WEBVTT - Assassination Week #4: How a Moonie Victim Killed Shinzo Abe 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:03.560 Prime Minister Abe was a champion of democracy and a 0:00:03.640 --> 0:00:08.280 firm believer that no economy, society or country can achieve 0:00:08.320 --> 0:00:11.920 its full potential if women are left behind. I am 0:00:11.960 --> 0:00:16.360 shocked and devastated by his assassination, a loss for Japan 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:26.400 and our world. J K. This is assassination week. WHO's 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:31.480 assassinating my ex x former prime minister of Japan? It's 0:00:31.520 --> 0:00:36.040 it's assassination week. It is, it is. I I would 0:00:36.120 --> 0:00:39.040 kind of I would somewhat ving gloriously argue the capstone 0:00:39.040 --> 0:00:42.839 of assassination week. It is the episode about the assassination 0:00:42.880 --> 0:00:45.479 that started at all Um, and by by that I 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:47.919 mean we are, we are, we're here talking about the 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:53.120 assassination of Juan Shinzo Abe Um. This is this is 0:00:53.159 --> 0:00:56.920 going to be a slightly different episode, both to the 0:00:56.920 --> 0:01:00.000 rest of assassination week episodes and to the other episod 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:04.200 we did on the asassinationations in Abbe Um, partly because, 0:01:05.760 --> 0:01:10.520 basically the day after, with within about two days of 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:15.920 the our episode, original episode about the Abbe assassination dropping Um, 0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:20.039 there was confirmation that the reason abbe was killed was 0:01:20.080 --> 0:01:23.080 because of his connection to an organization called the Unification Church, 0:01:23.680 --> 0:01:26.720 which is I think better locially known as the Mooneyes Um. 0:01:26.800 --> 0:01:30.759 People might have listened to the very, very long episode 0:01:30.800 --> 0:01:35.760 I did about it, but yeah, there is. There is 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:39.839 an enormous amount going on there and this is something 0:01:40.160 --> 0:01:45.280 that fortunately, we have experts for. And Yeah, so, so 0:01:45.720 --> 0:01:50.480 joining us to talk about this assassination and the moonies 0:01:50.680 --> 0:01:54.000 and sort of, I don't know, the sort of weirdness 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:56.440 and the horror around everything that's been happening around this 0:01:56.480 --> 0:02:02.600 assassination is anti fascist researcher Elisa, as you yeah, Alisa's 0:02:02.920 --> 0:02:07.440 a anti fascist researcher specializing in cults WHO's working with 0:02:07.720 --> 0:02:10.600 deprogramming imperialism, which is a collective of x Moonies who've 0:02:10.639 --> 0:02:13.400 been documenting just sort of all of the ship the 0:02:13.440 --> 0:02:16.560 moonies have been getting up to and trying to get 0:02:16.639 --> 0:02:21.640 more awareness of really just incredible array of awful stuff 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:25.200 that they've been doing. Yeah, so a Lisa, welcome to 0:02:25.200 --> 0:02:28.720 the show. Hi, thanks for having me. I really appreciate it. Yeah, 0:02:28.760 --> 0:02:30.280 and thank you. Thank you so much for joining us 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:32.520 for this. I don't know why I'm saying us, as 0:02:32.600 --> 0:02:34.840 if if there's someone other than this episode and you, 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:37.760 but you know, old old habits die hard. I guess. 0:02:37.800 --> 0:02:41.240 I guess I've inherited the royal we which is not great. 0:02:41.240 --> 0:02:43.079 Oh well, so someone will have to assassinate me soon. 0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:48.000 That's fine, sometimes it happens. I hope it doesn't happen 0:02:48.000 --> 0:02:51.560 to you, though. Yeah, that would not be the best 0:02:51.600 --> 0:03:01.120 assassination target, honestly. Yeah, so, okay, I guess the place 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:04.520 I think we should start is talking about what we've 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:09.160 found out about this assassin in the last sort of 0:03:09.280 --> 0:03:12.640 a few months since this happened, which is that when 