Beyond the Postwar Era
Ryoichi Imai

1

Japan in 1990s

2

1990
• We can reasonably divide Japanese and the global time around1990.
• The Berlin Wall came down in 1989 and the two Germanies wereunited in 1991.
• Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
• In 1989, the Showa emperor died. The LDP lost the majority of
the Upper House for the first time.
• In 1990, the speculative economic bubble burst.

3

The Heisei Era• On January 7, 1989, the emperor died, and the Showa
era was over.
• The government immediately announced the new reignname of Heisei.
• The emperor’s son, Crown Prince Akihito, took the throne.

4

Continuity of the Imperial Institution• During his months of decline, mass media intensively reported his
vital signs: temperature, pulse, incidents of vomiting blood, etc.
• This violation of imperial privacy was a modern tradition invented
at the time of the Emperor Meiji’s death in 1912.
• The state sought to solidify the intimate link of the modernmonarchs with the people.

5

自粛 “Self-Restraint”• Officials urged people “voluntarily” to restrain every day
activities of celebration (school field days andneighborhood festivals) during the emperor’s long final
illness.
• Norma Field, a writer and scholar, has reported thisatmosphere as “coercive consensus.”

6

A still-powerful taboo• Field also describes the still-powerful taboo on criticizing
the emperor for his wartime role.
• The Nagasaki Mayor Motoshima explained that hebelieved “the emperor bears responsibility for the war.”• He was shot by imperial defenders in a failed
assassination attempt in 1990.

7

Naruhito and
Masako• In 1993 Crown Prince Naruhito married Owada
Masako, the daughter of a top-ranked diplomat.
• She was unusual as an imperial bride: a graduateof Harvard, seeking for an elite career path.
• The Prince had courted her for nearly seven years.
8

“Waste” of an exceptional career• Despite the massive media coverage of the wedding, thepublic response intrigued combined detachment andcelebrity worship.
• Many young women lamented for her giving up an
exceptional career.
• The elaborate wedding did not attract so much interest
from public as the 1959 wedding of the father emperor.

91989 upper house election• The triple punch gave a landsliding victory to the Socialist
Party, led by a female
chairperson, Doi Takako.
– The Recruit Scandal– The unpopular consumption tax– The sex scandal of the Prime
Minister (Uno)10

The Sagawa Express Scandal• Kanemaru Shin, the successor of the largest faction of LDP
from Tanaka, was the puppeteer of the two consecutive prime
ministers; Kaifu and Miyazawa.
• In 1992, Media reported that the Sagawa company financially
supported politicians as well as underground powers.
• Kanemaru met crime family bosses to thank them for their help.
• He evaded taxes massively, and was discovered to hide one
hundred kilograms of gold bars in his luxury apartment.

11

1993
• The opposition parties proposed a vote of no-confidence
in Prime Minister Miyazawa.
• The proposal must have been only a symbolic protest.
• But suddenly, a politician named Ozawa Ichiro jumped on
the reform bandwagon.
• The no-confidence proposal obtained majority, andMiyazawa resigned.
12

Ozawa Ichiro• Ozawa was a former Tanaka follower,
and the Secretary General of LDP of aKanemaru’s puppet cabinet.
• He and his followers revolted andsupported Hosokawa, who was the PMof the first non-LDP cabinet since 1955.
• He is a key player of the politics of
1990s and 2000s.
• He led DPJ as the secretary general in
the historical victory of DPJ over LDP
in 2009.
13

Hosokawa Morihiro• His paternal line stretched back to one of the
Kyushu’s most powerful daimyo clans, and wasa maternal grandson of the wartime prime
Minister Konoe Fumimaro.
• He organized a new Japan New Party in 1992.
• In 1993, he was elected by the votes of therepresentatives of the lower house as a prime
minister, helped by Ozawa.
• Unfortunately his political coalition collapsed in
1994, replaced by a coalition including LDP and
the Socialist Party.
Kumamoto Castle
14

A Political Spectacle• In 1994 LDP formed a coalition government with the Japan
Socialist Party (JSP), and appointed Murayama Tomiichi,
chariman of JSP, as PM.
• LDP and JSP Diet members had been working together to draft
and pass legislation. They wanted to remove Ozawa’s dictatorship.
• This alliance was surprising and troubling Japanese voters.

