Shinzo Abe was assassinated. Now, Japan hates him.

He assassinated Japan’s most successful politician ever. But now, he seems to have won over public opinion. What happened?
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Patreon: / spectaclesmedia
Sources and Attributions: www.spectacles.news/mini-doc-...
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On July 8, 2022, in Nara, Japan, Shinzo Abe was shot twice with a homemade shotgun by Tetsuya Yamagami. Despite Abe’s towering status in Japanese politics - a former prime minister, and Japan’s longest serving ever - Yamagami declared his motive personal rather than political - a grudge against the Unification Church. The catch? Abe wasn’t even a member. And yet, the public seems to have been convinced by Yamagami. Featuring mass weddings, Richard Nixon, Donald Trump, the bizarre theology of Sun-Myung Moon, his cultists the Moonies, and so much more, this is the story of the Unification Church, and it has a lot to teach us about how to balance the separation of church and state.
Spectacles is a love letter to democracy, its values, its caretakers, and its ideas. Around the world, individual rights and representative government are facing unprecedented attacks from the forces of reaction and revisionism. But despite liberal democracy’s real shortcomings and today’s all-too-fashionable cynicism, we remain committed to its preservation and improvement. Join us as we explore just what liberal democracy is, how it comes about, and how it can best be maintained in a changing world.
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00:00 INTRO
01:43 I. SO, ABOUT THIS CULT
03:58 II. WHY MOONIES MATTER
05:51 III. WHERE IT WENT WRONG
08:35 IV. CHURCH AND STATE

[@amongstus4418]

Imagine assassinating a guy, telling people your reasons, and people actually overwhelming go "You know what, you're right" and hate the guy and the people you wanted revenge on. Most successful assassination in history.

[@KaotikBOOO]

There's a big drawback on the assassination Under Japanese law dieing makes all charges against him disappearing, he was under heavy corruption investigations His death means that his family will never have to give back anything because he can't be found guilty anymore

[@manofcultura]

@@KaotikBOOOwhich usually means that the assassin was probably working with Abe to clear his Family. In Japan unlike in the West, police can often use the excuse of investigating a family member to open investigations to other members of the same family. With Abe dead, the cops can’t continue with any investigations, as you say.

[@AllyMonsters]

@@KaotikBOOO Maybe this will be an action that drives people to change that law?

[@RokeJulianLockhart.s13ouq]

​@@AllyMonstersI doubt it, although I hope so.

[@samsanimationcorner3820]

@@KaotikBOOO yeah, but he also dead.

[@S1apShoes]

How bad do you have to be that when a person assassinates one of your biggest supporters, the entire nation goes, "You know what? That assassin had a pretty good point."

[@AM-tu1rc]

The fans when NASCAR banned Curtis Turner be like

[@thepaintingbanjo8894]

I know a handful of ex Mormons who would easily empathize with the assassin.

[@GuinessOriginal]

Just superb marketing from the CIA

[@aldiascholarofthefirstsin1051]

@@GuinessOriginal The CIA was at the side of the guy who died, if you did not notice.

[@GuinessOriginal]

@@aldiascholarofthefirstsin1051 you mean he was their asset. They have a habit of cleaning house when their assets are no longer useful to them or become a liability. Look at David Ferriere and Lee Harvey Oswald.

[@chantolove]

the weirdest part of this whole story to me is still when the French news started naming Hideo Kojima as the assassin

[@mittens5789]

Punished Kojima

[@iotaayushshrivastava114]

Wtf 😂

[@nomad6-1]

Is this real 😂

[@KarlButIWishIWasntMarx]

Konami set him up

[@MrMrAndre3K]

It was not the french news actually but a right-wing influencer called Damien Rieu.

[@kanter6662]

Nice video, just shame it's a bit incomplete. It would have been good to make it 10-20 seconds longer and mention how Shinzo Abe wasn't the original target of assassination. The assassin was going to the church for months, looking for an opportunity to assassinate its leaders, which didn't work out and then he found out about the politic connections. He also considered making bombs, but didn't want to affect innocent people,.. That's the part of what makes this sad event more understandable.

