Photo/Illutration Justice Minister Hideki Makihara explains his ties with the Unification Church during a Lower House plenary session on Oct. 7. (Takeshi Komiya)

Twenty-four of the 54 state ministers and parliamentary vice ministers in Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s Cabinet had ties to the religious group Unification Church, according to an analysis by The Asahi Shimbun.

However, none were found to have been implicated in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s fund-raising scandal.

While most have been reappointed from the previous administration under former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, five state ministers and three parliamentary vice ministers have been replaced.

Shortly after the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July 2022, The Asahi Shimbun asked lawmakers about their ties to the Unification Church.

In the survey, eight of the 26 state ministers and 11 of the 28 parliamentary vice ministers acknowledged their connections to the church, now formally called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification.

Among these, only Hiroaki Saito, state minister of finance, was newly appointed to the Ishiba Cabinet.

Saito acknowledged receiving election support from the church and paying fees to attend its events.

In the free comment section of the survey, he wrote, “I was aware that this had become a social issue, but I didn’t fully understand the implications of (receiving support from the Unification Church) and had asked for support as I had from other religious and civic organizations."

In an LDP internal review conducted at the same time as The Asahi Shimbun survey, five lawmakers who did not respond to the newspaper's survey were found to have had connections with the church.

Their involvement included delivering speeches at gatherings of organizations affiliated with the church, attending church-hosted meetings and receiving volunteer support during elections.

During a Lower House plenary session on Oct. 7, Ishiba said, “If any new ties (with the church) are discovered, it is crucial to report and explain them promptly and ensure no further connections are made.”

In the session, Justice Minister Hideki Makihara admitted to attending a meeting related to the church in 2021.

This connection had not been disclosed during the LDP review or The Asahi Shimbun survey.

Harumi Yoshida of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan questioned Makihara about whether reports of his attendance at a church-related event held in Saitama in June 2021 were true.

Makihara explained, “It was discovered during a review of ties with the Unification Church that I had attended the meeting.”

“I had not been aware at the time that the meeting was linked to the church,” he said.

Makihara did not clarify whether he was aware of this connection during the LDP’s review.

This brings the number of Ishiba Cabinet ministers who have acknowledged ties to the church to nine.

This is the first time that a previously undisclosed connection, not identified in either the LDP’s review or The Asahi Shimbun survey, has come to light.

(This article was compiled from reports by Ai Asanuma, Wataru Netsu and Kazumichi Kubota.)

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