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Accepted Paper:
Lessons Learned or Not Learned: How Scholars Have Reacted to Recent Anti-cultism in Japan
Satoko Fujiwara
(University of Tokyo)
Paper short abstract:
Following the assassination of a former Japanese PM in 2022 by a self-proclaimed victim of the Unification Church, the Japanese media started anti-cult campaigns. Drawing on M. Introvigne’s 2022 EASR keynote, this paper analyzes popular and scholarly reactions and the government’s actions.
Paper long abstract:
Following the assassination of a former Japanese Prime Minister in July 2022 by a self-proclaimed victim of the Unification Church, the Japanese media started anti-cult campaigns rather than accusing the criminal. Drawing on Massimo Introvigne’s international comparison of anti-cultism/separatism presented in his 2022 EASR keynote lecture, this paper reports on and analyzes media representations and public discussions of the issue and their relationships with the government’s actions. It will also examine scholars’ reactions to the issue, comparing them with reactions to the Aum Shinrikyo affair in 1995.
Introvigne has also published a number of online articles (including the below) on the anti-UC campaign, which European scholars may find helpful.
Massimo Introvigne, “The Assassination of Shinzo Abe and the Unification Church,” The Journal of CESNUR, Volume 6, Issue 6, November-December 2022, pages 74-96.