Theories linking Abe, his killer and the Unification Church

Most of them are purely made for political speculation or narcissistic attention-grabbing

Two weeks after ex-prime minister Shinzo Abe was gunned down in Nara, many new and unexpected bits of information have emerged, some concerning the killer himself, while some about the Unification Church and its links to Japanese politics.

Let’s start with Yamagami Tetsuya. Before the killer’s background was known, we had suggested that he fit a very particular profile.

Usually, these Japanese street assassins are males who suffer from very low tolerance to stress, immaturity, anger, and resentment towards society. That is precisely what emerged during the last week; a person who couldn’t even keep a part-time job and harbored a huge bitterness towards a particular church to whom his mother donated large sums of money.

Tomohiro Tanaka, the president of the Japanese branch of the Unification Church, admitted during a briefing in Tokyo that the shooter’s mother was indeed a member.

We know that she joined the Unification Church in 1998 (even though an uncle of the perpetrator claims it was as far back as 1991) when the son was only in elementary school and from then on had donated a huge sum of money that eventually dried up all her savings.

“In traditional European Catholic countries like Italy, Spain and France, this would be seen as absurd and of deceitful nature”

Now it is easy to draw the conclusion, as many commentators did, that the Unification Church just like Abe’s killer has stated, took advantage of the mother’s trust for financial gain. But as always the devil is in the details and a hasty judgment may not be the most accurate.

We know that the mother had just lost her husband to suicide and their eldest son had lost an eye due to cancer. But as long as someone will not demonstrate the illegal nature of that relationship between the mother and the Unification Church, we cannot assume, as indeed many observers already did, that she was not aware of what she was paying for; the emotional support provided by these type of unorthodox institutions or so-called shin shuukyo (new churches).

It is way too easy to take a higher moral stand as an outsider and come up with a straightforward explanation that something “weird” was going on between the two parties as a huge sum of money (some say up to US$700,000) was passed to the Church’s coffers.

But let’s be aware that even in the Catholic and Protestant Churches all over East Asia, Korea and Japan especially, many priests (and I speak from direct experience) openly recommend to the very wealthy families in their parishes to literally pay nothing less than the “decima” (1/10 of one’s salary) regularly, every month.

In traditional European Catholic countries like Italy, Spain and France, this would be seen as absurd (a faithful donates what he can and when he can) and of deceitful nature.

Sure we have a bias towards those “heretic” leaders, as Moon was, a self-proclaimed messiah forging a theology that cocktail elements of Christianity, Buddhism, Confucianism and shamanism, which was very successful as it attracted tens of thousands of followers in Korea and the world over.

“Abe’s relatives and colleagues inside the ruling Liberal Democratic Party do have a long story of connections with this religious group”

But so far we know, Tanaka has officially denied that the killer’s mother was forced to make donations. And so we stand with two claims: one made by the leader of this church and another made by a 41-year-old unemployed man who built his own gun to kill a former Japanese prime minister to avenge his only source of income, which technically makes him someone who suffers from the widespread syndrome of ‘hikikomori.’

But why kill Abe? Well, there are a few more leads in this story. Abe’s relatives and colleagues inside the ruling Liberal Democratic Party do have a long story of connections with this religious group.

Moon, who died ten years ago could speak Japanese fluently and did recruit followers in the Land of the Rising Sun. For this, he started to cultivate close relations with Japan’s conservative political figures as far back as the sixties.

And here is where Abe’s maternal grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, comes into play. As he served as prime minister during that time he also reportedly facilitated the establishment of the Unification Church itself in Japan.

We also know that Abe delivered a message at an event hosted by an organization affiliated with the Unification Church last year. But is this enough to say that Abe or his predecessors were involved with the Church? And what does “involve” actually mean here?

Let’s not forget we are speaking about politicians, people who have to manipulate their speech in order to gain connections, friends, admirers and ultimately votes.

We know that any astute politician who wants to be elected to the highest ranks cannot afford to repudiate any social group, unless it consists of minor fanatics or extremists who really are counterproductive for building a reputation, thus undermining the chances of having a wide support base.

Not just Abe but even Donald Trump, and we are sure not just him, did address the religious group in question during his presidential campaign.

So far the most credible interpretation of all the information that has emerged is the one given by Tanaka. He said that Abe was indeed involved with a “friendship group” affiliated with the Church, but also added that “he was never a member or adviser to the Church itself.”

This is perfectly plausible and flawlessly fits a high-profile politician like Shinzo Abe.

At the moment any other reading into this story is purely made for political speculation or narcissistic attention-grabbing.

*The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.

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