15

The Lost Decade• The Bubble Economy burst in 1990.
• The economy showed a sign of temporary recovery in
1996.
• In 1997 Asia was attacked by the Currency Crisis, when
Prime Minister Hashimoto raised the consumption tax (3%-> 5%).
• The economy collapsed again with a major crisis of thefinancial sectors.
16

Disasters:
Natural and
Human• In 1995 a major earthquake struck Kobe. More thanfour thousand people were killed.
• In the same year, a terrorist attack on the Tokyo
subways with poisonous gas destroyed people’s
confidence in the nation’s low crime rate and the safetyof major cities.
17

オウム真理教Aum
Shinrikyo• It was a religious cult led by a charismatic yoga master,
Asahara Shoko.
• In 1995, the Aum terrorists attacked the Tokyo subway andkilled 12 passengers and injured hundreds.
• After his group was arrested by the police, it was revealed
that they had killed local residents in Matsumoto city,
Nagano prefecture in the previous year with the same gas.
18

Political Transition• In 1996 PM Murayama resigned. Hashimoto of LDP took
over. The Socialist Party remained as a weakened juniorpartner.
• Soon the Socialist Party almost evaporated.
• In the last half of 1990s, LDP ran the government with its
declining hegemony.

19

The end of 20th Century• In the upper house election, Hashimoto was defeated with his
unpopular raise of consumption tax rate under the economic
slump caused by the Asian Currency Crisis.
• Another LDP veteran, Obuchi took over.
• Obuchi stimulated the economy with aggressive deficit spending.
• He was popular, but died of a stroke in 2000.
• Mori took over. He was unpopular and resigned in 2001.

20

Japan in the 20th Century

21

Koizumi Jun-ichiro• In 2001, he was elected as the President of
LDP by the popular vote of LDP members,
and became PM.
• He pledged a dramatic “structural reform” ofthe economy.
• He remained in the position for 5 years andleft with a significant economic recovery.

22

“Structural Reform”• Koizumi’s political goal was to privatize the Postal Saving
system, because the money collected by the PS had beenused to support inefficient, noncompetitive business.
• He presented himself as the enemy of those entrencheddefenders (politicians and bureaucrats) of those inefficientindustries.

23

September 2005
• In August, Koizumi’s PS privatization plan was rejected by theUpper House, due to considerable defection from his own party.
• He called for an election for the Lower House in order to confirm
people’s support on his reform plan.
• He put a group of newcomers (“assassins”) in the places ofrepresentatives who opposed the PS privatization.
• The LDP won the landslide victory in September.

24

Koizumi’s Successor• Koizumi was succeeded by Abe Shinzo, a
grandson of Kishi Nobusuke, who revised
the US-J Security Treaty in 1960.
• In 2007 voters became furious when theylearned that the government had lost fifty
million accounts of the Social Security
Pension recipients.
• Abe resigned in September 2007, taking
the responsibility for the miserable loss in
the Upper House Election in July.
25

The Divided Government• Since July 2007, the political leadership of Japan has
been divided into the LDP and the DP.
• Recent Polls suggested that the Democratic Party would
win majority in the Lower House election in the next
general election.
• The consolidation of a two-party system appeared
possible.

26

The Fall of the LDP• Abe was succeeded by
Fukuda Yasuo, who
resigned in September 2008.
• Aso Taro was elected as PM
then, but he is unpopularand the people’s supporting
rate remained very low.