[@deadseriouslymoving]

It's an uninformed guy's opinion. I doubt he knew that Abe wasn't the target. Just look at the comment section. Pretty much everyone in Japan is saying "Nah they don't all hate shinzo" Guy wants clicks so he made a cult vid about stuff he didnt know about.

[@trustytrest]

​@@deadseriouslymovingHe also posted a reply saying they "couldn't fit it in", when it literally takes zero extra effort to add in that information to the narration.

[@UVStudentHVertulfo]

​@@deadseriouslymovingafter all, this is a political video. Rationality and reason are set aside.

[@craevada7745]

this guy could have resorted to cursing his targets to their death by channeling his negative emotions as a 'prayer' and released himself from them negative emotions so that some spirit could carry out his will..

[@patrickvalentino600]

I don't think the author of the video lets things like reality get in his way...without even knowing what you mentioned in your comment, the narrative rubbed me the wrong way. Could have been the carefully styled NPR-Cadence™, or how he early on admits Abe had no connection to the church, yet then makes the crux of the video how Abe and the church were somehow connected...came off to me like the rantings of yet another angry leftist atheist trying to project their issues on others

[@oxygen3143]

Moon saying “Jesus died because he couldn’t get married, and I’m the second coming of Jesus” just sounds like he desperately wanted a girlfriend

[@teslashark]

He has a wife who dumped him after the church started.

[@jonharrison3114]

@@StatiCRjm proof of what? this was an opinion

[@cheeseofglass]

Religious heads and deviant sexualities are a match made in heaven.

[@johnphoenix1164]

Lmao

[@decem_sagittae]

⁠maybe in your religion

[@joakos1122]

Abe seems like a name prone to assassination

[@angah82]

Sounds like you have this joke locked and loaded.

[@darthzayexeet3653]

Abe Lincoln?

[@canesvenatici4259]

@@darthzayexeet3653 Abe Shinzō.

[@normanmai7865]

This joke really blew my mind, made me turn around, and get shot in the chest.

[@canesvenatici4259]

@@normanmai7865 🤣🤣

[@mesa6287]

I went to a high school owned by the Unification Church. It was hard seeing my friends slowly get brainwashed and lose years of their lives to the cult. Many never finished schooling in favor of doing “missionary” work, where they recruit new members and gather money for the cult, or marry early through the cult’s own version of arranged marriage. I was only half-way through college when half of my classmates from high school who were part of the cult were already married or engaged. I’m glad this is getting more attention and I hope more countries and people follow-suit in condemning this cult.

[@samirSch]

Sounds terrible, but was it voluntary? Were your friends FORCED to be part of the cult? Or they joined on their own will/stupidity? If it was voluntary, then it's light-years better and morally superior than the socialism Abe's murderer defended, because socialism is based and sustained by COERCION, since it never works and ends in dictatorships to avoid people from rebelling.

[@myman8336]

Yep, nothing worse than relationships..

[@mesa6287]

@@myman8336 damn right.

[@anti_acido]

this is happening in brazil with a certain protestant chruches. with a much higher success rate since 90% of brazilians are christians, so almost nobody calls it a cult, but they prey like vultures on very vulnerable people, it's bizarre. oh they are also 100% aligned with right-wing conservative politics, of course. which is funny because the bible is against a lot of stuff the right-wing preaches. my mom is protestant and sometimes she does charity work with her church, like feeding the homeless and helping poor people getting a house and a job, but she's slowly getting involved with an infamous billionaire church and sometimes i fear that they're gonna "get" her.

[@LMMEntertainment]

@@anti_acido the bible is almost always on the right side if it comes to political spectrum nowadays

[@BGP369]

In Japan, people here do not often speak their mind. They sit on it, and sometimes people explode in anger. Things like this are rare. This murder only let people share a part of their bottled up rage against the korean cult and its massive influence in the LDP governement in Japan. This mans family is definitely not the first one to be financially ruined by the cult.

