Over 100 Japan lawmakers had links with Unification Church: survey – The Mainichi

2 comments

1. Here are the main statistics from the article:

   – 106 of 712 lawmakers who responded to the survey admitted to having connections with the Unification Church
   – 82 belonged to the LDP
   – 11 belonged to Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party)
   – 7 belonged to the CDP
   – 1 belonged to Komeito
   – 1 belonged to the DPP
   – 1 belonged to Sanseito (note: Sanseito only has one elected lawmaker at the moment, the party’s leader)
   – 3 are independents

   Additionally:

   – 7 (of 20) Cabinet members with connections (post cabinet shuffle)
   – 20 (of 54) senior vice ministers and parliamentary vice ministers are confirmed to have connections (post cabinet shuffle), but only 12 of them admitted to it in the survey.
   – 13 lawmakers sold fund-raising party tickets to the church
   – 30 lawmakers benefited from electoral support from the church-related bodies such as soliciting votes by phone
   – 71 lawmakers attended events sponsored by the Unification Church
   – 43 lawmakers sent messages to the Unification Church

   Only 583 of 712 lawmakers have responded to the survey so far, so the above numbers might increase.

   —

   Check out this [Daily Beast article](https://www.thedailybeast.com/shinzo-abes-assassin-tetsuya-yamagami-succeeds-in-plot-to-expose-japans-deep-ties-with-unification-church) if you don’t know what the Unification Church is or why this is a big deal.

2. So, a South Korean church’s followers-members dominate national government in Japan?