Is being a politician a familybusiness? - Fukuda is a sonof a former PM, Fukuda
Takeo. Aso was a grandsonof Yoshida Shigeru.
27

Change of Government 政権交代
• In August 2009, Democratic Party ofJapan (DPJ) defeated LDP in the
General Election.
• The DPJ leader Yukio Hatoyama was
appointed to be the prime minister (PM),whom Ichiro Ozawa supported as theparty’s secretary general.
• Yukio is a grandson of former prime
minister Hatoyama Ichiro, whonormalized the diplomatic relationshipwith the Soviet Union.

Hatoyama

Ozawa

28

Government chosen by People• This is the first time in Japanese history that people choose theirgovernment by themselves.
• In the prewar “constitutional government,” if a cabinet fell in ascandal, the emperor appointed the next PM.
• The new PM called a general election, and his party won.
• People just authorized the emperor’s appointment.

29

Failure of Hatoyama cabinet• Mass media reported a scandalous fact that Hatoyama
had been financially supported by his wealthy mother,
who was a daughter of the founder of the BridgestoneCorp.
• In June 2010, Hatoyama resigned in order to apologize
for the failure of his original plan to close the US Futenma
base in Okinawa.

30

Futenma Base Problem• LDP government had reached an agreement with US toclose the Futenma base and construct a new US Marine
base at Henoko Bay along the east coast of Okinawa Island.
• Hatoyama announced his plan to close the US Futenmabase, and transfer the US Marine to somewhere out of
Okinawa.
• In June 2010, Hatoyama concluded that his cabinet was
unable to find a replacement location of the Futenma baseout of Okinawa.
31

Upper House Election 2010
• Right before the Upper House election,
Naoto KAN was appointed as a new PM.
• In the upcoming election of the Upper House,
DPJ lost the majority, and the government
was again divided.
• In the election, Kan revealed his will to raise
the consumption tax rate from 5% to 10% tomake the social security system sustainable.
• The result of the election forced Kan toabandon his original plan.
32

Great East-Japan Earthquake• On March 11, 2011, The east coast of Japan was hit by ahuge earthquake, which killed more than 20,000 citizens.
• A tsunami destroyed the First Fukushima nuclear plant,
and the local citizens were forced to evacuate.
• The initial poor management of the nuclear accident by
the Kan cabinet was severely criticized by mass media.

33

The Noda cabinet• In august 2011, Kan resigned andYoshihiko NODA was nominated for the
next DPJ leader and PM by the vote of
the DPJ members of the Diet.
• Noda pledges to raise the consumption
tax to stabilize the social security
budget, which was agreed on by the
LDP and Komeito Party.
34

The DPJ Troika (extra)• Troika is a Russian carriage pulled by threehorses abreast.
• Hatoyama, Kan, and Ozawa are called the
DPJ Troika.
• They have alternately become the DPJ
leader.
• The resignation of Kan symbolizes the end of
the DPJ Troika.

35

The Ozawa scandal (extra)• In 2010, the former three secretaries of Ozawa Ichiro
were prosecuted by the Public Prosecutor to the court,with the suspected inadequate booking records of thepolitical activity funds.
• The Public Prosecutor abandoned prosecuting Ozawa,
because the lack of enough evidences of conspiration.

36

Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution (CIP) (extra)• CIP is a special committee to evaluate the decisions
made by the Public Prosecutor.
• The CIP members are local citizens, appointed by lottery.
• Ozawa was prosecuted, based on the conclusion reachedby CIP.
• In November 2012, however, in the second (and the last)
trial at the Tokyo Higher Court, Ozawa was foundinnocent, which questions the authority of the CIP.
37

Japan’s Criminal Justice (extra)• The Public Prosecutor has prosecuted only the cases very highly
likely to be sentenced guilty.
• More than 99% of the accused have been sentenced to be guilty
in the court.
• Therefore, mass media and people’s voice tend to discriminate acitizen in trial, once s/he is prosecuted.
• Ozawa has been restricted in political activities in the recent years
during his trial.