[@Brian-tn4cd]

Can confirm with an exchange teacher we had here in Mexico, she just reached a limit and started screaming at students about her grievances, one even cried that day, needless to say she resigned and went back to japan quickly

[@Blockistium]

My mother is Japanese. It kind of hurts to watch happen. I really wish it wasn't like this. It's an extremely frustrating social pattern. Things need to change for things... to change.

[@RazorRamonMachismo]

How the fuck did Koreans got so much foothold in JAPAN like damn Japanese don't even that level of guilt unlike wypipo but still a bunch of KOREANS were able to guilt trip and get that paper from that Gotta respect the hustle though

[@Ed17908]

@@Brian-tn4cdGood. Entitled Europeans especially in Mexico should follow her lead. Some Mexicans already fed up with foreigners thinking they can disrespect and boss Mexicans around in their country/North American continent. Soon the rest of Mexicans will follow suit if they keep on stirring the bees nest. Being tolerant can only last so much.

[@FirebombFritzz]

Why you mention "Korea"

[@uberultrametamega946]

I live in Japan. Yes, the assassination did bring the wrath of the Japanese people on the Unification Church, but it is not so clear to me that it has resulted in an increase in hatred for Abe. Before his death Abe was liked by some, and strongly disliked by those who saw him to be corrupt. I don't know that his death changed those feelings much in the long run.

[@Shiruvan]

some out of touch campaign for post bubble Japan(2000 onward) that felt... out of touch. You would think that 'Cool Japan' program would've boosted foreigner's investments in Japan, but when its program sent out to many 3rd world countries, it tend to look more like replacing domestic Japanese workers with cheap foreign labors, where first, IF the laborer can afford to go strange, unknown foreign paths with own/family money, usually as a whole bet in early age study, like high school onwards. I was looking into some Japan conventions in Indonesia back in 2010-2015, you have had to be born in the high connected family to afford what the flyers were about, e.g. Study, work, events, etc., its a waste of money on Japan's behalf, and its not for most or even half of anyone in the middle class 'cause no one can afford it. Could've invested in their own industry, don't you think? pay their own countrymen better, send out more complete exports(which the Japanese did able to snuck behind most corrupt distribution/customs chain for fairer price)

[@elaikehler6030]

yeah people overestimated his popularity in Japan, he was anti union and very fiercely pro military, an easy way to make some people really angry at you

[@Shiruvan]

@@maniswolftoman I'm fine had it worked out for even just 30-50%, but Japan also has many overseas, localized industrial branches that Japan itself had no natural resource of manufacturing in their own land. They needn't importing labor that still is being enticed by Japan's generally higher minimum wage(and rights policies that is also still better protected than the factories they built in other countries) Those old Japanese companies building manufacture plants overseas were pioneers being mostly considerate of the locals, they weren't turned into sweatshop workers when quite the expertise were also handed down; Its rather sad that such creative relation were gone as any government-backable option.

[@jameshayes9932]

Yeah I'm not sure how a killing could increase the hate for the person killed? Sounds like the math they are trying to teach children these days.

[@satisfied656]

No wonder it turns into poop at the end if traitor #Trump💩 and the filthy GoP is involved😏

[@GusVIII]

I used to live in that neighborhood. He was assassinated right outside the building where my old doctor’s office is located. It was such a bizarre feeling turning on news and recognizing everything in the background.

[@knightguard1724]

I get the same feeling seeing an area I know on the news. I think it might that you think everything on the news is far away and you subconsciously disaccosiate it with reality. But when you see a place you know, everything suddenly gets real. I felt the same seeing frequent spots I have visited all my life be the backdrop in a breif gang fued.

[@ecoideazventures6417]

Hey, but how did Shinzo Abe go from the most popular PM ever to be hated and assassinated?

