Japan

The Family – Ai no Kazoku. Family performers in Yoyogi Park, Tokyo, Japan (mid-1990s).

The Family International began proselytizing activities in Japan in the early 1970s and Japan quickly became one of the more prominent "fields" the group operated in.

Through Flirty Fishing and slick public relations the cult built a network of powerful friends. Included among these were the Naritas, a wealthy and influential couple who purchased property and built a facility in Tateyama for the group that became their model "21st Century International School", known to members as the Heavenly City School (HCS). The HCS would become the nerve center of The Family's worldwide music, literature, and video propaganda operation (see: Category:Family Media), though in recent years both its importance and number of residents have diminished.

In November 1987, David Berg, Karen Zerby and their entourage left the Philippines and headed to Japan to oversee the HCS, where Berg began writing a series of Mo Letters pushing education, including The School Vision! (DO 2430), saying "It's Japan's hour!". During this same period Berg published a stream of Letters specifically about Japan such as It's Up to Japan! (DO 2404), and Why We Must Reach the Japanese Youth! (DO 2413), where Berg warned that The Family needed to reach Japanese youth before the Antichrist made them "demon-possessed leaders to rule the World" (para.77).

In June 1992, leading Japanese news weekly Shukan Bunshun initiated a far-reaching investigative series on Ai no Kazoku or The Family of Love, as the group was then known, with hard-hitting reports detailing strategies and sexual practices. Shukan Bunshun scored a journalistic coup by locating Rick Dupuy, a former leader who was intimately involved in the sect's Japanese operation for four years prior to his departure in early 1992. Dupuy supplied inside information about the group's clandestine activities, including the use of illegal visas.

Following the murder–suicide by Ricky Rodriguez in early 2005, media attention towards the group in Japan has again increased (see also: Japan Persecution Notices 2005).

In recent years, second generation members in Japan have left in large numbers to pursue secular careers (see also: Missionary Kids, Third Culture Kids).

Locations

Below is an incomplete list of locations where The Family has had or maintains a presence.

Aomori Chiba Fukuoka Matsumoto Nagoya

Niigata Kobe Kyoto Okinawa Osaka

Saitama Sapporo Tateyama Tokyo Yokohama

Leadership

Main article: PACRO

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Statistics

The following are from the official, internally published statistics by The Family International. For more information, see our statistics page.

2002

Near the end of 2002, there were 91 Family homes in Japan, housing 900 members. 6% (or approximately 678) of The Family's total worldwide population of 11,297 members (4,631 age 21 and older, 6,666 age 20 and younger) were of Japanese nationality.

2003

At the close of 2003, The Family's total membership was down to 10,653. 7.7% of that total population (approximately 820) lived in Japan. 5.8% (approximately 618) of The Family's members were Japanese.

Multimedia

Note: For help playing these video files and links to recommended media players, see Help:Video

• Flirty Fishing in Osaka-Kobe, Japan (10:17, 24.4MB) — Family members in Osaka report on their Flirty Fishing activities.
• Nightclub visits in Osaka-Kobe, Japan (07:18, 17.3MB) — Family members in Osaka report on their visits to nightclubs in Osaka, Japan to raise funds and sell tapes.
• Selling tapes in Osaka-Kobe, Japan (04:01, 10.2MB) — Family members in Osaka report on selling tapes office-to-office and door-to-door.

External links

• The Family Japan — Official website
• Activate Japan — Magazine by The Family

Family Projects and Fronts

• Side by Side International (English)
• Heart to Heart
• Aino Kakehashi (English)
• G'Day Net
• Christian Family Fellowship
• Let's Be Friends
• Family Kobe — Registered on the Kobe City homepage

Family Members' Sites

• Masayuki Abe
• Takashi Adachi
• James Japan — Website of James Arendt in Niigata
• Angels Watching — Website of William M. Henry

This article is a "stub". This means it is an incomplete article needing further elaboration.

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