Japanese → English transcript

Moving on to the next topic.

Uh, this is about the issue of the former Unification Church. Regarding this,

I previously asked the

Minister of Education as well, but today I would like to ask the Prime Minister.

I believe the Prime Minister answered, based on the investigation within the party,

within the LDP, that there were no ties, but in fact,

in the materials I handed over last time, this“ TM Special Report,”

which is the cult’s top- secret document,

it is an official piece of evidence that is also used as trial

evidence in South Korea. According to it,

the name of Prime Minister Takaichi appears thirty- two times.

It contains various descriptions expressing their expectations and so on,

but I will introduce just one.

From the perspective that former Prime Minister Abe is close to us,

it also states that Takaichi becoming president of the LDP would be

heaven’s greatest wish. And, in addition to this TM Special Report, there was also

discussion in the Budget Committee, and you have given five interviews to

Sekai Nippo.

You said that you did not realize

this was connected to the former Unification Church, but I find that strange,

given that this was a time when it had already become such a major social issue.

Furthermore, according to reports in various newspapers,

a person connected to the organization World Peace Federation,

Nara Prefectural Federation,

is reported to have transferred¥ 100,000 as payment for the Prime Minister’s party.

In light of this, compared with your answer that there were no ties,

and what I have just stated, were there ties or not,

and what is the situation regarding this party ticket?

Please answer. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

Since this concerns my own honor, let me say this:

it is true that in the past I was interviewed without knowing it was connected to

the former Unification Church. Um, I have already submitted,

uh, an additional report to the Liberal Democratic Party.

I have reported everything.

However, this is about the period starting in April of Heisei 6. So in Heisei

6, Heisei 7, and January of Heisei 8, I was not in the Liberal Democratic Party.

I was elected as an independent,

and I was an independent for a long time.

Then, well, I spent a short time in the New Frontier Party,

and then I left that party, and, well,

there were three times when I was not allowed into the Liberal Democratic Party.

Then I joined the Liberal Democratic Party and, uh, right away there were,

well, two such cases,

and this is from around thirty years ago, roughly thirty years ago,

so it is something from a little over twenty years ago. In reality,

I did not know that the former Unification Church and its newspaper, Sekai Nippo,

had any connection, I really had absolutely no idea about that.

And many Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers may also have received this.

At that time I was not in the Liberal Democratic Party, but even so,

I may have received it. After all, I was active under various forms and names,

so at that time it was hard to grasp everything comprehensively,

and it was not an era when you could just easily Google things like now,

so whenever I got interview requests, including from various,

uh, mini- comi magazines, I, well, when I was young, I took those pretty seriously.

Even if it was a mini- comi magazine in another prefecture with maybe

only about one hundred readers, if they asked me to write a piece, I wrote it.

So in that sense, I did not know about it.

But I did properly report it to the LDP.

Now, regarding the purchase of party tickets,

as I answered in the Diet last time as well, there is no such record.

And then this so- called TM report,

I also saw the coverage of it in weekly magazines and the like, well,

in weekly magazines and so on,

and it certainly appears thirty- two times, but…

This is all about the presidential election,

describing how it unfolded in detail.

Two female lawmakers are running. Former Internal Affairs Minister

Sanae Takaichi and former Postal Services and Internal Affairs Minister Seiko Noda.

That comes up here, right?

And it appears under“ women’s advancement.”

Then next, under“ latest situation in the LDP presidential election,”

all the candidates are listed. Kishida, myself, Seiko Noda, and Taro Kono.

Everyone’s names are there.

And after that, the results are shown as well.

For some reason, my birthplace is listed as Kanagawa Prefecture.

And then it says something like,“ Well,

it is believed that heaven wishes for Mr. Kishida or Ms.

Takaichi to be chosen as president.”

So they may have been thinking they would be happy with either Mr.

Kishida or Ms. Takaichi. And then after that, it goes on:“ Next,

the newly installed 100th prime minister of Japan…”

“ If Ms. Takaichi were to become prime minister,

she would be the first female prime minister in history.”

This is talking about the case where she did not become PM. So if you keep

reading through this, it explains the presidential election,

and then the story of how I later became Policy Research Council Chair,

and that Internal Affairs Minister Takaichi became Policy Research Council Chair,

and that Internal Affairs Minister Noda became Minister in charge of Regional

Revitalization, and so on, continuously describing the situation of

Japanese politics,

reporting on the state of affairs and the results of the presidential election,

mentioning my name as well as the other candidates’ names many times.

So I added them up myself. Thirty- two times. It certainly does appear.

My name is in there thirty- two times,

but there is not a single part that has any kind of direct connection to me

personally, is there?

So I think this is a bit too much.

It is just about things like how the presidential election went,

and also about Prime Minister Abe,

and how there is no doubt that Prime Minister Abe will connect us with Ms.

Takaichi, I did write those wishes, um, that kind of thing,

hoping that maybe they could create a connection since there was none in the end,

but there is no mention here of any direct relationship, is there.

So thirty- two times,

um, the state of Japanese politics,

the results of the LDP leadership elections,

and then which positions I and the other candidates took afterward,

that all comes to thirty- two times. I read every one. Mr. Waseda. I did not say,

um,“ Please tell me about the TM report,” what I said was,

“ So it is correct that there were no points of contact,”

right, and it only says this much,

and yet such high expectations are written toward Prime Minister Takaichi, Ms.

Takaichi— well, expectations, words of expectation are written there. That is all.

So regarding that, Prime Minister Takaichi has, um,

completely— has stated that she had no contact at all with the Unification Church,

and the names of one hundred eighty people,

one hundred eighty people who acknowledged

having contact with the Unification Church, have been reported within the party,

but the Prime Minister’s name was not on that list at that time, in 2022.

So I deliberately asked about that,

and confirmed that there were indeed no points of contact,

that even though you were interviewed five times,

you did so without knowing it was a related organization. Since that has

been confirmed, I am satisfied with this. In that sense, yes.

Having you state this here in the Diet is, for me, the first time,

so I asked and confirmed it for that reason. However, yes, nevertheless,

this Unification Church,

as the Prime Minister has been saying for some time now,

it has a very large number of affiliated organizations,

and although the dissolution order was issued on March fourth, this is not the end,

this is the beginning. I strongly hope

you will devote your efforts to how we can provide relief to the victims.

We are out of time so I will not go into it, but there are also parts of this group

that make the abolition of the Emperor system a core slogan.

I would really like to ask the prime minister how he feels about this,

but since we are out of time, I will not ask.

Various very mistaken kinds of information like this are also being put out.

Since it is not impossible

that there could be contacts with one hundred eighty people in the future as well,

I strongly hope that,

together with related organizations, and with the thirty- five thousand victims,

that number alone being what the victims’ lawyers are saying they have

already identified,

you will consider what method is the very best to provide relief for those people,

and that the prime minister

will think this through carefully and work to provide relief to the victims.

That is my strong wish, so I ask this of you. On that basis,