0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:16.440 when the initial police reports came out, there was a 0:03:16.440 --> 0:03:20.960 bunch of very, very murky stuff about basically the police 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:23.040 were like this wasn't a political killing, it was about 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:27.080 some organization, and I think me and you and every 0:03:27.080 --> 0:03:29.239 single other person who was like even tangentially where of 0:03:29.320 --> 0:03:32.760 Japanese politics saw them say like an organization and was like, 0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:34.560 Oh no, there's like a one in three chances of 0:03:34.600 --> 0:03:37.840 the booties. Yeah, that's yeah. I saw like when they 0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:40.480 said something about like organization or religious organization, I was 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:50.760 like yeah, it was probably is. Yeah, yeah, and it 0:03:50.760 --> 0:03:53.800 turns out that okay, so the assassin is a man 0:03:53.920 --> 0:04:00.839 named Tsuya Yamagami, who was a navy veteran Um. Yeah, 0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:05.560 made a a series of unbelievably based and incredibly wild 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:09.720 fire arms with which she assassinated the foreign per minister Japan. What, 0:04:09.720 --> 0:04:12.280 what we've learned since then is that the reason he 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:17.320 did this was that his basically, like his family and 0:04:17.440 --> 0:04:22.120 his life were completely destroyed by his mom falling into 0:04:22.160 --> 0:04:27.080 the colts, and by her I mean she, she, she, 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:30.080 she gave this Colt set like something like seven hundred 0:04:30.120 --> 0:04:35.880 thousand dollars. Yeah, like roughly seven U S dollars. Yeah, 0:04:36.120 --> 0:04:39.839 like literal, like like multiple fortunes, like she, she, she 0:04:39.960 --> 0:04:42.159 gave them all of her money and then she sold 0:04:42.200 --> 0:04:46.120 the company that like she had been running to give 0:04:46.160 --> 0:04:51.640 them more money. And, yeah, what what? What, basically, as 0:04:51.680 --> 0:04:54.400 best we can tell, has happened was that he was 0:04:54.440 --> 0:04:58.040 he was looking at a way to like get back 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:02.680 at the booty's Um. And basically the problem was he okay, so, 0:05:02.760 --> 0:05:05.320 he didn't want to kill civilians, which I think is admirable, 0:05:05.360 --> 0:05:07.679 and he couldn't figure out a way to like get 0:05:07.720 --> 0:05:11.400 at any of the like individual church leaders, and so 0:05:11.920 --> 0:05:14.279 he's the thing he decided to do was go after 0:05:14.279 --> 0:05:16.560 Shinzo Abe because, as we're gonna get to in a 0:05:16.640 --> 0:05:20.560 in a bit Enzo Abbey lots of connections with the 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:24.120 Unification Church, a thing that all of the people like 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:28.680 writing glowing obituaries about him just like incredibly don't want 0:05:28.680 --> 0:05:32.360 to mention. Yeah, it's been left out of a lot 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:39.599 of ship yeah, and okay, so I guess to back 0:05:39.720 --> 0:05:44.960 up a little bit, Um, can for for for people 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:46.680 who sort of don't know what this is or for 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:50.200 people who like, may have heard of Abdy to refresher, 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:54.280 can you talk a bit about what? What? What? What 0:05:54.320 --> 0:05:58.280 the Unification Church actually is? And Yeah, we can, we 0:05:58.320 --> 0:06:01.440 can sort of go from there. Yeah, definitely. Okay. So 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:04.840 the Unification Church, or the Moonys, uh, they are a 0:06:04.920 --> 0:06:08.640 quote unquote, new religious movement or pretty much a cult 0:06:08.720 --> 0:06:11.719 you know, they're very culty and they're a cult Um, 0:06:12.440 --> 0:06:15.880 and they were started by some young moon who was 0:06:15.920 --> 0:06:21.120 originally from what is now North Korea. Uh. And so basically, 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:25.680 this guy, he claims