Behind Japan Files

The Faith & State File

Where is the line between a religion and a danger, and who in Japan gets to draw it?

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Part 1

A photograph taken from inside a dense crowd on the gravel approach path to a Japanese shrine at New Year. Hundreds of people in dark winter coats stand shoulder to shoulder, all seen from behind, shuffling slowly toward a large plain wooden gateway that straddles the path ahead; beyond it the crowd continues and the roof of a hall is visible. Plain paper lanterns with nothing written on them hang on a line overhead, bare branches show against a white sky, and a temporary barrier of steel poles and rope runs along one side. Cold winter light, breath and smoke hazing the air. No faces are visible. AI-generated photo illustration; not a photograph of any real place, event or person.

Is Japan a Religious Country?

The official register counts 175 million believers in a country of 124 million people. Ask people directly and 28 percent say they hold a faith. Both figures come from the state, and both are correct.

Aug 11, 2026

Part 2

A photograph of a very small disused religious hall in the Japanese countryside in flat afternoon light. A short flight of worn stone steps, overgrown with tall summer weeds, leads up to a modest wooden building with a low tiled roof and closed weathered doors. A wooden gatepost leans out of true, a cracked stone basin holds dead leaves, the paint has gone from the timber and one roof tile has slipped. Cedar trees crowd in behind. Nobody is present and nothing suggests recent use. AI-generated photo illustration; not a photograph of any real building or organisation.

Cults & New Religions

How Many Cults Are There in Japan?

Japanese law has no category for a cult, so nobody counts them. What the state does count is corporations, and three of them have ever been dissolved for wrongdoing. The register, compared.

Aug 14, 2026

Part 3

A photograph of a corridor in an ordinary Japanese municipal office set up for early voting, taken from the back of the queue. About twenty people of mixed ages stand in a slow line down the corridor, every one of them seen from behind, some carrying shopping bags, one holding a folded umbrella. Along the wall ahead stands a row of plain plywood writing booths with low grey side panels, each with a short pencil on a string, and a simple grey ballot box waits on a folding table at the end. Worn linoleum, pale institutional walls, fluorescent ceiling panels, a stack of spare folding chairs. No writing appears anywhere. AI-generated photo illustration; not a photograph of any real place, election or person.

Cults & New Religions

Is Soka Gakkai a Cult? What the Records Show

Japan has no legal category for a cult, so the label settles nothing. What Soka Gakkai is, why its parent sect expelled it in 1991, and why its party is in government, from Japanese primary sources.

Jul 30, 2026

Part 4

A photograph of a dim tatami room in an older Japanese house late at night, lit only by a single desk lamp. On a low dark wooden table lie three bank passbooks opened flat, a small cylindrical personal seal beside a red ink pad, two plain white envelopes, a pocket calculator, a pen and a folded pair of reading glasses. An elderly woman in a plain knitted cardigan kneels at the table with her back to the camera, her head slightly bowed and her hands resting in her lap; no face is visible. A paper sliding screen, a low chest of drawers and a blank wall calendar stand behind her, and the corners of the room fall away into shadow. AI-generated photo illustration; not a photograph of any real person or household.

Justice & Law

Why Japan Ordered the Unification Church to Dissolve

Japan dissolved a religious organization without any criminal conviction. What the courts found, what dissolution actually takes away, and why it took 50 years, from Japanese primary sources.

Aug 2, 2026

Part 5

A photograph of the main debating chamber of a Japanese parliament, taken from behind and slightly above the speaking rostrum. In the foreground a man in a dark navy suit stands at an ornately carved dark wood rostrum with both hands resting on it and papers open in front of him, two slim microphones angled toward him; he is seen from directly behind, so only the back of his head and his shoulders are visible and no face can be seen. Beyond the rostrum, tiers of polished wooden desks and dark green upholstered seats curve away into the chamber, occupied by seated figures too distant and too dimly lit for any features to be made out. AI-generated photo illustration; not a photograph of any real person, sitting or chamber.

Crimes & Cases

Why Was Shinzo Abe Assassinated?

A homemade gun, twenty-five seconds, and four bodyguards who did not recognize the sound. What Japan's own investigation found, from Japanese primary sources.

Aug 2, 2026

Part 6

A photograph of a small plain room lit by direct camera flash, in the washed-out style of a 1990s amateur snapshot. At the centre a low couch draped in white cloth stands empty, the cloth still creased and dented where somebody had been sitting. Facing the empty seat, a row of six old silver microphones on short stands is lined up along the bare floor. A plain blue cloth curtain hangs slightly crooked on the wall behind, a low white-clothed table at one side holds a green ceramic vase, and a folded grey blanket lies on the floor. Nobody is present. AI-generated photo illustration; not a photograph of any real room, event or person.

Cults & New Religions

What Did Shoko Asahara Say Before He Was Executed?

The founder of Aum Shinrikyo was hanged in 2018. Two accounts of that morning contradict each other, and Japan has never released a record that could settle it, from Japanese primary sources.

Aug 3, 2026

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