38

New Social Trends in Japan39

援助交際（assisted dating）• A social issue in 1990s was a new sort of young prostitution.
• Teenage girls made them sexually available to adult men for
substantial fees.
• Researchers were shocked to find that those girls are normal, and notpoor.
• Those girls were paid dating simply to buy expensive clothes andattract some attention and companionship.
• In the 2010s, the assisted dating is renamed as papa-katsu (パパ活),
meaning “father hunting”.
– Job hunting (就活), marriage hunting (婚活),– end-of-life activities (終活)40Attention toJuvenile Crime• In 1997 a 14-years old school boy was arrested forkilling two children in his neighborhood.
• Mass media reacted with a call for a stricter laws forjuvenile crime.
• But the incident of violent crimes by youth was muchhigher in 1950s and 60s.

41

Ikeda Elementary School Massacre• On June 8, 2001, a jobless man, Takuma Mamoru, attacked anelite elementary school at Osaka, and killed 8 pupils.
• He suffered from his father’s violence in his childhood, failed injobs, and had a grudge on the social circumstance surroundinghim.
• He married a female activist of the anti-death-penalty movements,
who sympathized with him in jail.
• In 2004, he was executed.

42

Akihabara Case
• On Sunday, June 8, 2008, a 25-years-old man, Kato Tomohiro, attacked thepedestrians walking on the streets at Akihabara, Tokyo, and killed 7 with adagger.
• He was a former dispatched employee of an automobile factory, and just laidoff.
• He was insulted by the users of his favorite internet bulletin board, where he
was complaining about job loss and his lonesome life.
• On the night of the disaster, many people on the internet bulletin board
sympathized with him for his situation.
• He was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court in 2014.
43

Foreigners in the labor market• In 1990 the new immigrant law allowed ethnic Japanese apreferential right to return from overseas.
• Thousands of Brazilians took the offer.
• Other foreigners came to Japan illegally.
• Most migrant workers took jobs that native Japanese
were unwilling to perform, in particular manual labor “3K”:
dangerous (kiken), dirty (kitanai), difficult (kitsui).
• Most foreign workers work in essential jobs.
44Increasing “fear”
of foreigners• In 2000 the nationalistic Tokyo governor Ishihara Shintarooffered a startling statement of fear of foreigners.
• He revived an early postwar term for Koreans in Japan, andnoted that in an earthquake, “third-country people” might takeadvantage of the confusion to harm Japanese people.
• The major opinion blamed him for his prejudice, but a significant
minority shared his fears.

45

Doubt on US-Japan Alliance• US military facilities covered 1/5 of the Okinawa Island.
• Repeated kidnappings and rapes of teenage girls by soldiers
sparked a series of strong protest against US bases.
• Japanese people had been persuaded that the alliance would
protect Japan from the hostile communist regimes.
• But the Soviet Union collapsed, and the Cold War was over.

46

Revisionist View of the US-Japan alliance• The US protects the oil supply lines from the Middle East
to the East Asia.
• Japan’s Asian neighbors still expressed fear of Japan’s
rearmament.
• The American military presence works to “contain” Japaneven while protecting it.

47

The “History Recognition” Controversy• In 1991 three Korean, former “comfort women” brought legal suitagainst Japanese government.
• The government continued to deny any official involvement of themilitary in setting up or supervising the brothels or in forcing
women to work there.
• In 2013, the government finally admitted the military’s involvementwith the sexual slavery system.
• In 2014, however, some evidences for the military involvement
are found to be fake, and the media (Asahi Shinbun) apologize.
48

The Nationalist Backlash• These and other charges of war crimes sparked anationalist backlash to condemn the “masochist” historicalconsciousness (自虐史観) that stressed the dark side of
the Japanese past.
– Denial of the Nanjing Massacre.
– The Comfort women.
– The WWII as a noble endeavor to liberate Asia from thewestern imperialism.
49

Koizumi and Yasukuni• PM Koizumi visited “officially” theYasukuni Shrine on August 15th 1996,
for the first time since he became PM.
• This visit was enthusiasticallyapplauded by the internet right-wing
opinions (ネトウヨ) such as 2-channel.
• He made five “unofficial” visits before
this one, being cautious of reactions
from China and Korea. He resigned in
the next month.
50

