A Shindo 5, Magnitude 6.2 earthquake occurred at 10:18AM on Tuesday 6th January 2026, the epicentre was Shimane prefecture and registered in most of western Japan, including here in Kobe. And yes, could ‘religious folk’ please stop approaching and grabbing Barrier Free Japan’s arm?
The Unification Church backed 290 lawmakers of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party in the 2021 House of Representatives election, according to South Korean media reports citing internal documents of the religious group. The documents also reportedly show that, after Abe was shot dead while delivering a campaign speech in 2022, the Unification Church deleted records on Tetsuya Yamagami, who is on trial for the murder.
Tomihiro Tanaka, Japan head of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church, resigned from the post Tuesday. “We cannot underestimate the fact that we have caused deep pain to some people,” Tanaka told a news conference held at the head office in Tokyo of the controversial religious group’s Japan branch. “I’m sorry.”
Tetsuya Yamagami, charged with the 2022 murder of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, apologized to the bereaved family for the first time at Nara District Court on Thursday. At the 14th court hearing of his lay judge trial, Yamagami, 45, said he was very sorry for what he did. Yamagami also said that killing Abe was “wrong.” He reportedly targeted Abe in light of the former prime minister’s ties with the Unification Church, which he held a grudge against.
These groups cleverly approach university students, both on and off campus, using topics that interest them (social contribution, job hunting, international exchange, etc.), and subtly manipulate them through mind control, drawing them into their activities. Students may be forced to purchase expensive goods, separated from their families and friends, and have their student lives ruined.
Only 8 percent of “second-generation” members of religious groups such as the Unification Church in Japan feel the government’s measures to protect them, which include banning maliciously solicited donations, are sufficient, a Kyodo News survey showed Saturday.
Their plight has garnered attention since former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated on July 8, 2022, by a man claiming to hold a grudge against the controversial group due to his mother making financially ruinous donations to them.
As Monday marks the second anniversary of the fatal shooting of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Unification Church finds itself in a difficult position as the incident shed light on the religious group’s controversial practices, such as collecting massive donations from its followers.
Since November 2022, the culture ministry has repeatedly exercised its right to have the group respond to its inquiries. And in October last year, the ministry asked Tokyo District Court to issue an order to dissolve the group, alleging violations of the Civil Code.
The suspected abuse cases were found by child consultation centers across the country, with victims temporarily taken into protective custody in 19 of the total cases, while some of the victims, often called “second-generation followers,” sought support for their self-reliance or advance to the next level of education.
Corporal punishment, specifically whipping, has been systemically used by followers of the Jehovah’s Witnesses religious group against their children in Japan, a survey showed Tuesday.
Jehovah’s Witnesses in Japan have often seemingly thought nothing of grabbing my arm, the side not affected by cerebral palsy, whilst they sell their religious wares, and I clearly have a physical disability as I use a walking stick.
Barrier Free Japan