The Hidden Story Japan Doesn’t Want You to Hear

Investigative journalist takes you inside the hidden plot to eradicate a religion: Japan’s campaign against faith minority Family Federation

Part 1 of a speech given by Japanese investigative journalist and prize-winning author Masumi Fukuda (福田ますみ) at a press conference on the theme “Japan: The Hidden Story Behind the Eradication of a Religion”, held at the Brussels Press Club in Brussels, Belgium on 29^th June 2026, organized by Human Rights Without Frontiers (HRWF), an independent non-profit NGO. Translated from the transcription of the original Japanese, slightly edited.

See part 2: Japanese Court Assumes the Role of Inquisitor

See part 3: Japan: The Political Origins of Smear Campaign

See also part 4: This Is About More Than One Religion

First of all, thank you very much to everyone for taking time out of your busy schedules to gather here today.

As I was just introduced, my name is Masumi Fukuda. I am a freelance journalist from Japan.

As was also mentioned, I am not a believer in this religion. In fact, I am not affiliated with any religion at all. I am simply an independent freelance journalist.

Last November, I published a book entitled The State’s Sacrifice (国家の生贄 – Kokka no Ikenie). It is a nonfiction work compiled and revised from a series of articles that I had been publishing in a monthly magazine since the end of 2022.

Allow me to briefly introduce myself. Including The State’s Sacrifice, I have published seven books.

One of my earlier nonfiction books, Fabrication (Detchiage), became a bestseller with over 230,000 copies sold. It received a major literary award, was adapted into a film last year, and was released on Netflix this year, where it ranked No. 1 in the Japanese film category for two consecutive weeks. The year before last, I also received the Wilbur Award in the United States, which honors outstanding works related to religion.

Readers of my latest book, The State’s Sacrifice, have reacted with great astonishment. They have written comments such as:

“Terrible wrongdoing was taking place where ordinary citizens could not see.”

“This reveals truths that the media refuses to tell.”

“It is filled with facts everyone should read.”

I believe that nearly everything I wrote in this rather thick book will be completely new information to most Japanese citizens. However, it is unquestionably true. On the cover, it says:

“We must not turn our eyes away from the truth.”

This book is a report about the former Unification Church. Today, what I want to tell you is precisely what is written in this book.

Many of you probably think of Japan as an advanced democratic nation where freedom, human rights, and religious liberty are firmly established. However, today’s Japan is no longer such a country. Freedom of religion is being violated. The foundations of constitutional government and the rule of law are being shaken. Japanese democracy itself is facing a crisis.

Some of what I say will overlap with previous speakers, but first I would like to explain the former Unification Church – now officially called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification – a religious organization that originated in Korea. Until 2015, its official name was the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, commonly known as the Unification Church. For familiarity’s sake, I will continue to use the name “Unification Church“.

Once again, let me emphasize that I am not a member of this church. I am simply an ordinary citizen.

As already explained, dissolution proceedings have already begun against this religious corporation. Its headquarters and churches throughout Japan have been placed under the control of court-appointed administrators and effectively closed. Members are no longer allowed to enter their churches.

In other words, believers can no longer gather for worship. They have lost the places where they held services and religious ceremonies. Nearly 2,000 staff members employed by the church across Japan have also been affected, and many have already been dismissed by the court-appointed administrators. As you can imagine, it is extremely difficult for them to find new employment.

After the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (安倍晋三), something completely unexpected happened to ordinary members of the former Unification Church.

They began experiencing various forms of persecution and discrimination. Some members have committed suicide. Some lost their jobs after their employers learned that they belonged to the church. Students were deeply shocked when they heard teachers telling classmates that the Unification Church was an evil religion. Volunteer organizations affiliated with church members found that local governments rejected all of their offers of community service.

The church received numerous threatening letters. Church buildings were vandalized with large graffiti calling them a “cult”. For a time, the internet and social media were flooded with defamatory attacks against the church.

The most serious discrimination has been directed toward church employees. Some have been unable to rent apartments. Others have had lease renewals denied. Some have been refused credit cards. There have even been cases where people seeking medical treatment were turned away because the name of the church appeared on their health insurance information.