“The New History Textbook”• In 2001, the Ministry of Education
approved a new history textbook forpossible classroom use.
• In that textbook, the authors took thenarrow nationalistic approach to justify
Japan’s deeds during the wartime.
• With much of public and foreign
criticisms, only a handful schools
adopted it.
51

THE FACTS• In June 2007, a group of therevisionists posted an advertisement on
the Washington Post, to claim that:• No historical documents have everbeen found that positively demonstrates
that women were forced against theirwill into prostitution by the Japanese
Army.
• PM Abe opened his view in accordancewith THE FACTS.
52

No Freedom of Expression• In 2019, right-wingers and the right-wing mayor of Nagoya protested
vehemently against the display of works criticizing Emperor Showa and astatue of a so-called comfort woman in a special exhibition titled "No
Freedom of Expression" at the Triennale art exhibition in Aichi Prefecture.
• Right-wing activists protesting the “No Freedom of Expression" exhibition
launched a recall petition calling for the dismissal of the Aichi Prefecture
governor who organized the art exhibition, but the number of signatures
failed to reach the number needed to hold a referendum on his dismissal.
• To make matters worse, more than 80% of the signatures turned out to be
fraudulently substituted, resulting in a criminal case.
• On May 19, the secretary general of the signature campaign was arrested.
53

Controversy on the Bloody Past
• Even in US, in 1995, veteran organizations prevented afull discussion of the use of the atomic bombs in a
exhibition at the Smithsonian Museum.
• Japanese people are still taking part in the continued
debate on how to balance the nation’s pride with its unjust
operation of the power in the past.

54

Japan in 2010s and Beyond

55

The Return of Abe• In December 2012, LDP defeated DPJ in
the general election.
• Shinzo Abe, the LDP leader, was appointed
as PM by the refreshed Diet.
• The stock market positively reacted to the
DPJ PM Noda’s call for the general electionin November, expecting LDP to win.
• At the same time, the Yen started todevalue.
56

3 Arrows of the Abenomics• Abe announced that he would pursue a drastic recovery ofJapanese economy through the following three channels(arrows).
1. Monetary Policy to raise inflation expectation and finish the
deflation regime that prevailed the lase two decades.
2. Fiscal policy to strengthen the infrastructure to protect thecountry against natural disasters (– skipped in the class).
3. Growth Strategy to raise the economy’s potential to increase
employment.
57

Reinterpretation of the Article 9• Article 9 of the Constitution has long been interpreted by the government as– limiting Japan’s use of force strictly to self-defense, and as– banning the use of collective self-defense.
• In 2015, Abe proposed a new interpretation to allow the use of collective selfdefense, without revising the Constitution.
– Abe also submits to the diet a set of security bills based on thisinterpretation.
• However, almost all the constitutional scholars condemned his reinterpretation,and urged the government to withdraw those security bills from the diet
• The bill including the new interpretation passed the diet in 2015.
58

Background 1:
The Gulf War 1990
• In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait and took over a crude oil-related facility. The U.N.
Security Council asked Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to withdraw, but he refused.
• A multinational force including the United States attacked the Iraqi army. Japan
was asked to join the multinational force, but it refused on constitutional grounds.
Instead, Japan gave $13 billion to the multinational force.
• The war ended after a month-long battle and Iraq withdrew from Kuwait.
• Kuwait praised the cooperation by naming the countries participating in themultinational force, but the list did not include Japan.
• A realization arose within the government that international cooperation cannot
be based on money alone, but requires human contribution.
59

