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Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shot in the back in Nara City (Suspect arrested, UP: Abe confirmed dead) (See Staff Post)
- Thread starter Mankoto
- Start date
If it turns out to be the Unification Church that would be terrible news for Koreans in Japan. It would only give LDP and ultranationalist groups to be even more ammo to be shitty and racist.
If it was political then it'd be an issue about Abe's politics. If it was the Unification Church then it's the extortion from an infamous Korean cult that created pressure causing the shooting. The cult is hated in Korea too because they use the same monetary extortion tactics here, breaking up families etc. But that doesn't matter to racists who will link the cult to Koreans and start blaming and targeting Koreans living in Japan.
Damn that is rough. Life is so fleeting...like one second he's speaking then he just ceases to exists. Always bothers me.
There's like 6-7 fairly major cults that Abe was friendly towards, we'll see which of the cults it was probably soon.
I mean, it's not strictly Japan responsible for this. After WW2 when the US and others decided on the tack of basically running the country until they reformed it in their own image, it was obvious the only way the kind of economic and social integration they wanted would work is by sweeping Japan's atrocities under the rug. And it worked beautifully, many would say far too well.
I think it'd be worse because the leaders of that cult are Korean. So at the very least it'll make Zainichi Koreans an obvious target for discrimination. Koreans living in Japan have already had bad treatment historically.
Out of everything it could have been I was hoping it'd have nothing to do with Koreans or any other minority groups in Japan
It's a very well connected cult due to their former fiercely anti-communist leanings (though they've cooled on that a lot).
They were close with George HW Bush, Donald Trump, Abe, etc.
Weird cult for US conservatives to be so fond of though as they're ultra blasphemous as the cult is built around the idea that their founder was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ.
They are more infamously known as the Moonies because the ex-leader (surnamed Moon and now dead) proclaimed he was the messiah. Maybe you've heard of it under this name. They do big mass weddings and the sort.
Unification Church - Wikipedia
They have politicians who say shit guys like Mitch McConnell and Boris Johnson wish they could and they've been able to keep such an oddly positive PR situation.
Right-wing politicians that are allies to the US will always get an extra helping of whitewashing. Just look at Modi in India.
Wow, so this assassination might've had nothing to do with Abe's politics? That's the bigger shocker so far...
Well, Abe's relations with various cults were often due to political considerations and alliances, but the assassin himself may not have had many political beliefs other than being anti-cult.
According to the BBC, in Japan he is known for leading Japan through economic recovery. With the fact that he was the longest serving Prime Minister maybe his politics were widely accepted within Japan. Some other motive does seem much more likely.
Same thing as the relationship between American evangelicals and right-wing Israelis.
This is the part that several posters aren't paying attention to. Abe was allegedly not the murderer's primary target; the target was apparently some scammy Church (sect) leadership because they fleeced his mom and ruined his household, but it was reported earlier in the thread that his target didn't show up, so that piece of shit just shot in Abe's direction. He didn't care about collateral damage from his super-inaccurate homemade gun. He didn't care about innocent people dying while getting his revenge. Draw your own conclusions. Like I said, I'm glad he was caught. You don't get to do that shit in society. Go canvass and donate to his political enemies, investigate him for crimes if you want, but you go to the police in the end. You don't shoot a guy.
And to be very clear, I hope Trump rots in a jail cell for the rest of his life for his innumerable crimes and treason and I would have celebrated him dying to covid because it meant so many citizens would have respected covid and not died, orphaning what must be tens of thousands of innocent children, but I would not support gunning him down, vigilante-style. That would galvanize his deplorable voters even more, gain sympathy vote from the undecideds, and be a huge threat to the freedom and prosperity of hundreds of millions (!!!) of people, most especially out-groups. That future harm is a hundred million times more consequential than some temporary schadenfreude over one asshole's violent death, no matter how deserved.
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Acording to a Japanese councillor, Yamagami is a member of Sanctuary church and his mother is unification church.
Apparently Islamic Revolutionary guard affiliated media in iran thinks kojima killed Abe.
https://twitter.com/AlirezaMorgan/status/1545355368351629313?t=HAgkKJJjdQmLh674uJxaUw&s=19
https://twitter.com/AlirezaMorgan/status/1545355368351629313?t=HAgkKJJjdQmLh674uJxaUw&s=19
Behind the Bastards podcast recently did a two-parter on the Unification Church and its founder. They're a fucking awful religious cult that uses its vast wealth to fund dictatorships and right-wing death squads during the Cold War. To this day, right-wing politicians all over the world gives them lip service in exchange for political donations and support. They're also responsible for that shitty RW rag the Washington Times.
