Inside the Room Where They Tried to Break Faith

Japan: A firsthand account of life inside a room turned into a prison – 12 years of confinement, pressure, and attempted coercive faith-breaking

Part 3 of “My Experience of Abduction, Confinement, and Forced Deconversion”, a testimony on 19^th September 2026 by Toru Goto (後藤徹), a Japanese member of the Family Federation and victim of attempted coercive faith-breaking – locked up for over 12 years in apartment turned prison. This first-hand witness account – of high relevance for the current dissolution case against the Family Federation in Japan – was delivered at a Zoom conference organized by Peace and Reconciliation Together (PnR-T), a Dutch-registered foundation focused on reconciliation, peacebuilding, dialogue, and healing historical conflicts.

Continued from part 1: Apartment Turned Prison: 12 Years to Break Faith

Continued from part 2: Escaped from 1st Confinement, But Abducted Again

Continued in part 4: Trapped: 13 Breaking Faith of 1 in Locked Room

Continued in part 5: For 12 Years They Took My Freedom, Not My Faith

Continued in part 6: Thrown Out After Being Locked Up for 12 Years

Continued in part 7: The Grueling, Lonely 10-km Walk to Freedom

Continued in part 8: 12 Years Locked Up in Flat, Justice at Last

At around 2 a.m., the van stopped in front of an apartment building in Niigata, far from Tokyo.

With my arms restrained by my father and older brother, and surrounded by a large number of people, I was forced into a room on the sixth floor.

When I looked around the room, I saw that the windows and doors had been locked so that I could not freely leave.

There was no television or radio, and I was cut off from information from the outside world.

It was a room where, under my family’s surveillance, there was no way I could escape.

This photograph is a reconstruction using the same type of equipment that was actually installed there.

I said to my family,

“What is this? Do you really think such a violation of human rights is acceptable? Abduction and confinement are crimes.”

My older brother Tsuru replied,

“This isn’t abduction and confinement. It’s protection. We will settle this matter no matter what sacrifices we have to make. You should be prepared as well.”

Before long, a Christian pastor began bringing former members to the place where I was confined in order to carry out the faith-breaking.

Day after day, in that closed space from which there was no escape, I was forced to listen to criticism of the Unification Church and the Unification Principles.

I had been prepared for the possibility of being confined again, but the suffering was far beyond anything I had imagined. I prayed,

“Heavenly Father, if I endure this, surely an opportunity to escape will be given to me. Please give me the strength to endure.”

After approximately three and a half months of confinement, I once again decided to pretend that I had been deconverted in order to escape. I told my father,

“I’ve thought about this a great deal, and I’ve realized that the Unification Principles are wrong. I’m sorry for all the worry I’ve caused you.”

My mother’s expression brightened.

I felt conflicted about deceiving my family.

As I watched my mother rejoice, I also thought about how shocked she would be if, after escaping, I returned to the Church.

Nevertheless, I felt that as long as I continued to maintain my faith, there was no way I would be released.

I wrote a declaration stating that I had left the Church.

However, because I had escaped by pretending to have been deconverted during my first period of confinement, my family did not trust me.

The pastor gave me an assignment: I was told to write a detailed account of my life from the time I joined the Unification Church until I decided to leave it.

They continued checking me to determine whether I had really been deconverted.

Even more than six months after I had declared that I had left the Church, I remained confined in a room.

Once the confinement exceeded one year, my sense of isolation from the outside world became stronger day by day.

I kept thinking about the woman with whom I had pledged my future through our Marriage Blessing. How worried must she have been? She must have been desperately searching for me. Those thoughts weighed heavily on my heart.

In order to become free, I had to conceal my true feelings and pretend that I had lost my faith. At times I even had to speak ill of the Unification Church and its teachings. Continuing to deny my own true feelings in this way became an enormous source of suffering for me.

After that, I was moved between two more locations, and for the final approximately ten years I was confined in an apartment in Tokyo.

Even after two and a half years of confinement, there was no sign that I would be released.

I was reaching my psychological limit from having to conceal my true feelings and continue pretending that I had been deconverted.

In loneliness and hardship, a believer has one weapon. That weapon is prayer. I prayed desperately in the bathroom, in the bath, and late at night with the futon pulled over my head.

I began praying: “What is God‘s will? What should I do?”

Several days after I began praying, I received an inspiration:

“Declare your faith and fight openly and honestly!”

I was astonished. The false deconversion I had maintained for two years would become meaningless, and the intense faith-breaking sessions would begin again. Honestly, I thought,

“Please, no. I can’t go through this again.”

But during prayer, a passage from the Old Testament came to mind:

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified […] for the Lord your God goes with you wherever you go.”

Courage began to return to my utterly discouraged heart. I said, “Heavenly Father, I will fight,” and made a vow to God.

I called my older brother and said in a loud voice:

“Actually, I just pretended to have given up my faith. Even now, I believe that the Unification Principles are the truth, and I believe that Reverend Sun Myung Moon is the Messiah.”

Then I slammed my fist on the table and said,

“You people are the ones at fault for doing this. Don’t mess with me!”

Continued in part 4: Trapped: 13 Breaking Faith of 1 in Locked Room

Continued in part 5: For 12 Years They Took My Freedom, Not My Faith

Continued in part 6: Thrown Out After Being Locked Up for 12 Years

Continued in part 7: The Grueling, Lonely 10-km Walk to Freedom

Continued in part 8: 12 Years Locked Up in Flat, Justice at Last

Continued from part 1: Apartment Turned Prison: 12 Years to Break Faith

Continued from part 2: Escaped from 1st Confinement, But Abducted Again

Featured image above: Toru Goto going through an intense faith-breaking session led by professional faith-breaker Takashi Miyamura and surrounded by former members of the Unification Church and family members. Illustration: Dola AI, created for illustrative purposes 25^th September 2026

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