Background 2:
The Iraqi War 2003
• In 2001, New York City was hit by a major terrorist attack by al-Qaeda led by bin Laden.
• As a countermeasure, the United States launched a military strike on Iraq in March 2003.
At that time, a multinational force similar to that of the Gulf War was organized, but
Germany and France did not take part in the attack .
• The fighting ended after two months, with the multinational forces occupying Baghdad andcapturing Saddam Hussein.
• Japan supported the multinational force's military attack, but, as in the Gulf War, did notuse military weapons on constitutional grounds. Instead, the SDF was dispatched tosupport water supply activities.
• However, since the SDF was not allow to use force, they were protected by the Australian
Army and other forces that participated in the multinational force, which embarrassed
Japan’s government.
60

Populism• Currently, populist politics is prevalent worldwide.
• Examples:– Brexit– Rassemblement National (Former Front National) led by Marine
Le Pen– Chauvinist regimes in Central Europe– Donald Trump, USA61

4 major claims of populist politicians
1. The economic disparity among the people has increased due toglobalization and increased immigration.
2. In order to improve the economic condition of the people, thepublic sector should be downsized.
3. Government needs to increase the purchasing power of thepeople by cutting taxes.
4. In economic negotiations with foreign countries, government
should protect domestic industries by restricting imports.

62

Populism in local politics in Japan• In urban area, progressive parties was supported by majority ofvoters in 1970-1980.
• In the last 3 decades, urban voters have become moreconservative and underestimated income redistribution in favor ofneoliberal policies.
• They tend to believe in the popular story that prolonged slump in
the Japanese economy has been caused mainly by public sector
inefficiency and protection of vested interests in the name ofincome redistribution.
63

Populist local leaders• HASHIMOTO Tohru– Governor of Osaka Prefecture and then Mayor of Osaka City)– Founder of the 維新 Restauration party.

• KOIKE Yuriko– Governor of Tokyo Prefecture– Founder of the Party of Hope

• KAWAMURA Takeshi (Mayor of Nagoya city)• TAKASHIMA Soichiro (Mayor of Fukuoka city) ?

64

HASHIMOTO Tohru• In 2008, a lawyer and TV talent, Hashimoto Tohru waselected to be the governor of the Osaka prefecture.
• In November 2011 he defeated his political enemy
Hiramatsu in election, and became the mayor of Osakacity.
• His policy to suppress public employees, teachers, labor
unions, and local interest groups, is supported
enthusiastically by majority people in Osaka.
• The Restoration Party, led by Hashimoto, took more than
50 seats in the Diet in the 2012 Lower House Election.
• He says, “What is needed in today’s politics is
dictatorship.”65

KOIKE Yuriko
•
•
•
•
•
•

•
•
•

Born in 1952.
Graduated Cairo University in 1976.
Worked for TV for 1979-92.
Elected for the Lower House from an Hyogo election district. Changing
parties very often.
Worked for the Abe cabinet as the Minister of Defense in 2007.
Retired from national politics and won the 2016 Tokyo gubernatorial
election, running without the LDP's endorsement and defeating the LDP's
nominee.
In 2017, founded the Party of Hope, joined by the most members by the
Democratic Party.
The Party of Hope lost the general election in October 2017, whichshattered her ambition to dominate the national government.
In 2000, she was re-elected as Tokyo governor in the second term.
66

YAMAMOTO Taro
• Born in 1974, dropped out of HS in 1991.
• Acting in many TV dramas and movies when young.
• Retired from show business in 2011, and started activities
against nuclear power plants• In 2013, elected from the Tokyo district to the Upper House.
• In 2019, Yamamoto founded a new party “Reiwa-Shinsengumi”
to call for anti-austerity fiscal policies, the abolition of theconsumption tax, and scholarship repayment waivers.
• Two severely disabled candidates were elected to the upperhouse of the Diet, but Yamamoto himself did not win.
• In the June 2000, Yamamoto ran for governor of Tokyo
prefecture, challenging Tokyo governor Koike, but lost theelection.

