2 years after Abe’s shooting in Japan, ‘second-generation’ Unification Church members struggling
- Second-generation Unification Church members, born into a family of avid followers, are being denied access to higher education or employment
Monday marks two years since former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was fatally shot, while issues related to the Unification Church and the plight of “second-generation” members of religious groups that drew attention afterward remain unsolved.
Many mourners visited a flower-laying table set at the site where Japan’s longest-serving prime minister was shot in Nara, western Japan, on July 8, 2022, at the age of 67, by a man allegedly using a home-made gun during an election campaign speech.
The 43-year-old assailant, Tetsuya Yamagami, has been indicted for murder. He has told investigators that he held a grudge against the controversial religious group because of massive donations made by his mother.
“The incident brought to light the issue of second-generation members. I want to know about [Yamagami’s] motivations in detail through his trial,” Toshiko Nanri, 77, from Osaka Prefecture, said outside a train station where Abe was gunned down.
