139: The Church, the State and Kishida's headache

When former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot earlier this year, the incident shone a spotlight on the links his fellow Liberal Democratic Party members had with the controversial Unification Church. Kanako Takahara joins this week’s Deep Dive to discuss what’s behind a new bill regulating faith-driven donations, investigations into the church and whether these actions will be enough to save Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s job.

Hosted by Shaun McKenna and produced by Dave Cortez.

On this episode:

Kanako Takahara: Articles | Twitter

Read more/Watch more:

In Japan, ties between politics and religion run deep (Will Fee, The Japan Times)

Faith or manipulation? Debate grows over regulating Unification Church tactics (Tomoko Otake, The Japan Times)

Escaping the clutches of a cult (The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan)

Get in touch:

Send us feedback at deepdive@japantimes.co.jp. Support the show by rating, reviewing and sharing the episode with a friend if you’ve enjoyed it. And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter! For a transcript of the show, head to japantimes.co.jp.

Photo:

A former follower of the Unification Church who goes by the pseudonym Sayuri Ogawa speaks to reporters at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan. | TOMOKO OTAKE