[@syntheretique385]

@@ecoideazventures6417 Yes. That's the part of this essay that I would have loved to get investigated deeper. My gut feeling tells me that, ever since the sarin attack in the Tokyo subway, most people in Japan feel extremely uncomfortable about zealous religious groups of any sort. I suspect the ties between LDP and the moonies must have been present in popular consciousness but never expressed publicly because of Japanese cultural tendency to keep things hush hush to the last moment. And that last moment seems to have been this assassination. That's the only explanation I can fathom that explains such an intense reversal of opinion from outrage about a public murder to "I can relate to this revolt against a corrupt figure" or "Abe had it coming", whatever true feelings are hidden behind that poll result.

[@obiwancannoli1920]

A serial was filmed on the street I live on. It was bizarre to see my house on TV. I never got to see the acting in person sadly, cuz it was always during school hours

[@ecoideazventures6417]

@@syntheretique385 Thanks a lot for such an insightful point! One of the most sensible comments found on KZbin!

[@jeffersonisleib]

I live in Kobe, Japan. I realize my comment is anecdotal, but I feel like Spectacles is WILDLY overstating the effect of the assassination. The drop in Abe's approval rating (posthumous) is likely a residual effect of distaste for "Abenomics." (Keep in mind his next two successors are towing his line.) Of the hundreds of Japanese I know and work with, NOBODY has expressed gratitude over the assassination. To the author of this video, it appears that correlation equals causation, even without any proof.

[@evanceaicovschi7230]

I've heard that many Japanese equate Christianity with the unification church. Is this a common sentiment?

[@vulpes7079]

"Gratitude over the assassination"? You don't need that to recognise Abe and his party are bad people

[@kwanlinus6999]

@@evanceaicovschi7230 Since Japan is a very atheistic country, and less than 2% are religious in the traditional sense if ancestral worship is not counted, there is prone to be misconceptions, especially when Christianity is both rare and a foreign concept. One notable exception is Taro Aso, an infleuntial leader of the LDP, who is Catholic. It sort of shows how Christianity is kind of seen as an elite-establishment religion that is uncommon among the common people.

[@Lavender_enjoyer]

Highly anecdotal

[@bakerboat4572]

I mean, any economic reform program isn't going to popular in Japan because things would have to get a lot worse before they get better (e.g., zombie corporations, shrinking workforce, etc.). Plus, Abenomics had structural reform which wasn't ever implemented.

[@stackflow343]

Ok but your video didn't actually explain hatred for Abe, why so many who previously favored him were quick to overturn their support. The video kind of just kind of digressed into a focus on the church and not the premise I expected from the title.

[@keycrafter7471]

I think the hatred comes from him endorsing the cult and having connections with them

[@SickegalAlien]

It's not that public opinion on Abe "changed" from like to dislike It's that media laws and unspoken decorum in Japan silence criticism. Once people felt it was OK to speak out, those who were always angry simply came out of the woods

[@burgundian_system]

hes a war crime denier

[@nedisahonkey]

I'd heard plenty about the Moonies and their wild antics, but never that madness with Nixon. The craziest part is Nixon heard about it and was like "Oh they are praying for me! Sounds like my type of people, I should invite them to the White House."

[@danubeisreallypeculiarrive7944]

That's not wild. That's your average American president acting like American president.

[@stephenjenkins7971]

@@danubeisreallypeculiarrive7944 It's what every politician does. The difference is that the US President is so powerful that it has worldwide repercussions, thus people cry about them, ignoring how their own do the same exact thing.

[@danubeisreallypeculiarrive7944]

@@stephenjenkins7971 Sorry, but as far as I know that is complete bullshit! The President of my country and most countries near it don't sponsor or hang out with cults. Most world leaders don't. Not all countries are like the chunky USA. You know that Moonies were at the beginning and maybe even to this day funded by the CIA right? The USA is a nation of theft, dishonor, and apparently a cult sponsor. There are certainly other countries that sponsored at least one cult, but the USA will sponsor anyone who they could use as sledge hammer against their enemies. Most nations don't do that.

