Ruling party policy chief Koichi Hagiuda has a tendency to act surprised when revelations of his ties to the Unification Church are reported.

But some church members said they will tell the Liberal Democratic Party heavyweight, “Don’t act like you don’t know us because you do.”

Church followers and other sources said the Unification Church started supporting Hagiuda’s political career long before he entered the Diet. They also take partial credit for his comeback after he lost his Diet seat.

Yet Hagiuda, who was a close ally of slain former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, has denied or downplayed his connections with the Unification Church.

Perhaps feeling slighted by the politician, church followers have broken with the policy of secrecy concerning Hagiuda and revealed to The Asahi Shimbun additional details about the deep connection.

CODED MESSAGE

One example was a church rally for Hagiuda and Akiko Ikuina, a former idol and novice LDP candidate, before this summer’s Upper House election.

According to the sources, a message was posted on the Line communication app for several hundred church followers and others on the evening of June 16 this year. That was six days before the start of the official campaign for the Upper House election.

The message began, “An appeal from the Federation of World Peace.”

The group is affiliated with the Unification Church and has hosted seminars on the church’s national policies. It supports likeminded politicians.

The main purpose of the message was to announce a “pep rally” at the church’s facility in Hachioji, western Tokyo, on the morning of June 18.

Hachioji is Hagiuda’s home turf.

The message said the meeting would be about “S,” code for “senkyo” (election), and described the work as “the center of providence” of the church.

“This is absolutely a must-win,” the message said. “We ask for understanding and participation from many of you.”

It was signed by the secretary-general of the federation’s Tama Tokyo bureau.

One follower who had worked in previous election activities in Hachioji with the church explained the hidden meanings in the message.

The follower said that members, seeing the use of “S” and “providence” in the message, “readily understood that Hagiuda was bringing Ikuina to the church.”

The follower said messages from the group are always designed to be difficult for outsiders to understand.

On June 18, about 150 church followers welcomed Hagiuda, who was economy minister at the time, at the rally.

After telling attendees to vote early in the election, an MC screamed out: “Here they are! Hagiuda-san and Ikuina-san are coming in!”

The two entered the room and were immediately greeted with applause.

After a senior church official officially welcomed them, Hagiuda bowed toward the stage, where portraits of Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the Unification Church, and his widow, Hak Ja Han, the current leader of the church, were hanging.

Hagiuda took the stage and introduced Ikuina as a candidate in the election.

Later, several young church followers entered the stage while the theme song of “Kyojin no Hoshi” (Star of the Giants), a baseball anime series, started playing.

The followers, mimicking the moves of baseball player and reading subtitles on a screen, belted out a parody of the song.

“Go Akiko with guts!” they sang. “Go Go Akiko. Let’s go!”

Ikuina, visibly moved by the performance, dabbed her eyes on the stage and thanked the followers.

Hagiuda and Ikuina left the meeting after about 30 minutes.

Later, Yoshiyuki Inoue, who was running in the proportional representation segment of the election, was introduced at the rally as a former aide to Abe when he was prime minister.

The followers also performed the “Kyojin no Hoshi” parody song for Inoue, a “support member” of the Unification Church.

But a person related to the church told The Asahi Shimbun that Hagiuda and Ikuina were the main stars at the rally.

“They were nice at the meeting, so they attracted support from the followers,” the source said.

HIDDEN TIES

The message sent on June 16 did not specifically mention the names of Hagiuda or Ikuina.

“A Line message can be leaked to the outside,” a follower said. “There is a shared awareness at the Hachioji church to prevent Hagiuda-san’s relationship with the church from being exposed and to avoid damaging his reputation.”

The follower added that members are banned from mentioning Hagiuda publicly or taking pictures of him at church meetings and other events.

Hagiuda has visited the church many times for his own elections and talked about policies, the follower said.

“When Hagiuda-san was up for an election, a movie about his political activities was played, and there is a parody song for his rallies, too,” said the follower, who comfirmed that church members and their acquaintances have made phone calls and helped to direct audience traffic at rallies for the politician.

“The bond between Hagiuda-san and the Hachioji church is deep,” the follower said.

The sources told The Asahi Shimbun that many Unification Church followers have supported Hagiuda since his days as a Hachioji city assembly member.

A former follower of the church said Hagiuda often showed up at church gatherings in Hachioji and gave speeches around 2009, after he lost his seat in the Diet in an election.

Before the 2012 Lower House election, when Hagiuda was plotting a comeback, he showed up to the weekly Unification Church service, she said.

She said she was mobilized to attend his election rallies and made phone calls on his behalf at his campaign office.

“We were taught by the head of the Hachioji church that ‘Hagiuda is a top aide to Abe. Sending him back to the world of politics is God’s plan,’” she said.

Hagiuda “was like a father figure,” she said. “I was so happy when he won the seat that I really thought Japan would be saved.”

Hagiuda first won a city assembly seat in 1991 at the age of 27. He served on the Hachioji assembly for about 10 years, then occupied a seat on the Tokyo metropolitan assembly for about two years.

In 2003, he won a Diet seat in the Lower House election. He was appointed to important positions in the LDP as well as in the administration under Abe.

A person related to the church praised Hagiuda as a “politician who has kept with us even after he moved from local politics to national politics.”

However, the LDP has tried to distance itself from the Unification Church since Abe was shot and killed in July by a gunman with an apparent grudge against the church.

The incident has put the church in the spotlight again, particularly the repeated problems with its methods of gaining donations and revenue from its followers.

The church’s ties with dozens of LDP politicians have also been revealed.

Hagiuda has acknowledged his connection to the Women’s Federation for World Peace Japan, a group related to the Unification Church.

But he insisted he didn’t know about the federation’s affiliation with the church.

One church follower said Hagiuda’s denial was disappointing.

“It is the church’s followers who support Hagiuda. There are followers who know Hagiuda. As far as I am concerned, my relationship with the church comes first,” the follower said.

The offices of both Hagiuda and Ikuina on Sept. 21 declined to comment for this article.