In a rare move, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Oct. 17 instructed the education minister to investigate the Unification Church, a religious organization under heavy public criticism over its donation-collection methods.

“The prime minister told me to start (the investigation) to address the issue,” Keiko Nagaoka, the education minister, said. “We are ready to begin right away.”

Well, not quite.

The investigation will be conducted based on the Religious Corporations Law, which grants government authorities the “right to question” such corporations. The investigation into the church will be the first using this right.

At the Lower House’s Budget Committee session later on Oct. 17, Nagaoka said that her ministry wants to clarify in advance how it will proceed with the right to question the church.

The ministry will set up a panel of experts on religion, legal matters and religious corporations to gain feedback on the matter.

She said the ministry on Oct. 25 will begin studying how to approach the right to question and start procedures to investigate after gaining approval from the Religious Corporations Council, an advisory panel to the education minister.

“We think it is necessary to make a response as quickly as possible,” Nagaoka told the Diet session. “We will take steps so that we can exercise (the right to question) at the earliest possible time by the end of this year.”

The South Korea-based Unification Church, which had earlier come under fire over its “spiritual sales,” could face a court order to dissolve its Japanese arm depending on the results of the investigation.

The Cultural Affairs Agency, which is under the education ministry, has jurisdiction over registered religious corporations, which receive tax incentives with that status.

A court order to disband would strip the Unification Church of its corporation status. Although it can continue with its religious activities, the organization would face a tough time surviving without the tax breaks.

In the investigation, authorities are expected to request reports on operations and management from the church, which is now officially called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification.

The authorities will examine the reports for evidence of legal violations and other matters that could warrant a request for a court order for the church’s dissolution.

The church had been sued by former followers demanding the return of money paid in “spiritual sales” of expensive items of the organization.

The church’s donation-collection methods, and its ties to politicians, came under the spotlight after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s suspected killer said his mother had given the family’s fortune to the church.

Many government officials have remained cautious about taking steps against the organization, citing freedom of religion.

However, the support ratings of Kishida’s Cabinet have plunged largely over inaction against the church’s activities.

Kishida told the Diet session on Oct 17: “The government will strictly handle the issue of a religious corporation accused of social problems under the Religious Corporations Law and other relevant laws.”

He cited court rulings on civil lawsuits that went against the church in 2016 and 2017 as a reason for ordering the investigation.

The prime minister also said that as of Sept. 30, police departments, the government-affiliated Japan Legal Support Center and other entities had conducted more than 1,700 consultations concerning troubles related to the church.

“Although large numbers of people have suffered and many families collapsed and were broken (by the church), measures to save victims have yet to be sufficiently taken,” Kishida said. “The government takes this situation very seriously.”

Kishida pledged to get to the bottom of the Unification Church through the investigation and to bolster support systems for victims of the organization.

The “right to question” a religious corporation was incorporated in the revised Religious Corporations Law, which went into force in 1996, a year after the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult’s deadly sarin gas attack on Tokyo’s subway system.

Aum Shinrikyo is one of only two religious corporations that have been ordered to disband under the law.

If government authorities believe there are grounds for seeking a court order to disband a religious corporation, they can request reports or answers from the organization based on approval from the Religious Corporations Council.

But the authorities cannot question officials at the religious corporation’s facilities without their consent.