[@longiusaescius2537]

@stephenjenkins7971 exactly

[@NeostormXLMAX]

@@stephenjenkins7971 amerimutt cope is overflowing

[@JR-jv8hz]

8:18 This is an amazing video but i do want to mention an important point- his original target was Moon's widow, but her security detail was way too strong, and her movements were too difficult to track- the former prime minister of Japan was actually an easier target, so he settled for Abe over her.

[@spectacles-dm]

This is true! We talked about it but couldn't fit it in. Thanks for watching and for the note!

[@Toksyuryel]

@@spectacles-dm You know you can just make the video longer right? You can "fit in" anything you want to fit in, youtube hasn't put limits on video length for like a decade now.

[@CheeseOfMasters]

@@Toksyuryel This is infotainment. Holding content creators to a higher standard is much less possible than adjusting your expectations, just like on the history channel.

[@h.l.malazan5782]

@@CheeseOfMasters Call it whatever you want, this is the space where you still cannot shut people down from questioning you.

[@Matt67012]

@@spectacles-dmyou had a narrative to run with, no need to add correction or context! Whoops! Lmao no better than. Msnbc or fox buddy

[@NilSunna]

"Abe wasnt related to the church" few minutes later "Abe was related to the church"

[@tom_demarco]

He didn't say that. He said Abe wasn't a member of the church. Which he isn't

[@loner1878]

Imagine if Angela Merkel was Hermann Goering's granddaughter, denied the Holocaust and prayed at a Hitler memorial stone. Shinzo Abe was the equivalent of that. Nobusuke Kishi, the brutal governor of Manchuria nicknamed the "Monster of Showa" was his grandfather, a Japanese war criminal who got out out of the war crimes tribunals because the Allies thought he was a good economic planner and mad him prime minister. As Prime Minister, he pressured the Eisenhower administration into expediting the release of convicted Class B and Class C war criminals. Abe engaged in the same war crime denialism as his grandfather and visited the shrine where war criminals are buried.

[@foogyfoober]

When I was little, my caretaker (Japanese) was pulled into this cult. Most of what my parents paid for her services, went to the cult. It's disgusting how this "religion", rather a disguise for a greedy cult based on manipulation, drains and makes their followers miserable. When I was 13, I saw her in a supermarket. I asked her why she was in this cult, and she took offense to it and left. That's the last time I ever saw her.

[@erocktherockjohnson5169]

Why was she mad

[@DJBSharpMusic]

​@erocktherockjohnson5169 The same reason most cultists hate being accused of being in a cult. It's pure denial.

[@erocktherockjohnson5169]

@@DJBSharpMusic ik but if i was in a cult i think id be proud of it or something

[@vast9467]

@@erocktherockjohnson5169 how could you be proud while being in a cult that sucks away your livelyhood

[@lunarmothcat]

​@@erocktherockjohnson5169Well maybe she was. That's why she got offended because OP called it a 'cult' and not a 'church' (I mean, it'd make sense if OP really called it a 'cult'. If not, then I don't know why she got mad. Maybe OP sounded aggresive. Or she felt attacked or accused🤷‍♂️)

[@appalach7148]

In a land where access to guns is extremely rare, the shooting and dedication of the shooter to make his own gun and throw his life away in such a public manner (thats become common in america) was a genuine alarm to the japanese people to pay attention that something was wrong here and listen

[@Waterenjoyer1308]

“You can ban guns but you cant ban my balls” -Brandon Herrera ( he was talking about the steel balls he used as bullets)

[@definitlynotbenlente7671]

​@@Waterenjoyer1308compare the amount of gun deaths per 1000 people in the usa and other developed countries america is alone at the top

[@bigloler99lel42]

​@@definitlynotbenlente7671and?

