Photo/Illutration A second-generation former member of the Unification Church speaks out against the group at an Oct. 7 news conference held at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in Tokyo. (Gakushi Fujiwara)

I recently visited Honkakuji temple in the Ibaraki Prefecture town of Daigo, about an hour’s drive north from the prefectural capital of Mito.

It is nestled deep in a leafy mountain valley. Years of neglect were immediately apparent from the flaking white-plastered walls and a tiled roof that sagged as if drunk.

Built in the 1980s, Honkakuji expanded its congregation by telling the faithful that they were possessed by the spirits of aborted fetuses and stillborn babies--collectively referred to as “mizuko.”

Through “reishi shoho,” or blatantly nefarious sales of fraudulent spiritual goods and services, the temple collected massive sums of money.

When the temple began to face a series of lawsuits, it took over a temple in Wakayama Prefecture and renamed itself Myokakuji. But it was ordered to disband in 2002 for legal violations.

Japan has 180,000 religious corporations, but only two have received a court order for dissolution to date--one is Myokakuji, and the other, Aum Shinrikyo.

Will the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification be the third?

At long last, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Oct. 17 said he is considering launching an investigation into the former Unification Church under the Religious Corporations Act.

Any government intervention in religion must be debated with utmost care. But right now, we are seeing far too many victims who have suffered anguish and grief, and the former Unification Church hardly appears to be taking their appeals seriously.

At a news conference held on Oct. 7 by a young woman--a second-generation former member--the church actually went so far as to send faxes to the news conference site, vilifying her and demanding the event’s immediate termination.

It went beyond abnormal. The woman tearfully begged for the church’s dissolution, and my heart went out to her.

The government’s handling of the former Unification Church has, so far, differed greatly from how it dealt with Myokakuji. Why? I thought about it in front of the ruins of Honkakuji.

An eerie, sharp noise echoed in the valley. Was it a land animal or a bird?

--The Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 18

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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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