As I said earlier, Japan is a country that constitutionally guarantees freedom of religion.

So did this religious organization receive a dissolution order because it committed extraordinarily serious crimes?

Many of you may know about the Aum Shinrikyo incident in the 1990s. In 1995, Aum Shinrikyo released sarin gas in the Tokyo subway. Including its other crimes, 29 people were killed and nearly 6,000 were injured. Its founder and senior leaders were sentenced to death for murder. Naturally, because of these horrific crimes, Aum Shinrikyo received a dissolution order.

But is the Unification Church similarly an evil organization? Did it also commit mass murder? The answer is no. The situation is completely different. As an organization, the Unification Church has not committed a single criminal offense. Neither its leaders nor any of its tens of thousands of members have committed murder or violent crimes. So why is the Unification Church being dissolved?

The primary reason is disputes over donations.

Continued in part 2: Japanese Court Assumes the Role of Inquisitor

See part 3: Japan: The Political Origins of Smear Campaign

See also part 4: This Is About More Than One Religion

Featured image above: Masumi Fukuda speaking at the press conference in Brussels on 29^th June 2026. Screenshot from live transmission by HRWF

Related to the hidden plot to eradicate a religion: Lawfare: State Uses Legal System in War on Faith

More, related to the hidden plot to eradicate a religion: Scholar Questions Secrecy in Dissolution Case

And more, related to the hidden plot to eradicate a religion: Shocked Author: “Japan Ignores Basics of Justice”

Still more, related to the hidden plot to eradicate a religion: Legal Inconsistencies A Blow to Democracy

Even more, related to the hidden plot to eradicate a religion: Japan: Court Accused of Using Speculation

Also related to the hidden plot to eradicate a religion: MEXT’s Legal Spin and “Dissolution at All Costs”

Also related to the hidden plot to eradicate a religion: UN Report: Japan’s Lawfare Against Faith Minority

And also related to the hidden plot to eradicate a religion: Protesting No Transparency in Closed-Door Trial

More, related to the hidden plot to eradicate a religion: Dangerous Flaws in Dissolution Order Decried

Also related to the hidden plot to eradicate a religion: “Lawyers Lying and Shaming Japan” for 50 Years

And also related to the hidden plot to eradicate a religion: Japan Following the Way of China

And also related to the hidden plot to eradicate a religion: Japan’s Dissolution Case Echoes China’s Playbook

More, related to the hidden plot to eradicate a religion: Media/Legal Expert: Communism Behind Persecution

And more, related to the hidden plot to eradicate a religion: Militant Lawyers Dictate Government Policy

More, related to the hidden plot to eradicate a religion: Collusion to Rob Minority of Its Rights

And more, related to the hidden plot to eradicate a religion: State and Media Creating “Today’s Non-Citizens”

Still more, related to the hidden plot to eradicate a religion: Japan Copying China: State Seizure of Churches

And still more, related to the hidden plot to eradicate a religion: 12 Religious Freedom NGOs Denouncing Japan

More, related to the hidden plot to eradicate a religion: 4300 Abductions and Forcible Detentions

And more, related to the hidden plot to eradicate a religion: Japan: Families Fear for Graves of Loved Ones

Yet more, related to the hidden plot to eradicate a religion: Lawyers Manipulating, Coercing, Lying

Also related to the hidden plot to eradicate a religion: Kishida Follows Anti-Family Federation Minister

Also related to the hidden plot to eradicate a religion: Militant Lawyers Dictate Government Policy

Still more, related to the hidden plot to eradicate a religion: Malicious One-Sided Government Source Selection

And still more, related to the hidden plot to eradicate a religion: Japan Urged to Make U-Turn

And yet more, related to the hidden plot to eradicate a religion: Dangerous Precedent to Crush Religions

Even more, related to the hidden plot to eradicate a religion: Japan Following the Way of China

Yet more, related to the hidden plot to eradicate a religion: Japanese Communists’ Final War

Still more, related to the hidden plot to eradicate a religion: Political and Social Activism behind Oppression

Still more, related to the hidden plot to eradicate a religion: Dissolution Case: Rule of Law on Trial 4th March