Moriyama’s Office Continues Receiving Unification Church Affiliate Magazine Despite Claims of Severing Ties

The education minister Masahito Moriyama’s local office continues to receive a monthly magazine from a Unification Church affiliate, according to sources. The Federation for World Peace, a friendship organization of the Unification Church, has been sending the publication “Sekai Shiso” (Global thoughts) to Moriyama’s office in Kobe, his constituency, for many years free of charge.

The magazine typically features messages from Sun Myung Moon, the deceased founder of the Unification Church, now formally known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. Moriyama, who was found to have received an endorsement letter from the group during a Lower House election in 2021, has emphasized that he has severed ties with the organization.

Moriyama stated that the magazine has been unilaterally sent to his office and that his side did not request it. “I do not look through each and every copy,” he said at a news conference on Feb. 20. He also reiterated his intention to remain in his position as education minister, who oversees religious corporations.

Sources indicated that the Federation for World Peace has received multiple requests to stop sending the magazine since the shooting death of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July 2022. The incident brought increased scrutiny to the close ties between the Unification Church and politicians within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

A former LDP Lower House member, who had received the magazine for free, reported that it stopped arriving after he informed the group he wished to cut all ties following the shooting. However, Moriyama’s office has not expressed a desire to discontinue the magazine, and the January issue was sent to his office, according to the sources.

The Hyogo prefectural federation of the Federation for World Peace stated that it presents the magazine to Moriyama in hopes that it will assist him in studying policies and analyzing political situations both within and outside Japan. Eito Suzuki, a journalist who has covered issues related to the Unification Church for years, noted that “Sekai Shiso” strongly reflects the organization’s ideology.

If Moriyama continues to receive the magazine, “one cannot help but harbor suspicions that he has such deep connections that he cannot even decline to receive it or that he intends to restore the connections once the heat dies down,” Suzuki said.

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