Unification Church President Fined 100,000 Yen by Tokyo District Court for Refusal to Respond to Government Inquiries

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:37 JST, March 26, 2024 

The Tokyo District Court on Tuesday imposed a fine of 100,000 yen on Tomihiro Tanaka, president of the Japan branch of the Unification Church, formally called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, for refusing to respond to inquiries under the Religious Corporations Law.

The legal proceeding was initiated by the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry, which sought administrative penalties for the organization’s refusal to comply with inquiries based on the right to question granted by the Religious Corporations Law.

This is the first instance of a fine being imposed regarding the exercise of the right to question established by the law, which was enacted in 1996.