[@nonegone7170]

@@bigloler99lel42 Meaning that 350 million armed fortresses isn't exactly the 'land of the free'

[@edwinhuang9244]

@@bigloler99lel42I fail to see how easier access to guns is going to solve gun violence. Gun violence is more than just "They can get again with it" because they can't. They will get arrested more often than not. It's a symptom of another problem. What you're proposing is also that citizens go ahead and uphold the law themselves. There's a reason why we have a dedicated police force to do the job instead. Sure you can make an argument that more gun acces can help get the shooter to stop earlier by killing them, but that assumes that: A. Enough people carry guns around to be able to do that B. That the shooter's aim is accurate enough to shoot the shooter and no something else like a brick wall or a police officer C. That gun violence deaths from the increased gun incidents don't exceed gun deaths from before gun access is increased A lot of big assumptions. People don't just carry big guns for the same reason why people don't wear armor all the time: It's heavy, bulky, and useless most of the time. There's also a reason why the military requires aiming training. So that its soldiers don't hit the wrong thing, or not hit anything. Because it's easier to say to shoot someone than it is to actually shoot them. Any idea can seem good at first glance. It's only when you look at the details that you start realizing how bad of an idea it is.

[@SMGJohn]

Abe Shinzo is just one puzzle in the extremely corrupt political scene in Japan.

[@captainLoknar]

like any mafia, those who are dead are replaced quickly

[@RRninja-jq6lp]

My brother inc Christ , all political scenes are corrupt by default. It's inevitable with centralization of power. Government usually acts as as biggest , most dominant gang/mob.

[@Artaxerxes.]

​@@RRninja-jq6lp nailed it

[@supahsmashbro]

I mean any Japanese president first and foremost serves Washington, not Japan. Otherwise America will never allow that to happen. This is one of the reasons Japan is so screwed, they're not sovereign

[@fjorddenierbear4832]

It doesn't matter what's what if the politics are right. In 2015, the Abe government refused to admit refugees affected by conflicts in the Middle East and Africa. Abe said Japan must "solve its own problems before accepting immigrants."

[@ZatchZXman]

I think it's less that people hate him after he was assassinated, and more that now he's dead, the Japanese people are more open to say that they hate him.

[@Cybermat47]

After hearing about how Abe denied the Rape of Nanjing and Japan’s sexual enslavement of 50,000 - 200,000 women, I honestly find it kinda hard to react to his death with anything more than ‘meh’.

[@YukariAkiyama]

As a Japanese person, legit idgaf about him, but the memes were funny tho. “Have more sex, ya’ll.” - Shinzo Abe

[@user-lh7mt7zo7l]

@@YukariAkiyama "Change da world have sex goodbye"

[@NothingXemnas]

As a Japanese, I also agree. "Maybe the elders should be left to die... and younglings should fuck like rabbits?" Though, in general, I deeply dislike any elder in power. Mature, surely, but anyone older than 50 may not be apt to run a country.

[@babyyoda1898]

Imagine this in Germany… nobody will take you serious

[@rayray6490]

Many comfort women were also ethnic Japanese. I wonder shouldn’t the Yasukuni Shrine also enshrine those women in “service” of the Imperial military? I mean they’re willing to loop in and honor the war criminals but not a single thought about those women aka the real victims?

[@ultracapitalistutopia3550]

Eito Suzuki who is very dedicated in uncovering the dark side of cults in Japan has written several books about this topic. The one specifically analyzing the attacker is very comprehensible and remains largely neutral. It would be very valuable if his books got localized from Japanese to English, so non-Japanese can have more in-depth understanding of this event, the church and the attacker.

[@Thor-Orion]

You read Japanese and English, right? Sounds like you’re the man for the job!

[@clone256]

​@@Thor-Orion Translating is a skill, you aren't just automatically able to do it well because you understand both languages, and it's not an easy one. Suggesting someone translate a book just because they do is really silly.

[@antihypocrisy8978]

Amen. Christianity is the only noble religion.

[@Eduardo_Espinoza]

Google translate won't do?

[@giraazuha6074]

​@Eduardo_Espinoza google translatw is unreliable, there's a lot of errors and mistranslation

[@Fierach]

Keep Church and State separate always. For any country.

[@Waldoraymond]

This video didn’t tell me a goddamn thing about why the public opinion has shifted after his death.

