Japan
The Family began proselytizing activities in Japan in the early 1970s.
Through FFing and slick public relations the group built a network of powerful friends. Included among these friends 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!" (ML 2430), saying "It's Japan's hour!", followed by a stream of Letters about Japan such as "It's Up to Japan!" (ML 2404). Berg warned that the Family needed to reach the Japanese youth before the Antichrist made them "demon-possessed leaders to rule the World" (ML 2413:77).
In June, 1992, the 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 (known in The Family as Watchman), 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.
In recent years, second generation members in Japan have left in large numbers to pursue secular careers (see Missionary Kids, Third Culture Kids).
Contents
Locations
Below are some locations the Family has had or maintains a presence.
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 (5,197 age 16 and older, 6,100 age 15 and younger) were of Japanese nationality.
2003
At the close of 2003, the Family's total membership was down to 10,653 (5,945 age 16 and older, 4,708 aged 15 and younger). 7.7% of that total population (approximately 820) lived in Japan. 5.8% (approximately 618) of the Family's members were Japanese.
External links
- The Family Japan — Official website
- Activate Japan — Family magazine
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
