In the almost two months since the shocking murder of Japan’s former Prime Minister Abe by Yamagami Tetsuya (山上徹也), controversies continue to arise. Although many are saddened by Abe’s death, sympathy for Yamagami has emerged in both mainstream and social media.
Initially, Japanese media’s reports were filled with very ambiguous expressions and generated more questions than answers with regard to the suspect’s motivations. These early reports claimed that Yamagami told the police that he held a grudge against a “specific religious group,” however the actual name of the religious group – the Unification Church – was withheld for many days. Instead, they continued to add to the ambiguity by using the expression: “ある特定の宗教団体に恨みがあり” (aru tokutei no shuukyou dantai ni urami ga ari). You can see it on the Youtube link above.
In this situation, “tokutei no” is very strange, since it held the implication that the media was trying to protect the group or Abe. It wasn’t until oversea media, such as French newspaper Le Figaro, widely wrote the sect’s name (in French called “la secte Moon” and formerly known as the Unification Church in Japan), did the Japanese media finally reveal it a few days later. This led to speculations as to why the Japanese media was reluctant to declare the name, most likely linked to the highly criticized custom of 忖度 (sontaku), which has been associated with a number of scandals that plagued Abe’s career as Prime Minister.
The Japanese-English dictionary translates sontaku as to “surmise, guess, conjecture,” although it has a more specific meaning connected to the Japanese workplace mentalities and relationship to hierarchy. A focal point of the 2017 Moritomo Gakuen scandal, sontaku means “guessing a person’s feeling and will” and acting upon it. It indicates the desire to anticipate what a person would like, before they ask for it. Overzealous government officials were suspected to have covered up some of Abe’s questionable acts, without him requesting it expressly as an “unspoken wish” to be followed automatically.
By purposefully obscuring the sect’s name, the sontaku controversy continues, and people are left asking if the media’s initial actions functioned one last time in the service to Abe. However, once Abe and his party members’ close connections with the Unification Church were discovered, the tide started to change, and sympathy began to grow for Yamagami.
In the late 80s, the group heavily engaged in a type of fraud called “reikan shouhou” (霊感商法), where it was coercing the followers to buy items from them such as vases at overinflated prices claiming it as a necessity otherwise they would fall on bad fortune. The sect was legally charged, sentenced to pay damages in several civil lawsuits and media at the time briefly reported this, however the sect was able to regain their power over the last 20 years.
In part, their ability to recover has been attributed to them being allowed to legally change their name, which allowed them to hide their past fraudulent history. The government had originally denied their request for the name change and continued to do so for 15 years, however they were granted approval in 2015 by Shimomura Hakubun, the minister of Agency for Cultural Affairs (文化庁 – bunkachou) appointed by Abe, who did not explain why he allowed the change.
Yamagami holds the sect accountable for the financial and emotional ruin his family experienced, attributed to his mother’s fervent involvement with the sect and associated spending — over a million dollar (at the time’s currency). The motivation to assassinate Abe was the result of the former Prime Minister’s support for the sect, displayed in acts such as his public video message to the sect last fall shown at one of their major events in Korea. As investigations continue, the press and the public are realizing that a large amount of high profile politicians and cabinet ministers from Abe’s party have had ties with the sect for years.
Each day, as new sect ties to powerful cabinet ministers are discovered, the media has had to admit the role their failure to properly investigate has contributed to the sect’s return to power. This was furthermore amplified by their persistent disregard for vocal warnings from the lawyer Kito Masaki (紀藤 正樹), and the journalist Suzuki Eito (鈴木エイト), both specialized in fighting the Unification Church.
However, the Japanese media is attempting to make their “mea culpa” by stepping outside the traditional complacency associated with appeasing the ruling political party, and have become more moved to report without “sontaku.” They have started to interview and give a voice to “nisei” (二世), the “second generation” or children of the sect’s followers, which means people like Yamagami. Regular reporting is done on their suffering, difficult upbringing and struggles, bankruptcy, which has led to the wave of sympathy behind Yamagami. While no one is condoning the assassination, many consider Yamagami also a victim, as a nisei of a sect.
The Unification Church is a Korean sect, and most of the money gained from the Japanese followers is sent there. This is particularly fascinating since Abe’s party is known for being nationalistic, and many might wonder why so many Japanese politicians have ties with them? I will explore this more in a next post.
You can read about more of the controversy surrounding Abe’s death in this previous post.