If this murder has to do with Abe's support of them then shit is gonna hit the fan.
If this murder has to do with Abe's support of them then shit is gonna hit the fan.
You can guarantee almost any Japan-based "religion" thats not a big name is gonna be a cult.
Just like the JFK assassination the ultimate motive isn't going to matter in the end. People will view it through their own lense. Trying to parse any kind of reason from people like Lee Harvey Oswald and John Hinckley Jr. hasn't gotten us anywhere.
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lol "Democracy"
For almost 70 years, Abe's political party has held sway. To be "politically neutral" and refrain from criticising what the government does, the LDP muted the media. Their influence is that strong that it caused voter apathy in young population and the generations to come. Even talking about politics casually is look down upon in Japanese society. The LDP has affiliation with the Nippon Kaigi, a group that hates minorities, embraces Adolf Hitler, and wants to rewrite history and teach it in schools.
Keep on spouting 'Chinese government bad', but you're overlooking the true victims of war crimes = civilians. And don't forget that other Asian countries were subjected to Japanese imperialism.
As you back a war crimes denier, you accuse others of being sociopathic for not caring about a politician's demise.
War crime apologists ought to lick a country's boots because they created anime and video games.
This is like a Q-anon/MAGA cultist assassinating a former Republican President for giving their support of the Rupert Murdoch but on top of being a media mogul, Rupert Murdoch is a leader of a religious cult and claims he's the second coming of Christ.
i choose to give most japanese folk benefit of the doubt on how they interpret this news because connecting this guy killing abe over anger around this cult to the cult being based in korea and extending that into all zainichi must be deported and korea is the great enemy is like, one logical bridge too far. on the face of it cult-related violence is probably the most common type of extreme action japanese people today are used to seeing.
obviously nettouyou and fash larpers will cotton on to the racialized aspects but they already decided the version of reality they liked the moment this happened.
but like. who knows, i guess. it's hard to imagine widespread public violence but if the LDP wanted to channel this into fully realizing their long standing erasure of non-japanese minorities in japan the question is more who will feel the need to stand in the way.
obviously nettouyou and fash larpers will cotton on to the racialized aspects but they already decided the version of reality they liked the moment this happened.
but like. who knows, i guess. it's hard to imagine widespread public violence but if the LDP wanted to channel this into fully realizing their long standing erasure of non-japanese minorities in japan the question is more who will feel the need to stand in the way.
An increase of violence and hate towards these religious groups and foreigners and a general rise in xenophobia and ultranationalist sentiment.
So like a branch/off-shoot of the Unification chruch? I've never heard of them, unlike the Unification church.
E: just answered bellow. Cults gonna cult I guess.
It's Korean based, but cult nonetheless.
Well, I guess the Sanctuary Church is US based. Sanctuary Church is splinter group from the Unification Church (militant type). There was some kind of family feud inside Unification Church once the OG-leader keeled and one of the sons started Sanctuary Church.
I think they have made few headlines in US like blessing AR-15s. Also they had something to do with January 6. but I haven't read much about it.
Blessing the AR-15 | Pictures | Reuters
People attend a blessing ceremony with their AR-15-style rifles in their cases at the Sanctuary Church in Newfoundland, Pennsylvania. Hundreds of couples toting AR-15 rifles packed a Unification churc
www.reuters.com
right-wring religious cultist assassinating a right-wing ultranationalist
the irony of it all
there genuinely is karma for abe in this where his total lack of morals in who he chose to associate with in the interest of his fascist dream came back to haunt him in the worst possible way. really doubt he thought this would end in a couple bullets in his back when he attended those conferences.
You're absolutely justified. My grandpa was captured and tortured for 2 weeks during ww2.
I thought this as well. Why would people get mad at the cult when the assassin was mad at them as well and targeting them?
Maybe they'll get mad at them in the nebulous sense of "you cause trouble and got Abe killed" and just write off Abe's association with them.
This thread is a bit wild, I have to say. Convoluted theories on potential consequences (whatever they might be) for... all kinds of people, taking what a few weird people say on the Internet as some sort of lingering thought process amongst the greater Japanese public as well as insinuating Japan more or less is a dictatorship... guys, seriously, there's a bit more to Singapore than "well it's mostly one party that's in power" to make that comparison.
Maybe chill a bit with theorising about / invoking / wishing for a worsening of the situation in Japan. The consequences might well be tightened security around politicians on a campaign trail and that's it.
