Satoru Uchida

“Requesting Reports and Asking Questions” – Religious Corporations Act Article 78-2

Jan 5

  • Since January 4, “Requesting Reports and Asking Questions” has been attempted twice by Agency for Cultural Affairs under the control of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT).
  • The Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology heard the opinions of an advisory council, Religious Corporations Council.
  • “Requesting Reports and Asking Questions” had been added to the article because of terrorism, mainly the Tokyo subway sarin attack, by Aum Shinrikyo but was never attempted until November 22, 2022.
What is the right of “Requesting Reports and Asking Questions” or “questioning right”

This right can be exercised if the one who is in a religious organization continuously violates the law or the organization causes serious damage.
After examining reports, the minister of MEXT can ask for the order of dissolution of the religious organization for the court. When the court finds a cause, it may order the dissolution of the religious corporation.

The contents of reports and questions will not publish for a certain period because of “privacy for both sides.”

First Attempt

The first attempt had excused on November 22, 2022. Based on MEXT, they asked for “Unification Church” to answer about the documents related to the operation of the organization, statements, documents, and accounting books related to their assets.

The agency received the answer for Cultural Affairs on December 9, 2022. However, the Agency said the reports from “Unification Church” were not enough, so they re-attempted the right on December 14, 2022, again.

Second Attempt

Since the first attempt could not gain enough information from the “Unification Church,” the Agency for Cultural Affairs re-attempted to exercise “questioning right” for the church.

References

Religious Corporation Act
news article by Japan Broadcasting Corporation, public media

“旧統一教会に「質問権」 行使は初めて 解散命令に該当か調査へ: NHK.” NHKニュース. Japan Broadcasting Corporation, November 22, 2022. https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20221122/k10013899551000.html.

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