"Unification Church Owns Real Estate Worth 70 Billion Won in Japan... Area Equivalent to 300 Basketball Courts"

Bill Proposed to Block Overseas Remittance of School Foundation Assets

As the Japanese government moves to pressure the church by filing a dissolution order against the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (formerly the Unification Church), Japanese media reported that the church owns real estate across Japan valued at 77.4 billion won. In the Japanese political sphere, efforts are accelerating to propose legislation to prevent the unauthorized transfer of church assets overseas.

On the 3rd, Mainichi Shimbun reported that after verifying the registry copies of 296 related facilities nationwide announced by the church, it was revealed that the church owns 99 plots of land and 91 buildings.

The former headquarters building of the Unification Church located in Tokyo. (Photo by FNN)

Excluding the 'Takarazuka Training Center' in Hyogo Prefecture, where the ownership ratio is ambiguous, the total area of the 98 plots of land amounts to 38,000 pyeong (approximately 125,700 square meters). This is equivalent to the size of 300 basketball courts combined.

Professor Takahashi Yamamoto of the Department of Real Estate at Meikai University, who calculated market prices together with Mainichi, estimated the total land value of the 98 plots at 8.719 billion yen (77.4 billion won). The top 10 land price locations include the church headquarters in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, valued at 841.15 million yen (7.46 billion won), a training facility in Chiba Prefecture at 540.78 million yen (4.7 billion won), and the Tokyo Korean Family Church in Shinjuku at 411.83 million yen (3.6 billion won). There were 22 plots of land valued at over 100 million yen (880 million won).

Regarding the church's assets, some express concern that the Unification Church might transfer these overseas following the government's dissolution order request. There is worry that victims of large donations may not receive compensation. In response, last month the Constitutional Democratic Party and Nippon Ishin no Kai proposed legislation to preserve church assets for victim relief, and the Liberal Democratic Party, as the ruling party, also submitted its own related bill to the Diet.

Attorney Katsuomi Abe stated, "Since the former Unification Church accumulated considerable assets through donations, it is not surprising that they owned land worth around 10 billion yen in total. However, with the church’s dissolution, there is a risk that assets could be transferred overseas or disposed of. Legislative measures to enable asset preservation are urgently needed for victims to recover their assets."

However, the church side told Mainichi, "We have not disposed of any land or buildings so far, nor do we plan to do so in the future." They added, "Responses to former members and others claiming damages are sufficiently possible under current laws. There is no need to take measures related to asset preservation."