Yoshifumi Miyajima knows full well he would never have won a seat in the 2016 Upper House election without organizational support from a group associated with the Unification Church, which he felt placed him under some obligation to repay the debt in small ways.

But unlike past or present lawmakers, Miyajima, along with his campaign advisers, has chosen to acknowledge the crucial role played by the organization in his short-lived political career.

Miyajima, 71, served one term in the Upper House, winning a seat through the proportional representation segment of the 2016 election.

The issue is of immense public interest in light of the July 8 slaying of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe while he was giving a campaign speech in Nara ahead of the latest Upper House election held two days later.

Even Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has exhorted his Cabinet ministers to “examine and properly review” their ties to the Unification Church.

The alleged gunman, 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami, told police he bore a grudge against the religious group due to hardships he endured as a child after his mother made huge donations to the church. Yamagami also felt Abe had close ties to the organization.

Miyajima and high-ranking campaign officials spoke with Asahi Shimbun reporters on a number of occasions after Abe was shot, an all but unthinkable event in modern-day Japan.

Since 2012, Miyajima has served as president of the Japanese Association of Medical Technologists. Based on that experience alone, he doubted he could marshal enough votes via members and related organizations to win an Upper House seat.

Miyajima was approached in 2015 by Chuichi Date, then a high-ranking official in the Upper House caucus of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, about running in the election the following year.

Shortly before the official start of campaigning, Date informed Miyajima that votes had been obtained from an organization that supported the LDP. Miyajima said he was told the organization’s name was the Federation for World Peace (FWP). For his part, Date refused to respond to questions from the Asahi about his role in the 2016 election or the organization.

Miyajima’s aides told him the organization was linked to the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, now the formal name of the Unification Church.

While Miyajima harbored doubts about accepting support from a group closely linked to an organization that had been in the public eye over unsavory business practices, his campaign staff told him he could not back out now since party higher-ups had gone to so much trouble to ensure he got the required support.

Miyajima met with organization executives at the behest of Date. But only a small number of campaign staff knew about the “top secret” ties with the FWP. Campaign advisers also told Miyajima to not talk publicly about the support.

During the Upper House campaign, Miyajima gave speeches around the nation and made a point of stopping at Unification Church facilities to speak with small gatherings of members to ask for their support. In total, he attended a dozen or so such meetings.

According to Miyajima’s campaign staff, the FWP also provided volunteers to help with the mailing of tens of thousands of postcards in support of Miyajima as well as the distribution of fliers.

Miyajima garnered around 122,000 votes in the election.

“I believe the church accounted for between 60,000 and 70,000 votes so I was honestly very impressed by the influence of the church,” said a high-ranking campaign official.

While facilities were made available to the FWP during the campaign, the church itself never provided direct support to Miyajima, an official with the Unification Church said.

“We did provide support during the campaign because Miyajima’s policies matched our principles,” an FWP official said.

Miyajima said he never became a member of the church or the organization and that his only association with the groups was during the election.

But after the 2016 election, Miyajima attended various meetings organized by the FWP to express gratitude for the support he received.

Miyajima and an aide also attended a “study session” later in 2016 paid for by the FWP at which he learned about the history of the Unification Church in Japan. A video of Abe was also shown and Miyajima was told that Abe “understood” the organization’s anti-communist stance.

In May 2017, Miyajima attended a Unification Church event held in Tokyo and met privately with Hak Ja Han, the widow of church founder Sun Myung Moon and now head of the church.

Miyajima decided not to seek re-election in this year’s Upper House poll after Abe informed him that he could not count on the support he received six years ago from the FWP.

Miyajima said he was still grateful for the support received from the FWP.

However, he cautioned that action would have to be taken if the church was still demanding large donations from members as well as providing assistance to victims.