Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Fumio Kishida talks with education minister Masahito Moriyama after the Lower House Budget Committee session on Feb. 7. (Takeshi Iwashita)

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida appears unfazed by growing demands from the opposition camp and even some ruling party lawmakers to sack education minister Masahito Moriyama over his past connection with the Unification Church.

Moriyama acknowledged signing an effective policy agreement with a group affiliated with the Unification Church before the 2021 Lower House election.

The document, titled “Confirmation of Recommendations,” listed policies pushed by the Unification Church, now formally called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification.

At the Lower House Budget Committee session on Feb. 7, Chinami Nishimura of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan asked Moriyama if he had received support from the church-affiliated organization for the 2021 election.

The education minister had initially said he didn’t remember.

“Has your memory somewhat returned now?” Nishimura asked.

“I faintly recall now,” Moriyama responded.

Nishimura then asked Kishida: “You appointed Moriyama as the education minister while he was withholding information about his signature on the document. Shouldn’t you dismiss him?”

Kishida reiterated, “The appointment was made based on the premise that he currently has no relations with the religious group.”

The education minister has jurisdiction over religious corporations.

And Kishida has stressed to those around him that Moriyama, who became education minister in September last year, was the one who requested a court order to dissolve the Unification Church over its shady financial dealings.

“We will continue to deal with the matter thoroughly, so I will not replace Moriyama,” Kishida is quoted as saying.

A senior official at the prime minister’s office also said, “The dissolution order request is the biggest proof that he has no current ties with the religious group.”

But if Moriyama is replaced due to his past connections with the religious group, it could undermine the legitimacy of the dissolution order request.

The Kishida administration is also apparently reluctant to dismiss Moriyama because the issue could backfire on the prime minister himself.

In December, it was reported that Kishida had met with the head of the group’s friendship organization in 2019 when he was the chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party’s Policy Research Council.

A sense of crisis is growing within the ruling LDP over the issue.

“Signing the ‘Confirmation of Recommendations’ document is definitely problematic,” a young LDP lawmaker said.

A former Cabinet member said of Moriyama’s explanations so far: “The excuse ‘I didn’t know’ won’t cut it. Dismissal is a matter of time.”

The opposition camp, which has been attacking the LDP over a scandal concerning unreported political funds, is now directly targeting Kishida over his Moriyama appointment.

“If Moriyama is not dismissed, it could be the end of the Kishida Cabinet,” a senior CDP official said.

Mizuho Fukushima, head of the Social Democratic Party, said, “It’s contradictory for someone who signed the policy agreement to file the dissolution order request.”

Related News