The problem of "the integration of church and state" in Japan is beyond imagination

On August 10, The reshuffled cabinet of Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio was officially launched, and he had a special request for the new cabinet members, that is, everyone must review and report on their relationship with the Unification Church. After the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the relationship between the Liberal Democratic Party and the Unification Church has received strong attention from Japanese public opinion, and the unrefined entanglement between political parties and religious organizations has also aroused fierce debate in Japan. Although the Japanese Constitution stipulates the separation of church and state, the country's political parties and religious organizations borrow, promote and influence each other. Religion has played an important role in shaping Japan's internal affairs and foreign policy.

More religious than the total population?

"This [religion] is actually a standard part of Japanese political activity." After the attack on Abe, many Japanese people were surprised by the "long-standing" relationship between the Liberal Democratic Party and the United Religion, but McLaughlin, an expert on Japanese religious issues at North Carolina State University in the United States, said in an interview with the Financial Times a few days ago that other religious groups had been actively speaking out in Japanese politics long before the Unification Church opened branches in Japan in the 1950s.

There are more than 180,000 religious groups

In fact, throughout history, Japan's religion and politics have been closely related. Shintoism and Buddhism are the two most important religions in Japan. According to the Financial Times, there are 150,000 temples and shrines throughout Japan, and people regularly visit the shrine every year. According to the BBC, after Buddhism was introduced to Japan in the 6th century AD, it had an impact on Japanese politics along with Shintoism. In the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, Shintoism became the state religion of Japan, inextricably linked to Japanese nationalist activities.

Luo Min, a scholar at the School of History and Culture of the Central University for Nationalities, said in an interview with the Global Times that after World War II, the General Headquarters of the Allied Forces in Japan, led by the United States, carried out reforms in Japan, including the religious system, and established two principles through the Constitution of Japan: the separation of church and state and freedom of religious belief. Against this background, religious groups in Postwar Japan developed rapidly.

According to statistics from the Japan Agency for Cultural Affairs, there are more than 180,000 religious groups in Japan as of 2020. Among these groups, in addition to the Unification Church, the larger ones include the "Japan Conference", "Shinto Political Alliance", "Soka Gakkai", and so on.

According to a 2018 survey conducted by Japan's NHK television station, many Japanese respondents said they did not believe in any religion, but the Religious Yearbook released by the Agency for Cultural Affairs showed that as of 2020, the number of religious believers in the country exceeded 180 million, more than Japan's total population of 126 million at that time. This shows that many people believe in multiple religions at the same time. It has been argued that many Japanese people simply participate in religious activities as folklore and therefore do not consider themselves religious believers.

"Banknote ability" is strong

Some religious corporations in Japan have a large number of members. For example, the Soka Gakkai said it had 12 million members, the Science Church of Happiness claimed 11 million members, and the RishiZensa Society said it had 6.5 million members, for example.

The Japanese religious group with "many people" naturally has a strong "banknote ability" that is self-evident. In the case of the Japan Conference, for example, it charges members at different levels between 3,800 yen (1 yuan is about 20 yen) and 100,000 yen a year. The organization also sets two kinds of donations, one is a general donation, which is 1,000 yen; The other is a special donation of 100,000 yen. Unlike corporations, Japanese religious corporations can be described as drought and flood protection. According to statistics, between 2009 and 2011, the Unification Church raised about 50 billion yen in donations from Japan every year.

Borrow from each other

Although the Japanese Constitution clearly stipulates the separation of church and state, throughout the history of World War II, Japanese politicians and religious groups are not "clearly distinguished", but use and influence each other.

From the perspective of Japanese politicians, religious groups with a large number of believers and huge sums of money can undoubtedly help them increase voter support. For Japanese religious groups, having politicians, especially prominent politicians, as members or platforms for them, can help increase the group's influence, further promote the political advocacy advocated by the group, and absorb more money and membership.

After World War II, some religious groups in Japan directly participated in elections to seek political benefits by forming political parties, typical examples of which include the Soka Gakkai and the Komeito Party, the Happiness Science Church and the Happiness Realization Party. There are also religious groups that participate in politics by offering political contributions to political parties and politicians. Mr. Abe's younger brother, Nobuo Kishi, the current prime minister's assistant official, previously admitted that he had ties to the Unification Church and had received help from the group during the election. Senator Yoshiyuki Inoue, a former aide to Abe, revealed that he is an unofficial member of the Unification Church.

Luo Min said that in order to avoid being accused of violating the principle of separation of church and state, some religious groups in Japan will avoid the risks by forming political groups. The Shinto Political Alliance was established by the Shinto Head Office in the 1960s to promote the "preservation" of the Yasukuni Shrine, etc. The recently highly publicized Unification Church established the political group "International Victory and Communist Alliance" in 1968 to take advantage of the Opportunity to approach conservative Japanese politicians, including former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, in the context of the Cold War.

Conservative religious organizations push for political rightward shifts

After World War II, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was in power in Japan for a long time, and Abe became the longest-serving Japanese prime minister after World War II. Against this backdrop, the Liberal Democratic Party and Abe's ties to conservative religious groups have had a huge impact on Japanese politics.

Abe and the Liberal Democratic Party used conservative religious groups to win over voters and promote their political views. When Abe was elected prime minister for the second time in 2012, religious groups such as the Japan Council "did a great job." In addition, the Financial Times and other media reported that in 2015, Abe pushed Congress to pass a new security bill, allowing Japan to send troops overseas for the first time since 1945. However, this action was met with strong public opposition, triggering massive protests. Later, both the Unification Church and the "Japan Conference" organized events to fight the above protests in support of Abe's security policy.

