The late Shinzo Abe arranged a meeting with Unification Church leaders in hopes they could secure 100,000 votes for his party.

The Liberal Democratic Party strongly resists taking a “masochistic view” of Japan’s history. Instead, it often justifies or idealizes Japan’s colonial rule and wars in the first half of the 20th century.

Former Prime Minister and LDP head Shinzo Abe held such views.

The Abe administration revised certification standards for history textbooks, and subsequently, the government’s official, whitewashing stance on issues such as sexual slavery (“comfort women”) and forced labor under the Japanese Empire became the official line in history textbooks. Current LDP Party President and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi regards this same Abe as her mentor. In January 2026, she visited Ise Shrine — a place associated with emperor worship and Japanese nationalism — with a portrait of Abe.

However, the Unification Church’s doctrine states that Japan must serve South Korea to atone for the atrocities committed under Japanese colonial rule. The church instilled this doctrine in Japanese believers and used it to compel them to donate large sums of money to the church.

To counter Abe’s inconvenient stance, Unification Church leader Han Hak-ja — known to the church as “True Mother” — ordered church leadership in Japan to win him over.

Their strategy was to support the LDP in elections.

“Prime Minister Abe must undergo seven days of spiritual training”

The International Federation for Victory over Communism (IFVC), founded in 1968 by Nobusuke Kishi and Ryoichi Sasakawa and which handled the Unification Church’s political activities, celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2018.

However, there was one politician who wouldn’t play along with Unification Church leaders in Japan: Kishi’s grandson, Shinzo Abe.

Beginning his second term as prime minister in 2012, Abe had been steadily consolidating his power base. However, his stance on Japan’s past colonial rule and wartime actions was incompatible with that of the Unification Church.

Masayoshi Kajikuri, head of IFVC, reflected as follows on Han’s instructions regarding Abe in a TM Report dated October 18, 2018. “Cheon Jeong Palace” refers to the Unification Church’s headquarters building, located on the outskirts of Seoul, South Korea. Important church events were often held there.

In particular, Mother gave a profound and precious talk at the Cheon Jeong Palace gathering regarding Japan’s national restoration and offered us guidance.

 

Along with the past that Japan must atone for and the issue of Japanese leaders’ mistaken historical understanding, we received words of blessing and encouragement that Prime Minister Abe, in particular, must undergo seven days of spiritual training, and that we must skillfully guide him and his wife to undergo a Blessing Ceremony together.

Han’s instructions were essentially to indoctrinate Abe in the teachings of the Unification Church. The church needed to go to such lengths because they believed that Japanese leaders must be the ones to atone for Japan’s sinful past.

Mother spoke of the sins Japan committed toward the Korean people over the past 100 years, citing the martyr Yu Gwan-sun as an example. While emphasizing Japan’s sins, she said that only when Japan and its leaders correctly welcome the True Parents — whom the Heavenly Parents have prepared across 6,000 years of history for the salvation of humanity — and become one with them, assisting in Heaven’s providence and fulfilling the role Heaven expects of them, will that reckoning finally be settled. She spoke about the timing and historical mission prepared by Heaven.

 

Even when Mother spoke of Japan’s atonement, I felt love and vitality in her words, and I was overcome with the urge to melt away into them.

Introduction by a Diet member close to Abe

Han had told her followers that they must guide Abe, but how were they to do that? As Kajikuri was struggling to find a solution, an opportunity presented itself — the July 2019 upper house election.

It had been six and a half years since the second Abe administration began, and so far it had been smooth sailing. However, in June 2019, the Financial Services Agency released a report estimating that “pensions alone would not be sufficient to cover retirement expenses, resulting in a shortfall of 20 million yen over 30 years.” Social anxiety grew, creating headwinds for Abe’s ruling LDP party.

Then, in July, Abe’s team got in touch with Kajikuri, who expressed his delight in a TM Report dated July 6, 2019, writing, “Something wonderful has happened.”

Mother, Chairman Tokuno may have already reported this, but something wonderful has happened.