[@digestiveissue7710]

Assassination sparked the interest to research Abe's ties with the Moonies in the Japanese population, is what I got from the video.

[@arga400]

I don't think the assassination triggers the reaction, it just allowed discourse and people that didn't like him felt it was a good time to bring up their own grudges.

[@scheikundeiscool4086]

I think it might also be worth to consider that Japan is really collectivist. So when someone is in power ppl act in favour no matter thier own oppinion to support collective unity. But once that perception gets challanged and ppl become aware that thier own oppinions are not that much of an outside view. That support might collapse quickly.

[@Aresydatch]

​@@scheikundeiscool4086Yeah Japanese are an ant society

[@idontwantahandlethough]

@@scheikundeiscool4086 oh damn, that's a really interesting point!

[@FilledWithDetermination]

​​@@scheikundeiscool4086Thats so based, it always makes me so sad how NA wastes so much energy on interparty bs, imagine if we just worked together?? It'd be beautiful. Like yes have your opinion, but don't let that get in the way of the greater good.

[@overtimeseed]

@@FilledWithDeterminationBased stop all the discord, work together and move to the next stage enjoyer???!

[@ricardofan2733]

its also bizzare when you consider Abe’s grandfather and who he was, Nosubuke Kishi. The monster of manchuria, whose rule over the puppet empire of manchuria killed many many natives during Japanese role, for him to become a well known bureaucrat and member of the LDP post war.

[@gaiusjuliuspleaser]

Sadly, stories like that were the norm. Most Japanese war criminals were rehabilitated by the USA after WW2 in return for their help in "anticommunist efforts". Shiro Ishii, the commander of the infamous Unit 731, got to live out his days in peace; when he should've been flayed alive and tossed in a vat of saltwater.

[@ricardofan2733]

@@gaiusjuliuspleaser its even funnier when you find out that the american inspired “democracy” of Japan has had the same party in power for decades, with many people in Abe’s cabinet being involved with Nippon Kaigi, a very reactionary organisation.

[@ardel-4964]

​@@ricardofan2733more things to think about, Japan's so called "democracy" was forced. Their constitution was basically written by a foreign power (USA) and they were forced to sign it.

[@AdamOwenBrowning]

@@ardel-4964 Of course it was forced, they moved from near-totalitarianism under an Emperor who was the head of the state religion. This is like the King Charles telling people that he is descended from God and from this point, you will worship him. What else would you suggest this be replaced with? No nation lives under democracy lmao. The LDP in Japan have been in party since 1952, and across many democracies there's only ever two parties who win, parties that never do anything differently to the other lol.

[@toxicatto6074]

Looking at family history is not a fair way of judging someone though. Since if you look it that way, a lot of Germans have grandfathers in the SS. Not saying that Abe is a good person, He is one of the revisionist and one of the people that keeps going into Yasukuni Shrine, but family history is not a fair way of judgement.

[@chengchung2524]

Japan: *have one of the most strictest gun laws in the world Tetsuya Yamagami: haha funni TOOB

[@jaysonrees738]

The fact that people can be dangerous is the one thing keeping rulers from abusing all of us. Some might argue that it's laws or founding principles, but really it's that people have an expectation to be treated justly. Take that away, and it's honestly pretty fair that the ones on top are removed by any means.

[@AJoe-ze6go]

So ... big factual error at 11:00 where the author states that it's "technically illegal for religious organizations to endorse political candidates" in the US. Actually, it's perfectly legal; you just forfeit your tax-exempt status if you do so.

[@mrcoole7890]

Still not over how a Japanese prime minster got grubbed by a DB from Rust.

[@UCmDBecUtbSafffpMEN3iscA]

goddammit LOL

[@buttertoast7576]

he was so LLLOOOAAADDDEEEDD

[@soyersawce3726]

Exactly my thought, I was wheezing when I saw what murder weapon was used.

[@Daeshhh]

He got stream sniped

[@eriktillman8114]

Yeah I honestly am surprised that this event wasn't memed more. This dude built a gun out of duct tape and toilet paper tubes and smoked one of the 21st century's most significant political figures.