he's the Messiah, has this originally 0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:28.919 it started out as like a sex cult um under 0:06:29.200 --> 0:06:33.600 a practice called, I think, Picarum, which is basically, uh, 0:06:34.120 --> 0:06:39.720 he was supposed to quote unquote, clans a woman's like 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:43.200 relationship to God by having sex with her so he 0:06:44.160 --> 0:06:48.560 assaulted a number of people doing this stuff. Um. And 0:06:48.720 --> 0:06:50.960 the church over the years has sort of like developed 0:06:50.960 --> 0:06:59.240 into more of a multinational corporation, uh, and political movement. Uh. 0:06:59.320 --> 0:07:01.440 And it has a lot of tools, I mean a 0:07:01.440 --> 0:07:05.320 lot of ties and connections to various governments around the world, 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:08.600 including Japan. Um. And it's basically, at the end of 0:07:08.600 --> 0:07:11.360 the day, a tool of United States imperialism. Um, there's 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:18.040 some pretty pretty direct ties to like the Korean CIA. Yeah, yeah, 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:21.880 as well as the U S C I. A. Um. So, yeah, 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:25.960 it's like this big umbrella of like groups, different NGOs, 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:31.239 different like businesses, a bunch. It's just a whole conglomeration 0:07:31.280 --> 0:07:37.000 of things, right. Um, but very extremely virulently anti Communist. Uh. And, 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:41.760 you know, involved in some of some of the greatest 0:07:41.880 --> 0:07:49.280 hits of the last century, like Iran Contra. Uh. Yeah, 0:07:49.480 --> 0:07:51.960 for us. And when? When? When? When we say involved 0:07:51.960 --> 0:07:53.840 in a rand contract? Like, okay, there's lots of people 0:07:53.880 --> 0:07:56.000 who are like sort of involved in the ran contract. 0:07:56.200 --> 0:07:58.640 The movies like there. There is a dec there you 0:07:58.680 --> 0:08:01.080 can do. You can make the arguments that if the 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:03.360 Mooney's had not been doing what they were doing in 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:06.200 Nicaragua around contras wouldn't have been able to happen because 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:09.920 the civil war would have ended like they like when, when, 0:08:09.960 --> 0:08:11.880 when I say like, when we say like, like they 0:08:11.920 --> 0:08:13.920 were involved in the around contract, like they are like 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:16.560 on the ground giving people guns and money and keeping 0:08:16.720 --> 0:08:19.840 like literally literally keeping guerrilla organizations and like terrorist groups 0:08:19.880 --> 0:08:22.840 like in the war who wouldn't have been able to otherwise. Yeah, 0:08:22.880 --> 0:08:24.400 and then, and then also, and that's that's the thing, 0:08:24.440 --> 0:08:27.320 like they did to around contrast, right, because they did. 0:08:27.360 --> 0:08:29.360 They did the second around contract with like with, you know, 0:08:29.360 --> 0:08:31.760 when the CIA actually got money, but they were also 0:08:31.840 --> 0:08:34.560 doing the same thing like before that, when they in 0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:36.400 the sort of stop gap period with the CIA wasn't 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:39.080 able to fund the contrast. So, yeah, these guys are 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:46.240 route for that money. And Yeah, so it's yeah, they're very, 0:08:46.400 --> 0:08:49.400 very heavily involved. Like basically anywhere there is an anti 0:08:49.400 --> 0:08:52.559 communists squad, like in the world, you can find the 0:08:52.600 --> 0:08:57.280 moonies funding in though. Okay, I wasn't. Weirdly, the only 0:08:57.400 --> 0:08:59.240 one I the only one I haven't directly been able 0:08:59.320 --> 0:09:03.000 to find is I haven't been able to directly find 0:09:03.040 --> 0:09:06.360 any evidence that they were like that. Like specifically, they 0:09:06.360 --> 0:09:11.440 were helping Pinot like helping pl okay, they were involved 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:14.720 in Operation Condor and they were like doing ship with that. 0:09:14.800 --> 0:09:17.679 I haven't found evidence they