The "Japan Conference" was established in 1997 by the merger of the "National Assembly for the Protection of Japan" and the "Association for the Protection of Japan". As Japan's largest conservative group, the organization has branches in 47 prefectures in Japan. South Korea's JoongAng Ilbo said that although the full membership of the "Japan Conference" is less than 40,000 people, together with the right-wing groups that have joined, its members may be as many as 8 million. The "Japan Conference" called for constitutional amendments and a prime minister's formal visit to the Yasukuni Shrine, denied the International Military Tribunal for the Far East trial, and banned women from becoming emperors.

Many of the political ideas of the "Shinto Political Alliance" and the "Japan Conference" are similar. Founded in 1969, the alliance is based on the shrine headquarters and has branches in all prefectures in Japan, with more than 80,000 subordinate shrines. The "Shinto Political Alliance" advocated the promotion of the emperor's powers, the revision of the constitution, support for government officials to "worship ghosts," and the implementation of Shinto moral education in schools. The nationalist group also said on its website that it is committed to dispelling "misconceptions" about Japan's history and making Japan a respected country in the world.

According to the Washington Post, in order to create a "new identity" after World War II, the Japanese government "embraced" conservative religious organizations. Because of similar political views, Abe and the Liberal Democratic Party have been working closely with the Shinto Political Alliance and the Japan Council. In 2016, 19 of the 20 members of Abe's cabinet were associated with the "Shinto Political Alliance" and 14 were related to the "Japan Conference," australia's dialogue news network said. In addition, members of the Japanese Diet also formed the "Shinto Political Alliance Diet Members' Earnest Talks" and the "Japan Congress Members' Earnest Talks". According to the official website of the Shinto Political Union, 264 members of the Shinto Political Union will participate in the "Shinto Political Union Parliamentary Council Members' Earnest Talks" in 2022. According to the Asahi Shimbun, 290 members are affiliated with the "Japan Congress Diet Members' Earnest Talks." Among the members of the two earnest talks were Many Japanese dignitaries, such as Nobuo Kishi and Taro Aso, vice president of the Liberal Democratic Party.

The "Shinto Political Alliance" and the "Japan Conference" have enormous energy and are important "promoters" of Japan's political rightward shift in recent years. Under their influence, after Abe came to power for the second time, he not only lifted the ban on collective self-defense, passed a new security bill, but also signed the "Japan-US Defense Cooperation Guidelines". Three days after Abe stepped down as prime minister in 2020 due to health reasons, he went to the Yasukuni Shrine to pay respects. Later, Suga, who succeeded him as Prime Minister of Japan, also offered sacrifices to the Yasukuni Shrine. Luo Min said that the top level of Japanese politics has repeatedly visited the Yasukuni Shrine and hurt the feelings of its Asian neighbors, and behind these moves is the huge influence of religion on Japanese politics.

However, unlike the Japan Conference and the Shinto Political Alliance, the Soka Gakkai has shown caution on constitutional revisions, historical issues, and other issues. Because its members were persecuted by the Japanese militarist government in the 1930s, the Soka Gakkai began to participate in politics in 1955, with the purpose of promoting peace, culture, and education based on the idea of the dignity of life, and praying for the happiness of mankind.

One of Japan's ruling parties, the Komeito Party, originated from the Soka Gakkai, and some of the group's political views were reflected through the Komeito Party. For example, on the issue of constitutional revision, the Komeito Party has always taken a cautious stance, which has to a certain extent restrained the LDP's attempt to revise the constitution.

People demand reflection and change

After Abe's attack on the Unification Church, the Japanese media and people began to reflect on the relationship between religion and politics, hoping that the incident would bring about change.

According to the Tokyo Shimbun, what the LDP needs is not to try to cover up its relationship with the Unification Church, but to find out what impact the Unification Church has had on the LDP's decision-making and political power, and to take measures to prevent similar situations from happening again. The question, according to the Financial Times, is whether The Japanese public's focus on religious and political ties will change. The view was expressed that the relationship between the two should be monitored. "Politicians don't have to cut ties with religion, but what they need is accountability and transparency." Sogo Takashi Tsukada, an associate professor at The University of Education in Shangyue, said. Yoshihide Sakurai, an expert on cult issues at Hokkaido University, believes that calls for regulatory control over religious groups will be opposed by all religious groups in Japan, so the media, civil activists, lawyers and scholars need to play a supervisory role.

Religion is a sensitive topic in Japan. According to the Financial Times, after Aum Shinrikyo launched a sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995, relations between the Japanese public and religion were overshadowed. Since then, the use of the word "religion" has become taboo even in public. In the early days of the police investigation into the Abe attack, the Japanese mainstream media used the term "specific group" rather than "religion" when describing the unification religion that the suspects hated.

Although Japan's constitution provides for the separation of church and state, it strictly restricts the government's control over the activities of religious groups, fearing that these controls will infringe on citizens' freedom of religious belief. Mitsuhiro Kannuma, a former senior official at Japan's Public Security Investigation Agency, said it was difficult for local governments to investigate the controversial practices of religious groups for fear of violating people's religious rights, and that "religious organizations are beyond the reach of the Japanese authorities."

McLaughlin, an expert on Japanese religion at North Carolina State University, believes that for now, the close relationship between Religion and political parties in Japan is still ongoing, and "it is difficult to see what structural changes will happen in Japan." But the Financial Times said Abe's death could change that. In the past, when there was a fierce conflict between politics and religion in Japan, action followed. For example, after the 1995 Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, the Japanese government forcibly passed an amendment to the law on religious groups in the Diet, transferring the jurisdiction of religious groups from local governments to the Ministry of Education and requiring them to provide financial information.