 

After you spoke with us, I have continued to make efforts to arrange a meeting with Prime Minister Abe. However, while I have motives and reasons for wanting to meet, it seems he did not feel motives and reasons for meeting with us, and so things did not progress smoothly.

 

However, amid all this, Prime Minister Abe has asked us to support Diet member Tsuneo Kitamura, as he is determined to ensure Kitamura’s victory in the upcoming upper house election on July 21.

 

I and several top LDP officials have been holding strategy meetings in order to secure victory in the upcoming election as per the Prime Minister’s intentions. And, on July 1, a Diet member close to Prime Minister Abe finally contacted me to convey that the prime minister wished to meet with me and Chairman Tokuno the following day.

Which Diet member close to Abe told Kajikuri that the prime minister wanted to meet with him and Unification Church Chairman Eiji Tokuno?

At around 11:10 a.m. on July 2, myself and Chairman Tokuno met in the LDP president’s reception room with three staff members from IFVC, Prime Minister Abe, and Koichi Hagiuda, a Diet member who serves as Prime Minister Abe’s close aide and as acting secretary-general of the LDP.

 

Since the beginning of this year, I have requested that Diet member Hagiuda arrange a meeting for us with Prime Minister Abe before the upper house election, and on this day — three days before the election was officially announced — the meeting finally took place. It was made possible by Diet member Hagiuda, who coordinated the Prime Minister’s schedule just as the G20 Summit had concluded and the election campaign was about to begin.

Abe: “It’s going to be a tough election”

During the meeting, Abe said, “It’s going to be a tough election,” according to Kajikuri.

Prime Minister Abe entered the reception room where the five of us were waiting, accompanied by Diet member Hagiuda, and we spent about 20 minutes together. Before taking his seat and beginning the meeting, Prime Minister Abe shook hands with each of us.

 

We began by remarking that Prime Minister Abe must have really worked hard on the difficult task of hosting the G20. He responded by emphasizing that the real battle was likely yet to come, noting that the upper house election was going to be a tough one.

Tokuno also relayed Han’s message to Abe.

Next, Chairman Tokuno showed the Prime Minister an album highlighting the miraculous achievements realized through Mother’s world tour and conveyed three messages from her to the Prime Minister.

 

1. Mother expresses her respect and gratitude for the Prime Minister’s work on behalf of the world and Japan.

 

2. For the sake of peace and stability in the world and in Asia, Japan, the U.S., and South Korea must become one.

 

3. Mother hopes the prime minister will make continuous efforts to improve Japan-South Korea relations, despite the serious difficulties therein.

 

Next, I introduced the strategy we had come up with, as per Prime Minister Abe’s request, to ensure Diet member Kitamura’s election, as well as the activities we are carrying out nationwide.

“If we mobilize 300,000 voters…”

Kajikuri also highlighted his ties with the Abe family. His father, Gentaro Kajikuri, held key positions in organizations affiliated with the Unification Church, including serving as chairman of IFVC and president of the Sekai Nippo newspaper.

Finally, I showed a photograph taken in 1988 in this same reception room, from a meeting between Secretary-General Shintaro Abe — the prime minister’s father — and my father, Chairman Gentaro Kajikuri. I once again emphasized the bond spanning two generations forged by leader Moon and leader Han.

 

We took a commemorative photo at the end of the meeting. Although it had only lasted less than 20 minutes, it was a precious opportunity to demonstrate Mother’s works and reaffirm our connection. Prime Minister Abe was in good spirits throughout, smiling as he spoke with us.

Kajikuri was determined to secure more votes in the election than Abe expected. While Abe hoped the Unification Church would be able to secure about 100,000 votes, Kajikuri aimed for 200,000 to 300,000.

We will do our utmost to secure victory in the election campaign, and thereafter, we will strive to create opportunities, such as organizing dinners, to spend more time interacting with the prime minister and fostering a deeper understanding.

 

In any case, today’s meeting took place with a wonderful atmosphere in which I could truly feel that Heaven was with us and blessing the occasion. It was a precious time, and I couldn’t help but sense Mother’s sphere of love, filled with sincere devotion, spreading across Japan day by day.

 

Mother, Prime Minister Abe and the LDP headquarters estimate that our organization can bring about 100,000 votes.

