Thread by @UnseenJapanSite

The hashtag "So the LDP was just the Unification Church after all" (#自民党って統一教会だったんだな) trends on Japanese Twitter as users contend with discussion regarding the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party's connections to the "new religion" founded by Sun Myung Moon.

This shows attorney and cult expert Kito Masaki appearing on Japanese TV to discuss Moon's arrival in Japan in 1993, post prison stint in the US for tax evasion/conspiracy, pointing out how LDP power broker Kanemaru Shin helped push the LDP towards Moon.

https://twitter.com/mugichoko1616/status/1548903404704960512

Kanemaru Shin was himself arrested for evading taxes on political bribes he had taken from construction companies.

Addendum:
"This tag is incorrect.

The reality is that Nippon Kaigi descended from Seicho no Ie; the Shinto Political League descended from State Shinto; Komeito's mother org is Sokka Gakkai; and the LDP is the champion of the Unification Church cult."

https://twitter.com/tacowasabi0141/status/1548903511903023104

While the examination of these connections is valuable, it's worth noting the specific xenophobia that can be wrapped up in broad statements about Japan and the UC- because of the UC's Korean origin, some are using the above hashtag to state that Japan is "controlled by Koreans."

This overemphasis implies cognitive dissonance. If the nationalistic LDP is "controlled by Korea," then how can nationalists support them? See this questionable take:

"So Japan is a Korean vassal state. Yet online far-righters still support the LDP..Our world has been perverted"