Toshihiro Kimura (pseudonym), a man in his 50s from the Chugoku region

Forced by his father to forfeit his inheritanceInterviewer：Hello, Mr. Kimura. Nice to meet you today.
I heard that you dealt with some familial issues. What did your parents originally think
about your faith in the Family Federation?
Kimura：I started working after I graduated from high school, and soon after that, I
came across the Unification Principle. I was moved by its well-reasoned arguments, aswell as the philosophy and activities of the Family Federation, which was based onliving for the sake of others, for the country, and for the world, so I joined in the early
1980s. I told my parents that I was attending the Unification Church (FamilyFederation) after I joined, but they seemed to have a distrust of this new religion fromthe beginning. Some time after that, I was almost kidnapped and confined in order tomake me renounce my faith.
One day, I finished attending a lecture on the Unification Principle at church, and on myway home, a group of about seven or eight men, including my father and uncle,1surrounded me and suddenly forced me into a car. I resisted the best I could, but I
couldn’t get away. I think the car belonged to my uncle. I didn’t know where we weregoing, but when they stopped for a short break, I jumped out of the car and ran away.
After that incident, my parents came to the church several times to try to bring me backto their home, which was in another prefecture. At the suggestion of one of the thenstaff members of the church, I went back to my parents’ house to talk things out withthem. My parents made me read a book written by an anti-Unificationist who criticized
the church, but I told them that I would continue to attend the church because I had notchanged my mind, so we settled the matter as if we had made peace.
However, I can’t say my relationship with my parents was normal after that, and they
always seemed distrustful towards me. Therefore, I gradually tried to rebuild their trustby contacting them frequently, or taking my wife back home with me, and taking ourchildren to them after they were born.

Until my mother’s death in 2021, my wife and I took the most time, among my siblings,
to visit my parents in order to take care of them and help them out. Therefore, myfather came to trust us. Shortly before my mother passed away, my father repeatedly
asked me if we would come back (home), and he even wrote a letter to my wife and I
saying, "This house will be passed down to Toshihiro Kimura (not his real name).”Interviewer：How has your relationship with your parents deteriorated since the incident
in July 2022?
Kimura：The mainstream media bashing the Family Federation only intensified, andmy father’s opinion of my wife and I deteriorated dramatically. Whenever I called myfather, he would tell me that I did not have to come back or even return home.
My father also told me that he did not want me to come to the first anniversary of mymother’s death, but I managed to get permission, and I attended. When I returned
home, I found a postcard on my father’s desk from a member of the JapaneseCommunist Party, which my father had never supported in any way. And my father
wrote, “Quit the church! Even if I tell you to quit, you’re brainwashed anyway, so there’s

2nothing I can do about it!” He was so insistent that no matter what I said to him, it wasuseless, and he revealed his disbelief in me.
The situation got worse at the time of the third anniversary of my mother’s death in
2023. Up until then, my father told us not to attend the memorial services, but this time,
he contacted us and told us to be sure and come to the service together. Because ofthat, I felt a little uneasy, but we went anyway. After the memorial service finished andthe priest had left, my wife and I were surrounded by about seven relatives, including
my father, two of my brothers, my aunt, and my aunt’s husband. They all pressed usand said, “We don't know what you’re going to do because you are part of an antisocial group. If you aren’t going to sever ties with us, sign this document pledging youwill forfeit (your father’s) inheritance!” The document was handwritten by my father, andI had to fill out my name and address. My wife was also terrified, and we couldn’t leave
until we signed it, so we reluctantly signed the document.
Interviewer：So that’s how it happened. How is your relationship with your father afterthat?
Kimura：I call my father from time to time to ask how he’s doing, but the conversations
always become one-sided where he criticizes our faith. It doesn’t look like ourrelationship will improve anytime soon.
Earlier this year (2024), I visited my father, who lives alone, and asked him again about
the document I signed on the third anniversary of my mother’s death. We talked about
it a lot, but it seemed unmistakable that my father made me sign the forfeiture becauseof my religious belief. My father’s property was mainly his house and land, but heseemed to be concerned that if I inherited it, it would be used as a base for theUnification Church.
I never once mentioned that I wanted to inherit the house or land; I was going to leaveit to my father. Nor did I ever think of using it as a base of operations for the Family
Federation. My father’s story came from his own imagination, and I was surprised athow far removed from reality it was. I had genuinely taken care of my mother andhelped my father as a son, but now my father says to me, “You must have had some
sort of ulterior motive!” I am really shocked that the parent-child relationship we had3built up was destroyed so quickly; this is much more shocking than the inheritanceissue. My wife is also saddened by this fact.
By the way, my father always watches the mainstream media, especially tabloid shows,and often believes the biased content of the programs. When I tell him about myexperiences in the church or at home, he says, “No, that’s not what the TV says,” andhe doesn’t listen to me at all. For example, some of my children have inherited the faithand some have not, but as a parent, I treat every child the same. However, my father
has no doubt in his mind that “all second-generation children are victims of theirparents,” and blamed my wife and me.
I would like the mainstream media to be fair in their reporting. I am not opposed tothem featuring the voices of former believers in their TV programs, but I would likethem to feature the voices of current believers who are living their lives of faith withgratitude just as much. I believe we must make an effort to continue to speak out andnot give up.
Interviewer：We’ll pray that the relationship between you and your father will be
restored as soon as possible. Thank you for sharing your story with us.

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