Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 3, Nos. 2 &3, 2004, Page 56
illegally recruited and indoctrinated ex-members with the use of social influences,
psychological pressure, and coercive persuasion.
Opponents of the Unification Church, Jehovah‘s Witnesses, and Aum have begun to consider
that the use of ―mind control‖ techniques is a unique character of ―cults.‖ After the Aum
incidents cult critics extended their influence over the mass media. The critics included not
only ex-members and missionaries, but also professionals, such as clinical psychologists and
psychiatrists. Professionals‘ interpretation of pathological religious conversion in cults has
given authorization for individuals with cult problems to be treated by medical care. For
example, the Ministry of Health and Welfare subsidized research by the Japan De-Cult
(Recovery from Cults) Council, one of the leading anti-cult movements.
As some western scholars argue (Barker, 1984 Bromley and Cutchin, 1999), few
sociologists of religion in Japan, agree about how to explain the conversion of the members
of these controversial new religions. Sociologists believe that the anti-cult movement has
been facilitated not only by self-claimed victims and concerned professionals, but also by a
cultural attitude that opposes religious minorities and multiculturalism. To pursue this
matter further (Shupe and Bromley, 1994 Richardson and Introvigne, 2001 Barker, 2002)
would take us beyond the scope of this paper, so I will now return to the primary subject.
A Look at the Missionary Activities of the Unification Church of Japan
In 1954 Sun Myung Moon founded the Unification Church (the legal name being the Holy
Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity) in Seoul, South Korea. An early
disciple, Masaru Nishikawa, initiated Japanese missionary activities from 1959 to 1965.
During those days he successfully laid the foundation and cadre and acquired the leadership
of the Unification Church of Japan. In 1964 the Unification Church of Japan headed by
Chairman Osami Kuboki was authenticated as a religious corporation.
In 1966 the Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles (CARP) was established and
the Unification Church‘s missionary activities were expanded on campuses. Because the
organization encouraged student members to dropout of school and dedicate themselves to
missionary work, parents criticized it and formed an Anti-CARP Group in 1967, reforming it
into Victim Family Meeting by CARP in 1975.
In the 1970s the Unification Church of Japan extended its activities to politics, academia,
and the economy. The International Federation for Victory over Communism was
established in 1968 to cooperate with Japanese conservative politicians. This group utilized
the manpower of Unification Church members for political and election campaigns, and in
exchange some politicians helped defend the Unification Church against social criticism. The
Professors World Peace Academy, established in 1973, also encouraged the mass media and
academics to endorse the aims and activities of the Unification Church. At that time the
headquarters of the Unification Church and Sun Myung Moon's family moved to the United
States and initiated a propaganda campaign. The cost of these activities was supported by
the Unification Church of Japan, which began business activities, such as the well-known
selling of flowers and miscellaneous goods.
In the 1980s these financing activities expanded into importing Korean goods, such as
Korean ginseng tea, marble urns, and two-storied pagodas. Initially these products were
sold through normal business operations, but their sales were gradually coupled with
fraudulent sales techniques such as telling customers‘ fortunes based on their names and
appeasing the spirits of ancestors. A corporation called the National World Happiness Liaison
Council, which, according to the spokesman of the Unification Church of Japan, was
voluntarily created by Unification Church members, took power among several sections of
the Unification Church in order to send large contributions of money to the United States
and Korea.

Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 3, Nos. 2 &3, 2004, Page 57
In the 1990s the Unification Church‘s notorious fundraising strategy interfered with its more
traditional missionary activities on campuses and streets, and the organization had to
develop a more controversial recruitment methodology, which was criticized as ―mind
control.‖ Added to that, the Unification Church several times held mass weddings that the
mass media responded to with sensationalism and criticism. And worse, cult phobia and the
anti-cult movement in Japan further accelerated the Unification Church‘s downturn of fund-
raising and missionary activities.
Legal Cases of the Unification Church of Japan: Number and Rulings
Ex-members of the Unification Church in Japan have filed three kinds of lawsuits:
1. Dozens of property-damage suits against the Unification Church have gone to court.
Plaintiffs filed the initial case at the Fukuoka District Court in 1990 and prevailed in a
verdict at the Supreme Court in 1996. Afterwards the plaintiffs recovered their
damages in several suits filed in District Courts and High Courts, such as Sendai,
Nara, and Tokyo, and won a ruling that the Unification Church should take
responsibility as the employer of salespersons who conducted fraudulent sales of
spiritual goods. According to a survey by a Lawyers' Liaison Meeting regarding
damages claimed against the Unification Church, the accumulated demand for
property damages has totaled about 88 billion yen from 1988 to the present
(approximately 700 million dollars). This huge estimate was derived from an
inspection of annual consultation statistics from the consumer affairs bureau and bar
association in each prefecture of Japan. In half of those cases victims sought legal
advice for their damages and recovered part of them. Although just a handful of
plaintiffs have recovered damages, the existing adverse rulings and their social
impact have forced the Unification Church to stop its fraudulent sales and change its
fundraising strategy of collecting donations in a deceitful and coercive way.
2. Some ex-members made allegations at the annulment of their marriages in several
district courts and family courts, and they received due recognitions. Unification
Church members are required to marry among members in mass weddings
performed by Rev. Sun Myung Moon and his wife. Moreover, brides and bridegrooms
are matched and marriages are arranged by the Unification Church without
considering individuals‘ preferences. These marriages are believed to be sacred and
will therefore result in the birth of children without original sin. Ex-members who had
not yet started their married lives when they became disaffiliated from the
Unification Church would want to dissolve any marriage contract they entered into
through the church. Nevertheless, dissolutions would be difficult in those cases in
which the former members already had families, and especially in cases of
international marriage, in which cases Japanese court rulings would not be valid in
other countries.
3. Ex-members also filed lawsuits for financial compensation, claiming that they were
illegally recruited and indoctrinated by the Unification Church. Their attorneys used
the mind-control theory and argument to explain that members' affiliation with the
Unification Church was created under social and psychological pressure, which was
considered a violation of human rights. These lawsuits were beyond the common
sense of religion and the law at issue, because there was no such legal precedent
and no in-depth data concerning the specifics of the Unification Church‘s recruitment
and indoctrination processes in the Unification Church.
Sapporo District Court Case: Contents of Ruling
On June 29, 2001, the Sapporo District Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in a 14-year trial
in which 20 former members had sued the Unification Church for coercive conversion and