Harrowing Rights Abuses Against Minority Faith

Abduction, confinement, and faith-breaking: The harrowing rights abuses perpetrated against Family Federation members in Japan

Tokyo, 20th December 2024 – Published as the 53rd article in a series in the Japanese newspaper Sekai Nippo. Republished with permission. Translated from Japanese. Original article

Series: Freedom of Religion Under Threat – Part 7: Religion in Japan in a Global Context

Faith-Breakers Give Instructions on Abduction and Confinement, Violating Human Rights

by the Religious Freedom Investigative Team of the editorial department of Sekai Nippo

See part 1 of the series: The Kishida Administration’s Reckless Actions: 1st article, 2nd article, 3rd article, 4th article, 5th article, 6th article

See part 2: Ripples to Local Assemblies: 7th article, 8th article, 9th article, 10th article, 11th article, 12th article, 13th article, 14th article, 15th article

See part 3: Believers Suffering Discrimination and Human Rights Violations: 16th article, 17th article, 18th article, 19th article, 20th article, 21st article, 22nd article

See part 4: Media Crossing the Line: 23rd article, 24th article, 25th article, 26th article, 27th article, 28th article 

See part 5: The Distorted Image of the “Second-Generation”: 29th article, 30th article, 31st article, 32nd article, 33rd article, 34th article, 35th article, 36th article, 37th article, 38th article

See part 6: Voices of Religious Leaders: 39th article, 40th article, 41st article, 42nd article, 43rd article, 44th article, 45th article, 46th article

See part 7: Religion in Japan in a Global Context: 47th article, 48th article, 49th article, 50th article, 51st article, 52nd article, 54th article, 55th article

See Epilogue: 56th article, 57th article, 58th article

Members of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (formerly the Unification Church) who are abducted face two desperate situations. The first is the harsh reality of confinement, where all freedoms are suppressed. In the case of Dr. Hirohisa Koide (小出浩久), chains were wrapped around the door handles, windows were sealed and boarded up, and his living space was confined to a single six-tatami-mat room [Editor’s note: In Japan, a tatami mat is a standard unit of area used for measuring rooms. 6 such mats would cover ca. 9 or 10 square meters]

A guard was stationed in the adjacent room (also six tatami mats). He was denied access to TV, radio, or newspapers and was only allowed to read the Bible or books approved by Takashi Miyamura (宮村峻), a faith-breaker.

In this enclosed space, Miyamura and former church members (including acquaintances) frequently visited, aggressively criticizing the doctrines, the church, and its founder.

Added to this was “abnormal behavior and actions from the family”. While abducting and confining one’s child is inherently abnormal, when the persuasion to leave the church did not proceed as planned, “they would lose control emotionally and suddenly hit or kick me.” Agreements that had been painstakingly reached were often broken overnight.

The emotional pain inflicted by one’s own parents – who had raised and supported him through university but now wholly denied his identity – cannot be overstated. Such abnormal behavior by parents is not unique to Dr. Koide; there are many cases where even worse treatment was inflicted.

Although the perpetrators are parents or relatives, what enables them to engage in such inhumane acts? The reason is that individuals like Takashi Miyamura and cooperating pastor Yasutomo Matsunaga (松永堡智) conducted extensive education sessions with the family members of believers, during which they intensely criticized the church and actively “coached” (incited or aided) them how to carry out abduction and confinement.

Koide’s parents visited pastor Satoshi Moriyama (森山諭) in 1984 and participated in his Saturday study sessions, although they eventually stopped attending. However, after being approached by Takashi Miyamura, whom they met under pastor Moriyama, they began attending Miyamura’s study group. Miyamura skillfully manipulated the emotions of parents concerned for their children. Through former members of the church, he spread one-sided information such as, “The church is an anti-social organization, and your children are living miserable lives.” He taught, “They’ve been deceived.” Eventually, he gained the trust of Koide’s mother to the extent that she said, “Even if I would have to cling to him, I decided to follow this man [Miyamura].”

On this foundation of trust, Miyamura “advised” parents on methods of coercing their children to renounce their faith through abduction and confinement. Koide’s father reportedly consulted and reported to Miyamura daily and acted according to his instructions.

Koide himself testified that, during his second false renunciation of the faith, he assisted pastor Matsunaga in the “Parent Study Group”, held every Saturday at 6 PM for three hours at Matsunaga’s church. At that time, around 50 relatives from Niigata, Nagano, Yamagata, and Toyama gathered. These sessions not only involved intense criticism of the church’s activities and doctrines but also provided instructional videos explaining how parents should interact with their children before and during confinement and after attempting to convince them to leave the church. The videos covered step-by-step instructions for abduction, confinement, and post-confinement interactions.

These study sessions included lectures by Pastor Matsunaga and testimonials from former members about their experiences – touted as “success stories” of persuasion during confinement. Additionally, consultation meetings for relatives and former members were held once or twice a month. At these meetings, relatives were encouraged to believe that “The Unification Church is an anti-social criminal organization, and children who join are also criminals. Saving these children is the most important duty of a parent.” The parents were convinced that abduction and confinement were the only ways to “rescue” their children.

For those determined to resort to abduction and confinement, intensive two-day seminars called “2DAYS” were held, where participants received concrete instructions and practiced mock scenarios for executing these actions.

It is not inherently problematic for Miyamura or pastor Matsunaga to express their beliefs about the church, its founder, or its doctrines to gain the trust of parents. However, they exploited that trust to incite parents and relatives into committing crimes of abduction and confinement, coercing children to renounce their faith in a manner that violated their human rights and tore apart family bonds. Former members who became victims were then involved in perpetrating similar crimes, perpetuating a cycle of egregious human rights violations.

Featured image above: Hirohisa Koide (小出浩久) speaks about the harm caused by abduction and confinement. 20^th January 2024, in Miyazaki City. Photo: Tsuyoshi Toyoda (豊 田 剛).

See part 1 of the series: The Kishida Administration’s Reckless Actions: 1st article, 2nd article, 3rd article, 4th article, 5th article, 6th article

See part 2: Ripples to Local Assemblies: 7th article, 8th article, 9th article, 10th article, 11th article, 12th article, 13th article, 14th article, 15th article

See part 3: Believers Suffering Discrimination and Human Rights Violations: 16th article, 17th article, 18th article, 19th article, 20th article, 21st article, 22nd article

See part 4: Media Crossing the Line: 23rd article, 24th article, 25th article, 26th article, 27th article, 28th article 

See part 5: The Distorted Image of the “Second-Generation”: 29th article, 30th article, 31st article, 32nd article, 33rd article, 34th article, 35th article, 36th article, 37th article, 38th article

See part 6: Voices of Religious Leaders: 39th article, 40th article, 41st article, 42nd article, 43rd article, 44th article, 45th article, 46th article

See part 7: Religion in Japan in a Global Context: 47th article, 48th article, 49th article, 50th article, 51st article, 52nd article, 54th article, 55th article

See Epilogue: 56th article, 57th article, 58th article

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