like directly had any conversations 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:20.040 with Pinochet, but that's he's like the the only person 0:09:20.080 --> 0:09:22.400 you can say that about. And they probably did at 0:09:22.440 --> 0:09:24.640 some point, like but, you know, like a frail straws yeah, 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:25.880 like they probably did. Like, I mean again, like they 0:09:26.000 --> 0:09:27.880 were they were there with a frail strawsner. They were 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:31.920 there with, Um, what, what's that guy's name? UH, Claus Barbie, 0:09:32.000 --> 0:09:34.439 the cocaine. Yeah, yeah, I can't, I can't. I can't 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:36.959 remember that, the name of the guy. Yeah, there was. 0:09:37.000 --> 0:09:38.400 There was a guy and believe you, who got installed 0:09:38.440 --> 0:09:42.640 for like a year that he got could now. Um, yeah, no, 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:44.800 I I know who you're talking about, but I'm also 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:47.760 forgetting his name at the moment. Yeah, it's funny because 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:49.160 he's like he's one of these guys where it's like, 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:53.120 you know, I had a professor I took I took 0:09:53.120 --> 0:09:57.480 a Syrian history class in college, right and Um, there, 0:09:57.520 --> 0:09:59.679 I think it's I really should if I was saying 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:01.400 it's that really should know the year. But there, there, there, 0:10:01.480 --> 0:10:04.880 there's a year in like the fifties in Syria, where 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:07.720 there's like four cups in one year and there were 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:11.079 like two guys who were, technically speaking, like had controller. serially, 0:10:11.080 --> 0:10:12.080 he was like, I'm just not even telling you these 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:14.040 guys names because they get overthrown him like two months 0:10:14.760 --> 0:10:19.880 and like that's that's, that's this guy. Yeah, but yeah, 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:24.439 this is a very sort of very serious and deeply 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:31.680 scary like death squad funding machine. Yeah, and that, you know, 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:40.520 has continued to today pretty much. So, yeah, and okay, 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:43.640 I think like yeah, so, yeah, there's sort of the 0:10:43.720 --> 0:10:45.559 dust squad side of it. Um, the other thing I 0:10:45.600 --> 0:10:50.360 wanted to ask you about is about like what it's 0:10:50.440 --> 0:10:53.160 like being in the church and what it's like sort 0:10:53.200 --> 0:10:58.320 of I don't know, because I think, I think a 0:10:58.360 --> 0:11:02.400 big part of what's happening with this story is to 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:08.360 a Yamagami like basically watching his family get sucked in 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:11.600 and not being able to do anything about it, and 0:11:11.760 --> 0:11:14.600 I was wondering if you could talk a bit about yeah, 0:11:14.600 --> 0:11:16.560 I mean sort of like what, what? What? What? What 0:11:16.600 --> 0:11:19.040 it's like being in the church and then what it's 0:11:19.200 --> 0:11:26.719 like just sort of watching it destroy people. Yeah, so, Um, 0:11:26.760 --> 0:11:29.079 I was born and raised in the church. I left 0:11:29.080 --> 0:11:32.880 when I was around seventeen. It was not it was 0:11:32.960 --> 0:11:37.160 not nice. Um, pretty much everybody I talked to who 0:11:37.320 --> 0:11:42.439 is also left feels the burden of this like perfect 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:47.360 abuse that we had to endure. Um, it was a 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:54.080 bleak time for me. Uh, you know, there's just so 0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:58.560 much pressure put on members to follow leadership, to do 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:03.560 out outrageous amounts of fundraising. They have a bunch of 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:06.600 these fundraising teams, right, and they'll they'll go out