67• The NHK Party was founded by Takashi Tachibana, a former
NHK employee, in an attempt to legally abolish the obligation
to pay NHK broadcast subscription fees.
• Japanese citizens are required by law to sign a subscription
contract with NHK whenever they install a television set. In
practice, some citizens refuse the contract even though they
have a TV set at home. Currently, owners of PCs,
smartphones, and tablets are also considered to obligated tosign a subscription contract with NHK.
• The NHK Party's ultimate goal is to "scramble" NHKbroadcasts so that only those who pay NHK subscription fees
will be able to watch NHK.
• The party leader won one seat in the proportional
representation electoral district for the 2019 Upper House
election.

The NHK
Party

68

参政党 Sanseito, Party of Do It Yourself!!)• Sanseito is a right-wing populist party founded in2020 and won a seat in the 2022 Upper House
election, acquiring more than 2 percent of thevotes.
• The party promotes COVID-19
misinformation and anti-vaccine propaganda.
• The party is against same-sex marriage,
including civil unions. Sanseitō was one of the
only parties in the National Diet to oppose theLGBT Understanding Bill.

Sohei Kamiya,founder of the Sanseito
69

Japan in 2020s

70令和: In April 2019, the government announced that the era
name, would change on May 1, to "Reiwa”.

Chief Cabinet Secretary
Yoshihide Suga, who was incharge of this government
announcement, won the
LDP presidential election in
the following year, afterPrime Minister Abe's
resignation, and became
prime minister on
September 16, 2020.
71

Kishida Cabinet• Prime Minister Suga's political stance of focusing on
economic recovery and neglecting corona control was
criticized by the public and the media, and his
approval rating dropped.
• In September 2021, Suga resigned as a result of thedefeat of the LDP-endorsed candidate in the mayoral
election in Yokohama by the opposition party's
candidate.
• The new prime minister was Fumio Kishida, who
appeared to be breaking with the Abe and Kan
administrations under the banner of "new capitalism.”

72

Assassination of Abe• On July 8, 2022, two days before voting in the lower houseelection, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot andkilled by Tetsuya Yamagami while on a tour in Nara
Prefecture for his Liberal Democratic Party candidate.
• The suspect Yamakami told police, "My family was destroyedby the Unification Church. He stated that he was looking for
an opportunity to assassinate former PM Abe because hebelieved that he was the one who contributed to the
Unification Church's growth of power in Japan.
• In fact, a video of former PM Abe giving a video speech insupport of the Unification Church at its world convention has
been released on YouTube.
73

統一教会 Unification Church
•
•
•

•
•
•

The Unification Church is a Christian cult founded in South Korea. Originally,
the founder of the Unification Church, 文鮮明 Moon Myung Moon, was strongly
supported by Abe's grandfather, Kishi Nobusuke.
Kishi supported the Unification Church because the Unification Church wasstrongly anti-Communist.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the Unification Church caused social problems throughpsychic sales and by taking exorbitant amounts of donations from the families of
its followers.
Brainwashing of students at universities was also a problem.
However, the Unification Church was relied upon in the election campaigns bymany members of the Liberal Democratic Party.
Therefore, the tightening of regulations on their activities did not proceed.
74New Policies• In 2023, Japan is the chairing country of the G7 meeting, and as if toaccommodate the G7, PM Kishida has advanced several policies.
1. PM Kishida himself visited Ukraine and met with President Zelensky toclarify Japan's support for Ukraine with regard to Russia's invasion of
Ukraine. President Zelensky flew in to the G7 meeting in Hiroshima inMay.
2. In order to clarify Japan‘s stance on sharing values with Westernindustrialized nations, Japan enacted the LGBT理解促進法 Law for the
Promotion of LGBT Understanding. The law's "unfair discrimination"
condition on prohibited discrimination was intended as a concession toconservatives who opposed the law's ban on LGBT discrimination.
75

New Immigration Laws
3. The foreign technical internship system is expected
to be abolished, and new legislation is being
prepared to allow foreigners who have acquired skills
to work in Japan on a long-term basis.
4. Meanwhile, the Immigration Law has been amended
to allow the Japanese government to deportforeigners who are in the process of applying forrefugee status – Deportation has been suspended if
the immigrants are still applying for refugee status.
76