Education minister Masahito Moriyama, who has jurisdiction over religious corporations, received campaign support from a group connected to the Unification Church during the 2021 Lower House election, The Asahi Shimbun has learned.

Moriyama, 70, is a five-term Lower House member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and belongs to the Kishida faction.

He has repeatedly denied asking the group, known as the Federation for World Peace, for election support but acknowledged he has attended its meetings.

In 2021, Moriyama was battling for the Lower House seat representing the hotly contested Hyogo No. 1 district.

Although he lost to Nobuhiko Isaka, a Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan candidate, by about 14,000 votes, Moriyama gained a Diet seat through the proportional representation part of the election.

“Maybe it was our support that helped (Moriyama) win the seat through proportional representation,” a female follower of the Unification Church told The Asahi Shimbun.

According to the woman and other sources, the Federation for World Peace approached Moriyama about holding a “national policy briefing event” in Kobe on Oct. 17, 2021, about two days before the official start of campaigning for the Lower House election.

About 60 followers of the Unification Church attended the event, where a church official handed Moriyama a letter of endorsement signed by Masayoshi Kajikuri, chairman of the Federation for World Peace.

According to the sources, Moriyama said to the attendees: “I will not know how to represent your voice until I win the election. I hope you will lend me your strength.”

The main part of the campaign support was a “telephone operation,” the sources said.

Ten to 20 followers, under the direction of a federation executive, made phone calls from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. each day based on a list from the phone book.

The followers changed their personal cellphone contract plans to “unlimited calling” on their own dime, and each person made hundreds of calls per day, asking people to “please support Moriyama.”

From time to time, the federation reported back to Moriyama, saying things like, “We have made 25,000 calls already,” the sources said.

One source said the purpose of the federation’s actions was to gain Moriyama’s support for revisions to Japan’s postwar pacifist Constitution.

In September 2023, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida appointed Moriyama as minister of education, culture, sports, science and technology.

At that time, the Unification Church was under a ministry investigation over its fund collection methods and other financial matters. The church’s connections with various LDP lawmakers were also called into question.

When asked about the political ties, Moriyama’s office said at the time, “He attended a related organization’s event once in March 2022, and it will not affect his work judgment.”

As education minister, Moriyama in October 2023 asked the Tokyo District Court to order the dissolution of the Unification Church, now called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, based on the results of the investigation.

A source in the Federation for World Peace expressed dissatisfaction with Moriyama’s reluctance to show his connections with the group and his denial of the fact that he received its support in the election.

“I have met Moriyama more than 10 times, and he knows me,” the source said. “I supported him so much.”

A male follower of the church who supported Moriyama in the 2021 election was furious at the lawmaker’s denial about campaign support.

“It is rude for him to say that ‘I don’t remember’ when I spent time every day calling for support, even paying out my pocket for the phone calls, and working hard to appeal for him,” the man said. “It doesn’t matter if he is a lawmaker or not.”

The man quoted Moriyama as saying at the national policy briefing event, “I want to deliver your voices to the nation so I am asking for your help.”

The man said Moriyama’s words were a lie. “I don’t think anyone would ever back Moriyama, who seems to have forgetten our support.”

The Federation for World Peace, set up by Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon, has not responded to Asahi Shimbun requests for an interview.

When asked about receiving federation support in the 2021 election, Moriyama gave a written response to The Asahi Shimbun on Feb. 5.

“I believe that if there were people involved who made such statements, I may have visited the event you mentioned and received a letter of endorsement as part of my participation in various meetings,” Moriyama wrote.

“Furthermore, I have no knowledge of any request for campaign support, nor have I been able to confirm that there was a report of such activity to my office.”

At a Lower House Budget Committee meeting on Feb. 6, Moriyama was asked about an Asahi Shimbun article that showed a picture of him holding a letter of endorsement from the group at the 2021 event.

“If there is a picture, then I must have received the letter of endorsement,” he said. “I didn’t report (the event) because I don’t remember it.”

Asked if he received election support from the group, Moriyama said: “I don’t remember. My side didn’t ask them to support my campaign. We were told to come to a meeting, so we went.”

He later said about his Cabinet post, “I will continue to do my best.”

Kishida said on Feb. 6 that he has no intention to replace Moriyama.

(This article was compiled from reports written by Senior Staff Writer Nobuya Sawa, Yosuke Takashima and Amane Shimazaki.)