 

However, we are campaigning nationwide during the election period with the goal of securing 300,000 votes, focusing primarily on those we have reached through the Tribal Messiah Movement and supporters participating in the Peace Movement. In the LDP’s proportional representation system, there are only about 10 members of the upper house who have secured 200,000 votes nationwide.

 

If we manage to bring in 300,000 or 200,000 votes, Prime Minister Abe and the Japanese government’s attitude toward us will surely change. As for next year’s World Summit, they will no longer be able to simply ignore our requests.

Finally, Kajikuri resolved to do his utmost to make Abe prostrate himself before Han.

In order to elevate the status of the True Parents in this country, all our believers are doing their utmost to demonstrate our true strength to the Abe administration and Japanese society in this election.

 

We will ensure victory and restore the birthright of the firstborn so that Prime Minister Abe will prostrate himself before Mother. I will send another report soon.

(Korean–Japanese translation: Minju Kang)

Reporting on the “TM Report”

Regarding the TM Report, the Unification Church has refuted it, while the LDP has turned a blind eye.

On January 16, 2026, the Unification Church’s Public Relations Department of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification published “Our Organization’s View on the ‘TM Special Report’.”

Within their announcement, there is a report by a staff member who is said to have worked under Yun Young-ho, a former World Headquarters director who compiled the TM Report. It points out that the report is highly likely to contain deliberate omissions, alterations, and additions, concluding that it is “extremely lacking in credibility.” The report’s author remains anonymous, and no details regarding their position or role are disclosed.

It also states that, regarding the relationships with Japanese politicians described in the TM Report, “it cannot be ruled out that the expressions within the report go beyond the established facts, that the context has been embellished, or that the report includes content that cannot be verified as factual.”

From the Unification Church side, on January 8, 2026, former Chairman Eiji Tokuno also posted a statement on X. He acknowledged that “it is true that it includes a report I sent to the former World Headquarters Director to report to leader Han” while adding that “it also contains many personal opinions and wishful predictions.”

In September 2022, two months after the assassination of former LDP President Shinzo Abe, the LDP conducted an investigation into its ties with the Unification Church and concluded that “the party has no organisational relationship with the Church.” The investigation was severely inadequate, relying solely on self-reporting by lawmakers. Despite this, current party president Sanae Takaichi has shown absolutely no intention of evaluating the TM Report. On January 26, 2026, she appeared on TBS’s news23. When Akiko Oishi, co-chair of the Reiwa Shinsengumi, pointed out that Takaichi’s name appears in the TM Report, Takaichi called it a “document of unknown origin” and went so far as to say “that would amount to defamation”.

Tansa reviewed the entire 3,212-page Korean version of the TM Report.Making use of AI-based analysis, examining the document together with translators and our reporting partner, the Korean investigative journalism organization Newstapa.

Extensive research has been conducted on the Unification Church and a vast body of investigative findings has been accumulated by journalists and researchers, as well as by lawyers and religious scholars who have worked on victim support and countermeasures. Tansa respects the work of its predecessors and has utilised their findings to examine the TM Report.

As a result, we have determined that the TM Report is a crucial document in unraveling the longstanding codependency between the Unification Church and the LDP.

While continuing to report on the TM Report, we will pursue further investigation. If you have internal information regarding undisclosed ties between the Unification Church and the Liberal Democratic Party, we encourage you to contact Tansa. We will responsibly protect and keep confidential the identity of our sources.

For those wishing to provide information, please refer to the page below. It contains details on contact methods, points to note, and key aspects of the Whistleblower Protection Act.

https://tansajp.org/whistleblower/

The Unification Church changed its name to the “Family Federation for World Peace and Unification” in 2015, and the media refers to it as the “Former Unification Church.” However, because there is continuity in the fundamental problems inherent to the Church, Tansa will refer to it as the “Unification Church.”

 

January 27, 2026

Tokyo Investigative Newsroom Tansa

 

(Originally published in Japanese on January 30, 2026.)

The True Mother Files: How a Cult Religion Infiltrated Japan's Ruling Party: All articles