Maybe chill a bit with theorising about / invoking / wishing for a worsening of the situation in Japan. The consequences might well be tightened security around politicians on a campaign trail and that's it.
Yeah, there's definitely potential concerns to be had, but people are going far too ham on predicting sociopolitical consequences as if it's all certain.
Made the below post on page 10 and it still applies:
Never knew anything about this guy until this assassination happened.
Abe's ancestors literally have the blood of millions on their hands, and he's awful for denying/downplaying it. This is a brutal slaying nonetheless, and it's not easy to watch. Wasn't fine when the civilians in WWII lost their lives, and I don't condone this killing, either
I won't say RIP, but my heart genuinely does go out to his wife and close relatives.
Abe's ancestors literally have the blood of millions on their hands, and he's awful for denying/downplaying it. This is a brutal slaying nonetheless, and it's not easy to watch. Wasn't fine when the civilians in WWII lost their lives, and I don't condone this killing, either
I won't say RIP, but my heart genuinely does go out to his wife and close relatives.
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Yea, some people are wilding like Japan society is going to fall apart of something.
Even the Korean consulate in Fukuoka tweeted a warning about potential violence against Koreans in because of this. It's not completely unreasonable to worry about it given the history
View: https://twitter.com/fukuoka_korea/status/1545339611387285507?s=21&t=BVXXLCJukaqe7AfSsjVFRw
If the Unification/Sanctuary Church stuff is accurate, that gets pretty wild. They're both far-right churches and have supported Trump. The leader of the Unification Church founded the Washington Times, a far-right rag. His son, the leader of the Sanctuary Church is based in Pennsylvania and made some waves as that church that worships AR-15s.
View: https://twitter.com/MariahCBlake/status/968970348396937216?s=20&t=4gtXRXrC-JmBEVDdl3dzhQ
Edit - interesting thread going more into the Unificatuon/Sanctuary Church stuff.
View: https://twitter.com/mrjeffu/status/1545540264189894656?s=20
View: https://twitter.com/MariahCBlake/status/968970348396937216?s=20&t=4gtXRXrC-JmBEVDdl3dzhQ
Edit - interesting thread going more into the Unificatuon/Sanctuary Church stuff.
View: https://twitter.com/mrjeffu/status/1545540264189894656?s=20
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Okay does this mean we will see more of the "white Van" types going around, and more shit around the Yasukuni Shrine going forward by yhe right wingers in Japan? Because that does not bode well for anyone.
"White van types" are like the younger MAGA types here in the states. They drive around with these white vans and sound systems spouting racist bullshit.
And not to take away from any of this, but Japan historical has always had this sort of violence regarding political powers and regarding religion. The whole thing with the man who thought he was Jesus the second, and the battle that ensued over that, for example. Warring states to modern day. Shit like this happened, Satsuma uprising for example, and honestly I am not surprised by it at all.
Now I do wonder if the secrecy law that was passed is going to be worse going forward to protect politicians so the public won't know if they have ties with cults or other radical groups?
"White van types" are like the younger MAGA types here in the states. They drive around with these white vans and sound systems spouting racist bullshit.
And not to take away from any of this, but Japan historical has always had this sort of violence regarding political powers and regarding religion. The whole thing with the man who thought he was Jesus the second, and the battle that ensued over that, for example. Warring states to modern day. Shit like this happened, Satsuma uprising for example, and honestly I am not surprised by it at all.
Now I do wonder if the secrecy law that was passed is going to be worse going forward to protect politicians so the public won't know if they have ties with cults or other radical groups?
Kodansha's Gendai Business have now confirmed that the religious group mentioned in the news is the Unification Church:
View: https://twitter.com/gendai_biz/status/1545775142441488386
View: https://twitter.com/gendai_biz/status/1545775142441488386
Yeah, Unit 731 isn't as well-known as the Holocaust, but it's no less horrific, honestly. I remember reading about it semi-recently and was surprised I hadn't heard of it before. It's some of the most stomach-turning shit I've ever read about.
The assassin wasn't a cultist though, he hated that said cult, no?
Also, I'm wondering: do we know why Abe was friendly with this cult? I struggle to see how a Korean-founded cult who definitely had a bone to pick with Japanese imperialism (at least at the time of its founding) would be friendly with an ultranationalist. But apparently both Trump and Abe praised this cult...
Then again just reading up on this cult on Wikipedia and I see they were anti-communist, yet the founder/leader was friendly with Gorbatchev and Kim Il-sung...
