Regarding the former Unification Church, the government has confirmed that there have been no inquiries from the then prime minister or ruling party politicians about how the Agency for Cultural Affairs authorized the name change to the "Family Federation for World Peace and Unification" in 2015. I have decided on a written answer.
In 2015, the Agency for Cultural Affairs approved the name change of the former Unification Church to the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. It has been pointed out that this is not the case.
In connection with this, Toru Miyamoto, a member of the House of Representatives of the Japanese Communist Party, asked, "Did the then Prime Minister, Chief Cabinet Secretary, and politicians of the ruling party ask about the procedure for changing the name?"
In response to this, the government has decided to respond by saying, ``It is difficult to answer because the investigation will take a huge amount of time, but the facts have not been confirmed at this time.''
In this, while certifying the name change was reported in advance to at least Shimomura, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology at the time, what kind of opinion did Mr. Shimomura have, and why did he explain in advance? At this point in time, the details of what happened are not clear.
Relations between ministers and the former Unification Church ``no need for investigation''
In addition, in response to a letter from Constitutional Democratic Party member of the House of Councilors Hiroyuki Konishi asking if the government would investigate the relationship between the Kishida Cabinet members and the former Unification Church, the government replied, "It is about personal political activities. We also decided on a written answer stating that we are not in a position and there is no need to conduct an investigation."