to prepare for the confinement, how to ask relatives for cooperation, and even how to get in shape mentally during the confinement.

Especially my mother was influenced by them, so she decided to lock me up and have me give up my faith. Due to her influence, my father, brother, sister and many joined in the plan to confine me.

On 17^th June 1992, when I went to my parents’ house, I was surrounded by about 15 relatives. I was thrown into a car and brought to the apartment. In front of the building, about ten former believers were waiting.

The windows in that room were fitted with metal bars so they couldn’t be opened. The view was also blocked.

The entrance door was locked with a chain, and a man sat there 24 hours a day. The room felt like it was on the 5th floor or higher.

About seven relatives stayed there with me. I was concerned about the negative effect on my patients’ physical and mental health. For several days I pleaded with everyone to let me contact the hospital. My parents and relatives gave me permission to record information about my patients and send it to the hospital. However, Miyamura, the real leader of this action, rejected it.

Then my family demanded that I explain the absurdities of the teachings and the activities of the Family Federation. I continued to cry out for them to stop the violent religious persecution that disregarded my basic human rights.

To my surprise, Hiroshi Hirata, a lawyer close to Miyamura, came to the room. The lawyer assured everyone that the situation was not illegal. My relatives accepted the lawyer’s words.

I was forced to read the New and Old Testament and a book that teaches the “absurdities” of the doctrine of the Family Federation. That night former believers and Miyamura came to the room to persuade me.

Miyamura thought violence was necessary to change the mind of believers. So I was beaten up quite a bit by both my father and my brother. A bruise around my eye caused by my father’s knee kick wouldn’t go away for over a week.

My colleagues at the hospital located the place where I was confined. The president of the hospital had petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus from the Tokyo High Court.

An order was issued for my parents to appear before the High Court. The notice was sent to the apartment, but Miyamura ignored the notice and instructed my relatives to move to another place.

We all were moved to Niigata City in the middle of the night. It is more than 250 kilometers from Tokyo. As soon as we arrived, Matsunaga (松永堡智), pastor of Niitsu Evangelical Christian Church, visited us. He was in a cooperative relationship with Miyamura, and they used the same methods – lock believers up, use biblical language, confuse them and make them give up their faith.

However, their beliefs were quite different. Miyamura had no Christian faith. Pastor Matsunaga was a so-called Calvinist.

Edited version.

Continued in part 2.

See part 2: Parents Wasted $200,000 on Failed Faith-Breaking

Featured image above: Dr. Hirohisa Koide speaking at the United Nations Office in Geneva, Switzerland 16th June 2025. Photo: Screenshot from video recording by UPF.

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