and 0:12:06.640 --> 0:12:10.400 they'll sell things and live in a van, occasionally stopping 0:12:10.440 --> 0:12:15.840 at like different church centers. Um Too like, uh, you know, 0:12:15.960 --> 0:12:19.560 sleep for the night or whatever. They don't eat well, UH, 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:22.280 they don't get enough sleep, you know, like you're constantly 0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:27.400 around other people, basically like all all of the methods 0:12:27.400 --> 0:12:31.720 of psychological torture you can do on a person, right, Um, 0:12:31.720 --> 0:12:35.360 which was, you know, pretty standard throughout the whole movement. Um, 0:12:35.520 --> 0:12:37.000 I was lucky enough not to go on any of 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:41.240 these fundraising teams because I left before Um, that could happen. 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:46.520 But Um, I still, you know, definitely feel like the psychological, 0:12:47.240 --> 0:12:49.559 you know, fallout from that and it's something I'll be 0:12:49.600 --> 0:12:54.600 healing with, healing from for the rest of my life. Um. Yeah. So, 0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:57.679 like there's there's like no accountability for leadership. They can 0:12:57.720 --> 0:13:00.000 do whatever they want, but everybody else in the church, 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:05.679 you know, Uh has to follow what moon and the 0:13:05.720 --> 0:13:10.520 regional or national leadership says, or the the thirty six 0:13:10.520 --> 0:13:14.560 blessed couples who are like some of the Moon's original followers. UH, 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:18.120 there's it's like extremely hierarchical. UH, there's a lot of 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:22.080 racism within the group, a huge amount of sexism that 0:13:22.280 --> 0:13:25.920 is like, you know, directly tied into their Um, their 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:30.640 belief system, because the fall of man, according to the Moonies, 0:13:30.720 --> 0:13:34.040 was eve having sex with Saton and then having sex 0:13:34.080 --> 0:13:39.679 with Um Adam and spreading that thin Um. So just 0:13:39.760 --> 0:13:45.120 like very inherently misogynistic, extremely homophobic and transphobic movement. Just 0:13:45.240 --> 0:13:47.840 all around like so much sexual repression, like you're not 0:13:47.840 --> 0:13:51.360 supposed to hold hands, kiss, do anything before marriage, right, 0:13:51.679 --> 0:13:54.640 and then it's only that person. Well, of course moon, 0:13:54.760 --> 0:13:57.280 you know, didn't didn't like this. Didn't apply to him 0:13:57.280 --> 0:14:01.360 at all. He could sleep with anybody's wife pretty much. Um. 0:14:01.440 --> 0:14:06.600 So yeah, it was just altogether a very intense environment, 0:14:07.280 --> 0:14:11.280 just so much indoctrination going into the heads of the 0:14:11.360 --> 0:14:15.920 people who are part of it. Um. Yeah, just altogether 0:14:16.120 --> 0:14:20.760 shitty group. Um. Yeah. So for me, I I went 0:14:20.760 --> 0:14:24.040 away to school in another state when I was fourteen. Um, 0:14:24.080 --> 0:14:26.000 it got me like, you know, the physical distance as 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:28.320 well as like the space and time to actually think 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:31.520 and reflect on what was going on. And then I 0:14:31.520 --> 0:14:34.120 started doing some research online because I was like, well, 0:14:34.160 --> 0:14:36.680 maybe what people are saying about it is true, maybe 0:14:36.680 --> 0:14:39.040 it is a cult Um. And I came across this 0:14:39.320 --> 0:14:41.320 the tragedy of the six Mary's, which was, you know, 0:14:41.520 --> 0:14:46.680 Moon assaulting a bunch of women, uh, and that sort 0:14:46.720 --> 0:14:50.560 of like made me just, you know, it sort of 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:52.120 brought it to a head because I had like, you know, 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:55.640 seen for the longest time how leadership was treated versus 0:14:55.640 --> 0:14:58.440 how regular members had to live in like poverty. Um, 0:14:58.520 --> 0:15:01.840 but they got like big mansion ends and like Nice Things, 0:15:02.000 --> 0:15:05.560 Nice cars, expensive watches, but everybody else had to like 0:15:05.600 --> 0:15:07.920 give all their money to the church and you know, 0:15:09.040 --> 0:15:13.960 was were like terrorized, Um. And Uh, then eventually I 0:15:14.800 --> 0:15:17.880 was like, I think I have to go. I like 0:15:18.200 --> 0:15:21.000 I had been through the process of like meeting the 0:15:21.040 --> 0:15:24.640 mystical or the the evil other which, you know, like 0:15:24.880 --> 0:15:27.640 people outside of the church or you know, they're fallen. 