情報を確かめてみる
Incidents in which members of the Unification Church are abducted and confined. There are the victims who are kidnapped and locked up, and there are the offenders who kidnap and confine. Outwardly, these cases are described as a “family issue”; yet in reality, there is a group masterminding the crimes behind the scenes. First of all, please confirm the facts with direct information.
Voices of Victims
The following are the testimonies of people who have experienced kidnapping and confinement. When, where, by whom and how they were abducted and confined, are given in detail. They describe not only the reality of the circumstances, but the pain of the victims, and plead that such incidents should not occur again.
- Toru GOTO
- Mitsuko ANTAL
- Rie IMARI
- Michiyo Miyakoshi
- Hiroko TOMIZAWA
- O・K（male）
- Misa Takasu
- Kumiko Tojo
- Hirohisa KOIDE
- Soichiro KOBAYASHI
Voices of knowledgeable people
We have collected statements by members of Parliament, academics, religious leaders and others who, after learning about the facts of such kidnapping and confinement, raised their voices to put an end to this.
- 元外交官 文筆家 佐藤 優
- 元衆議院議員。日本医師会参与 桧田 仁
- 京都大学名誉教授 渡辺久義
- 元宮崎県宗教者懇話会会長 曹洞宗 僧侶 美原 道輝
- 米国大使 ダニエル・H・ガレット
- デンバー大学シュトゥルム法科大学 国際人権法・擁護センター ニコール・ブレーク・リルス
- 宗教および公共政策研究所
冊子・ビラ・書籍
拉致監禁問題に関する書籍、冊子やビラの紹介です。それぞれのレビューと入手方法が書かれています。
- 我らの不快な隣人 統一教会から「救出」されたある女性信者の悲劇
- 人さらいからの脱出 違法監禁に二年間耐えぬいた医師の証言
- 日本収容所列島―いまなお続く統一教会信者への拉致監禁
- 踏みにじられた信教の自由
- 「原理講論」に対する補足説明
- 冊子「拉致監禁」シリーズ１ 痛哭と絶望を超えて
- 冊子「拉致監禁」シリーズ２ その時警察はどう動いたか
- 冊子「拉致監禁」シリーズ３ 反対派の悪辣な手口
- 強制改宗をくつがえす統一神学
- パンフレット 現代の「ホロコースト」拉致監禁・強制改宗！
Newspapers/ Media Information
We introduce TVs, newspapers and magazines dealing with the issue of kidnapping and confinement.
Flash Report Missing Fiancé
- 45 days after disappearance, doubt of kidnapping and confinement The two were so much in love
- Without confining his will Biased response by the police
- “Please help me, Mr. Commissioner” The fiancée’s firm attitude
Kidnapping and Confinement Violated Freedom of Faith
- Mr. Goto’s 12 years of endurance Deprogrammer behind family
- Mr. Hirohisa Koide exposes the reality The lawyer who appeared at the confinement site
- Mr. Soichiro Kobayashi, 3 times of kidnapping and confinement Police neglects the case as “family matters”
- Mr. Makito Nozoe suffers after effect Escaped by jumping from the 3rd floor
- Organization established to appeal to society Victims of religious kidnapping and confinement reach 4000
Kidnapping and Confinement 2 Violated Freedom of Faith
- Called to a hotel Locked up in a room for exit counseling
- Attempt of faked renunciation Deprogrammer Shows Up Again
- Fierce battle in confinement Malnourished when released
Sekai Gakusei Shinbun (World Student News) Extra Edition May 15, 1993
- Rethinking Ms. Hiroko Yamazaki’s case
Who tore the two apart? - Since when did the media become a God? Journalist/ Shiro Sakagami
- Kidnapping and confinement is a criminal offense of false arrest, imprisonment and extortion
- Criminality admitted by deprogrammers Forced conversion goes on until the target becomes an anti-Unificationist
- Mr. Hassan’s background Doubt of fabrication by Mr. Asami
- Steven Hassan’s “Combatting Cult Mind Control”
- Interview Rev. Martin Bordelon, Chairman of the American Conference on Religious Movements (ACRM)
- The deprogrammers
- Criticizing Iiboshi Koichi’s “Warera Chichioya wa Tatakau (We, fathers will fight)”
Korean News Reports
- February 17, 2011 Korea/ Segye Ilbo
Disappearance of a Japanese woman
A Korean man searching for his missing Japanese fiancée sends a letter to her parents - March 19, 2010 NEWSis
Unification Church’s Japanese wives organize to bring charge against kidnapping and confinement of Unification Church members - March 17, 2010 News Cheonji
“Terror of kidnapping and confinement” holds Unification Church members back from going home - March 24, 2010 News Cheonji
Petition against religious kidnapping and confinement was presented to the Japanese Embassy - March 23, 2010 News Cheonji
The Unification Church’s committee against religious kidnapping and confinement presents a petition to the Japanese Embassy - March 2010 Break News
“Fear of kidnapping” The Unification Church’s Japanese wives who cannot go back to Japan - March 2010 Break News
The Unification Church’s 7000 Japanese wives who came to Korea, Terror of kidnapping - March 23, 2010 Yonhap News
Japanese Government must take measures against kidnapping and confinement against Unification Church members! - The Kyunghyang Sinmun
Japanese Government must take measures against kidnapping and confinement against Unification Church members! - Segye Ilbo (Korean Sekai Nippo)
Cannot go home because of fear of kidnapping and confinement… - March 22, 2010 Ilyo Seoul
