Photo/Illutration Koichi Hagiuda, center, the policy chief of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, talks to reporters about his relationship with the Unification Church at the LDP’s headquarters in Tokyo on Aug. 18. (Koichi Ueda)

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has instructed his Cabinet ministers to “examine and properly review” their ties to the Unification Church, now formally known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification.

But the outcome makes me wonder if what Kishida really meant was, “Everyone should come up with plausible excuses.”

In the case of Sanae Takaichi, the minister in charge of economic security, her interview with the Unification Church in 2001 was published in a monthly magazine issued by its affiliate company, The Sekai Nippo.

But Takaichi recently assserted on social media that she was not aware of the company’s identity at the time, and that it was difficult to ascertain such things in pre-smartphone days.

I don’t buy that. However, if she was actually telling the truth, I can only feel sorry for the pathetic level of her information-gathering capability back then.

Koichi Hagiuda, the new chairman of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s Policy Research Council, did not even try to sound convincing.

Prior to the Upper House election last July, Haguida in June visited a local branch of the church-affiliated Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, together with Akiko Ikuina, a former pop idol who was running in the race.

Hagiuda said it was his understanding that he and Ikuina were attending a gathering of the Women’s Federation for World Peace, even though its connection to the Unification Church would have been extremely hard to miss.

Pressed by reporters for a comment, Hagiuda’s lame excuse was, “That name sounded similar to the Unification Church, but I didn’t take the time to ask and confirm.”

I suppose Hagiuda at least knew he couldn’t say that he is totally unfamiliar with the connection.

In fact, the fact that he at least tried to come up with an excuse made him more “decent” than Hiroyuki Hosoda, the speaker of the Lower House who has not said a word so far about his past attendance of events associated with the Unification Church.

A witness has suggested that the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe himself was managing the votes collected by the Unification Church. But the Kishida Cabinet refuses to investigate.

Perhaps the prime minister is not confident of being able to come up with plausible excuses after the investigation turns up new findings?

--The Asahi Shimbun, Aug. 20

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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