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:30.560 They're like, you know, basically they have original sins, so 0:15:30.600 --> 0:15:33.960 they're kind of evil, right. Um. And Gotten to know 0:15:34.040 --> 0:15:37.000 more people, UM, queer people, who were just like a 0:15:37.080 --> 0:15:41.680 hugely demonized group of people within the UC. Um, and 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:45.360 here I am today. I'm Super Queer, Um, but like that, 0:15:45.600 --> 0:15:49.200 like hell, yeah, but like getting to know people and 0:15:49.280 --> 0:15:51.360 actually seeing, you know, like, Oh my God, what they're saying. 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:55.160 These people are not evil, they're normal, they're human, they 0:15:55.160 --> 0:15:59.800 are just different from straight people. I don't know. That 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:02.600 to me also made like a huge difference. Um. And 0:16:02.640 --> 0:16:04.960 then when I was seventeen, I went to another school 0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:07.120 and I was like, I want to get laid. I've 0:16:07.120 --> 0:16:10.920 had a lot, so I went out and did that 0:16:11.040 --> 0:16:13.040 and that felt like, you know, once I finally lost 0:16:13.080 --> 0:16:15.200 my virginity, it felt like sealing the deal. I'm like, 0:16:15.240 --> 0:16:17.720 if I have to go to hell now, okay, and 0:16:17.760 --> 0:16:20.840 it was cool because God didn't like immediately smite me 0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:24.080 where I where I was in bed at that point, 0:16:24.200 --> 0:16:27.760 like I lived and I'm here to tell the tale. 0:16:28.840 --> 0:16:42.480 So so, yeah, that's how I left. That rules. This 0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:46.080 is much more gay of the story. When I was expecting, 0:16:46.080 --> 0:16:50.600 which is all, which is a good thing. Yeah, a 0:16:50.680 --> 0:16:53.280 lot of like the stories of sort of like people 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:57.200 leaving like the really right wing like evangelical was grade, 0:16:57.520 --> 0:17:00.320 like a lot of reminds me a quiverful but like, yeah, 0:17:00.560 --> 0:17:03.360 more intense, I think. Well, it's like I think like 0:17:03.360 --> 0:17:06.720 like the level of I don't know, I guess the 0:17:06.800 --> 0:17:14.040 level of separation. Yeah, they seem to be at least 0:17:14.080 --> 0:17:17.960 sort of like integrated into like other communities and stuff, 0:17:17.960 --> 0:17:21.240 whereas the Moonies, I don't know, like there's definitely like 0:17:21.600 --> 0:17:24.560 people have friends outside of it, but like generally, like 0:17:24.600 --> 0:17:26.879 people kind of keep to the moonies because, you know, 0:17:26.960 --> 0:17:29.800 they're supposed to be like God's chosen people or whatever. 0:17:29.880 --> 0:17:32.560 So they and they like look down on everyone else 0:17:32.560 --> 0:17:37.639 because they're not moonies. So yeah, it is. It's it's 0:17:37.680 --> 0:17:40.840 also interesting to me that like literally, like literally the 0:17:40.960 --> 0:17:44.879 term is just the evil other, which is so I 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:47.240 don't think that's a literal term, but like that's how 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:50.720 I sort of phrase it or whatever. But yeah, or 0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:53.320 just like fallen people would be or the fallen world, 0:17:53.320 --> 0:17:56.840 the outsiders, is what they would say. So just this 0:17:57.080 --> 0:18:02.639 very you know, like very like stigmatizing language that they 0:18:02.720 --> 0:18:05.760 use for people. Lots of people are just called evil 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:07.960 in the church to they just call people evil like 0:18:08.080 --> 0:18:12.040 Willy Nilly. It's like, Oh, you're satanic, like no, that's 0:18:12.359 --> 0:18:18.000 not it's not that I don't know how to go 0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:32.320 to a good tradition into