Shocking situation Oppression against the Unification Church by Christian Organizations in Japan - Segye Ilbo
Japan shuts its eyes against “religious kidnapping” (1): Confinement goes on for few months – few years till target renounces faith - Segye Ilbo
Japan shuts its eyes against “religious kidnapping” (2): Testimony by Mr. Goto who was confined for 12 years and 5 months - Segye Ilbo
Japan shuts its eyes against “religious kidnapping” (3): Broken family ties and mental scars just because of faith in a specific religion - Segye Ilbo
Japan shuts its eyes against “religious kidnapping” (4): No longer a “family matter” but a social issue – legal resolution required
Korea SBS
海外のニュースメディア
動画映像
We introduce videos related to the issue of religious kidnapping and confinement such as films showing the reality of the hidden religious persecution of today – kidnapping, confinement and forced conversion of 4300 Unification Church members in Japan, including interviews of Mr. Toru Goto who have survived confinement which lasted for 12 years and 5 months. Please listen to the victims’ authentic voice.
Background of the Kidnapping, Confinement and Forcible Conversion Issue
Illegal kidnapping and confinement of members of the Unification Church. Activities to forcibly convert members to leave the Church spread nationwide in the mid-1970s. In the beginning, methods were used to illegally and forcibly hospitalize members in mental institutions; members were made to take medication and injections even though they were not mental patients, and cases in which they suffered from the aftereffects of such treatment occurred frequently even after being discharged from the hospital. However, cases in which the victims were released through legal proceedings, such as appeals for habeas corpus, followed one after another, and after one victim won in a civil trial seeking for damage compensation from a mental hospital director, the method of forcibly hospitalizing someone became less frequently used.
From the mid-1980s, Christian ministers and conversion specialists started to forcibly confine Unification Church members in parish houses or apartment rooms and business hotels, as part of a nationwide, organized scheme. Such incidents did not cease, and from about the 1990s, more than approximately 200 to 300 cases per year began to be reported. The ministers who were involved were mostly from Protestant churches, and they can be classified largely into the evangelist ministers, such as Rev. Takazawa, and ministers of the United Church of Christ in Japan.
Once they are confined, members are not released until they completely renounce their faith in the Unification Church. The period of confinement is usually from about one month to half a year, and in longer cases, it goes beyond one year to even two years. As these are perpetrated behind closed doors, accidents can easily occur, and very abnormal cases took place in succession, such as that of a male Church member (aged 25 then) who attempted to escape from the veranda of a high-rise apartment; he struggled with the person keeping guard over him, fell over the veranda and in spite of being in critical condition, he was not released from confinement (October, 1996, Saga Prefecture, Karatsu City). In another case, a woman member (aged 27 then) who was separated from her husband against her will and confined, attempted suicide and died in a hospital the following day (July 12, 1997, Kyoto City, Kita Ward). Furthermore, even if some were able by some means to escape from long-term confinement, because these members were subjected to extreme states of tension during their ordeal, in some cases being exhorted forcibly and one-sidedly for up to 6, 7 hours a day to renounce their faith, many instances of suffering from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) have been reported even after their escape.
Response of the Police
Until now, the police have taken no necessary measures at all, even if they witnessed these confinement cases, such as to arrest the offender. Even if they got a request for help at the site of a kidnapping and confinement, they ignored the victim, and in an extreme case, the police supported the act of kidnapping and confining, which was a blatantly unlawful behavior on their part. Because of such attitudes taken by the police, deprogramming experts openly proclaimed that, “With regard to Unification Church members, whatever you do is allowed,” spurring the family and relatives of the members further. As a result, the mode of crime committed continued to become more aggravated. Here are some links to groups that are interested in the issue of kidnapping and confinement, and to articles addressing this issue and our activities.