this. Yeah, we're going to adds. Yeah, 0:18:32.440 --> 0:18:37.520 so I wanted to just also talk about specifically one 0:18:37.520 --> 0:18:40.439 of one of the things that the church does and 0:18:40.480 --> 0:18:42.919 one of the things like the sort of one of 0:18:42.920 --> 0:18:47.479 the specific things that to Yamagami, Yamagami seems to have 0:18:47.680 --> 0:18:52.159 been suffering from, and particularly it is mom but his 0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:57.280 sort of full family, is the financial abuse. And Yeah, 0:18:57.600 --> 0:19:00.119 I wanted to ask you a bit about what that 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:03.600 looks like. And also there's some several of the Japanese 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:08.639 context that I think is slightly different thin so the 0:19:08.680 --> 0:19:10.720 American of the Korean context. I want to ask you 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:15.479 a bit about that. Yeah, definitely. So, across the board, uh, 0:19:15.840 --> 0:19:18.760 Unification Church members are expected to bring in a lot 0:19:18.800 --> 0:19:24.880 of money through fundraising, through tithing, uh providing free labor or, 0:19:24.920 --> 0:19:29.480 you know, low paid labor through church businesses and stuff. Um. 0:19:30.080 --> 0:19:34.639 So the cases, though, that in Japan, because of the 0:19:34.760 --> 0:19:37.440 rhetoric of the church, which is, you know, basically born 0:19:37.520 --> 0:19:45.040 out of, you know, the environment, um in Korea. So 0:19:46.359 --> 0:19:50.720 there's basically this thought in the church that they say, Um, 0:19:50.760 --> 0:19:56.000 that Korea is the atom nation, uh because that's where, uh, 0:19:56.040 --> 0:20:00.639 you know, the Messiah came back, uh, South Korea, and Um, 0:20:00.680 --> 0:20:03.680 and that Japan is the eve nations supposed to submit 0:20:03.760 --> 0:20:07.959 to the Adam Nation Um and also sort of pay indemnity, 0:20:07.960 --> 0:20:12.240 which is a big word in the church, and uh 0:20:12.480 --> 0:20:16.720 for the atrocities committed during the Japanese occupation of Korea. Um. 0:20:17.000 --> 0:20:21.960 And so this means that Japanese members have to pay 0:20:22.000 --> 0:20:27.720 significantly more for pretty much everything. Um. So there's it's 0:20:27.760 --> 0:20:30.919 like just uh you know, like instead of like a 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:34.640 type of reparations where it's like, you know, we'll give 0:20:34.680 --> 0:20:38.520 you money, it's like they make them suffer for uh 0:20:38.600 --> 0:20:43.080 that fact. and Uh so, like, you know, fundraising goals 0:20:43.200 --> 0:20:46.879 are very high. Um, let me see, I think I 0:20:46.920 --> 0:20:55.280 had a figure here somewhere. Um. Uh. Yeah, so Japanese 0:20:55.320 --> 0:20:59.040 membership they bring in roughly like the church's income. Uh 0:20:59.119 --> 0:21:03.080 so a large out for you know, like proportionally. Not 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:07.119 You know, there are a lot of members in Japan. However, 0:21:07.720 --> 0:21:10.160 throughout the world, that is like proportionately. You know, where 0:21:10.280 --> 0:21:13.080 most of it comes from Um. And then as of 0:21:13.119 --> 0:21:17.040 several years ago, uh, the Japanese church fundraising goal was 0:21:17.560 --> 0:21:21.200 thirty billion yen, or around two million for that year, 0:21:21.240 --> 0:21:26.280 I believe. So just, you know, and so they go 0:21:26.320 --> 0:21:31.800 out selling uh. Ancestor Liberation is one thing. Uh. You're 0:21:31.800 --> 0:21:36.199 supposed to pay exorbitant fees for your ancestors to go 0:21:36.280 --> 0:21:41.440 to heaven. Um. There was a book called the Chanson 0:21:41.520 --> 0:21:45.639 young and that book was extremely expensive and, of course, 0:21:45.840 --> 0:21:50.160 much more expensive for members in Japan. Um, I think 0:21:50.200 --> 0:21:52.280 I read a figure where, I think I don't remember 0:21:52.320 --> 0:21:54.720 what year it was and it was not very recent. 0:21:54.760 --> 0:21:57.879 I think it might have been like or something, or 0:21:58.119 --> 0:22:00.320 two thousand two or something. I'm not sure, but it 0:22:00.400 --> 0:22:05.719 costs like roughly like two thousand American dollars to go 0:22:05.840 --> 0:22:08.880 to the marriage ceremony, the one of the mass weddings 0:22:08.920 --> 0:22:11.520 that the moonies do, where that everybody has arranged marriage, 0:22:12.320 --> 0:22:18.679 arranged married, Um. And so yeah, just like these huge 0:22:18.920 --> 0:22:24.240 amounts of money, uh, directly flowing from the pockets of 0:22:24.760 --> 0:22:28.159 the membership uh and anyone they happen to you know, 0:22:29.200 --> 0:22:32.800 have give them money uh into the coffers of the 0:22:32.880 --> 0:22:35.040 Church and, you know, directly on up to like the 0:22:35.080 --> 0:22:39.520 Moon family, who are billionaires. Um. Another thing I'd say 0:22:39.560 --> 0:22:44.280 here is that they often, uh, so, for people who 0:22:44.320 --> 0:22:48.800 that they're trying to fundraise from. UH, they often will 0:22:49.000 --> 0:22:53.280 target like elderly widows and people who are, you know, 0:22:53.440 --> 0:22:56.320 in sort of precarious places and come to them and say, 0:22:56.720 --> 0:22:59.399 your family member who has passed away wants you to 0:22:59.440 --> 0:23:02.480 give this donate into the church. Uh. They also like 0:23:02.560 --> 0:23:04.840 at one point made up like a fake Buddhist sect 0:23:04.880 --> 0:23:09.240 in order to like specifically target people. So it goes deep. 0:23:09.359 --> 0:23:12.359 There's a there's a lot to that. Yeah, like one 0:23:12.359 --> 0:23:13.800 of the things I remember reading those like that. Yeah, 0:23:13.920 --> 0:23:16.240 they had like this whole network of like fake mediums 0:23:16.920 --> 0:23:19.879 you would like like specifically to target people. Yeah, so 0:23:20.000 --> 0:23:24.000 we target the widows, which is like I don't know. 0:23:25.119 --> 0:23:27.240 So so much of the stuff that they do is 0:23:27.280 --> 0:23:31.520 just so incredibly leak like, I think. Yeah, I mean 0:23:31.720 --> 0:23:33.680 the thing that always that got me was the sort 0:23:33.720 --> 0:23:38.760 of like like the way in which they're sort of 0:23:38.760 --> 0:23:44.600 weaponizing like like Japan's sort of war crimes in in 0:23:44.800 --> 0:23:47.320 South Korea and North Korea as well. And it's like 0:23:49.720 --> 0:23:51.280 it's like a on the one hand, like yeah, like 0:23:51.320 --> 0:23:53.280 a all this body is just going to like a 0:23:53.320 --> 0:23:57.680 bunch of like too rich fascists and then be like, 0:23:57.960 --> 0:23:59.200 I think this is something else we can sort of 0:23:59.200 --> 0:24:04.760 get into. Is like, okay, so the church's main political 0:24:04.800 --> 0:24:07.560 allies in Japan are the people who did all that 0:24:07.560 --> 0:24:16.520 ship Yep, no, it's just a constant deflection, pretty much. Yeah, 0:24:16.560 --> 0:24:18.440 and I mean it's interesting too because, like you, you 0:24:18.480 --> 0:24:20.960 get this, like some of the newspapers they fund will 0:24:21.000 --> 0:24:24.239 like openly say that, like, Japan should rearm again and 0:24:24.359 --> 0:24:27.040 like Japan should like start retaking Korea and then, like 0:24:28.280 --> 0:24:30.080 you have did, the other art with their business being 0:24:30.119 --> 0:24:32.119 like hey, pay US money for all the people you 0:24:32.160 --> 0:24:37.080 guys killed, and this less. I don't know, it's yeah, 0:24:37.119 --> 0:24:42.560 it's pretty fuck. It's the worst. It's honestly. Yeah, yeah, 0:24:42.680 --> 0:24:45.720 and I guess, I guess. Yeah, I think I think 0:24:45.720 --> 0:24:47.639 this is as good a place as I need to 0:24:47.720 --> 0:24:52.360 go into. Like okay, so the moodies like could not 0:24:52.560 --> 0:24:55.040 do the things that they do in Japan without an 0:24:55.040 --> 0:24:58.959 incredibly large degree of institutional support. Um. Part of this 0:24:59.080 --> 0:25:01.879 sort is what the yakkers because, like you can't run, 0:25:02.960 --> 0:25:07.919 like you can't do organized crime stuff, like like running 0:25:07.920 --> 0:25:11.119 an entire network of people to de Fraud Widows like 0:25:11.800 --> 0:25:14.679 in Japan, without the acquisite like you having some kind 0:25:14.680 --> 0:25:19.439 of deal with them. YEA, and, yeah, and and and that. 0:25:19.440 --> 0:25:23.920 That also bizarrely ties in with sort of how how 0:25:24.040 --> 0:25:30.000 the innification Church got integrated with the sort of mainstream. Wow, yeah, 0:25:30.040 --> 0:25:33.640 you know, I'm just gonna call the mainstream like, fuck it. People, people, people, people, people. 0:25:33.680 --> 0:25:36.960 Will Quibble about the different factions of the LDP. I 0:25:37.240 --> 0:25:42.320 frankly don't care, for reasons that will get to but yeah, how. How? 0:25:42.359 --> 0:25:45.800 How they got, like and, yeah, which I guess you're 0:25:45.800 --> 0:25:47.880