[@td8633]

It's very telling that all japanese people on the comments bellow are saying that public opinion didn't change on Japan, and that the video is very partial.

[@yan-amar]

I'm French and I can assure you that laïcité is absolutely not an uncomfortable standard to most here. There have been some issues in the last two decades, like the wearing of religious clothes in schools, but on a political/societal level a vast majority of people are very comfortable with and attached to it. It's one of the core values of our republic. We respect religious freedom but basically it must be done in private.

[@drzerogi]

How are the Islamists taking it, though? Considering how some are willing to murder over merely depicting Muhammed (Charlie Hebdo attack,) I'd figure Muslums would be making quite a stink over this rule.

[@mladizivko]

i somewhat agree, but idk about "must be done in private" Religion to me is heavily also about the community

[@herculas2611]

I can assure ITS AN VERY BIG UNCOMFORTABLE STANDARD for alot of people. Just because some rich pricks are okay with it doesnt mean that the majority is also okay with it.

[@yan-amar]

Just because you disagree with people doesn't mean they are all rich pricks. I could as easily say that people uncomfortable with it are all religious extremists. Anyway, appart from the specific issue about girls wearing veils in schools, which is tightly linked to the history of Arabic populations integration in French society and the consequences of colonialism and widespread racism, I never heard anyone complain about it. It really is a core value of the French democracy, following the dismantling of feudal privileges in which the Church was a big offender.

[@yan-amar]

@@mladizivko You're right. To be more precise it's just that it should not be linked to the public scene, as in public management of society, public office etc. Belonging to a religious community is considered to be part of the private sphere. The important rule is the separation of state and church.

[@randomravenclaw7840]

As a Japanese person, I wouldn't say all of Japan hates him. A lot of conservatives tend to portray him as a bit of a martyr, while liberals point out things he did or defended that conservatives tend to kind of ignore. It's really a mixed bag, I would also say a lot of people just don't really dwell on it, just post some condolences online maybe and move on.

[@aaftiyoDkcdicurak]

This sounds like what would happen if trump was assassinated.

[@skyereave9454]

Could you explain what separates conservatives and liberals in Japan? I know those lines are a little different in different countries.

[@disgoyknows88]

​@@skyereave9454Liberals hate nationalism and want to import third worlders to Japan and turn Toyko into a Chicago.

[@fullmetalfunk]

​@@skyereave9454 i'm not Japanese but have read quite a bit about Japanese politics so take this for what you will, from what i understand it's somewhat similar to America in that liberals in Japan are really more centrist-liberal, and not in any fashion leftist/left wing as liberals are often described by conservatives. liberals in both the US and Japan are just the leftwing of the conservatives and the conservatives the right wing of the liberals, they exist in a very narrow band of the political spectrum and seem to mostly just disagree on social issues. the Liberal Democratic Party or LDP (despite it's name it's a conservative political party) that Abe was a part of and that is and has been the overwhelmingly dominant party in Japan (so much so that Japan is considered a sort of de facto one party state) since 1955 is sort of like their version of the US Republicans, they're a rightwing Japanese Nationalist party, though many of their policies are closer to America's Democrats. for example they are aiming to be carbon neutral by 2050 through renewable energies and nuclear energy, are proponents of wealth redistribution through higher taxes to pay for social needs, and are willing to give tax breaks to companies that will raise wages. all those are things the Republicans in the US are mostly against. but they also deny Japanese war crimes from their Imperial days and WWII, are against same sex marriage, are highly nationalist, and they want to expand the JSDF with many wanting to have a full fledged military again. all those align with more traditionally conservative ideals. then you have the CDP which are the second largest party in Japan but and are kinda like their version of the US Democrats. they want to scale back nuclear power and focus more on renewables, are pro LGBTQ rights, want more welfare for low income families, want greater wealth redistribution than the LDP does, and have tried to make *some* amends for the crimes of Japanese Imperialism. many LDP members and supporters would probably be closer to someone like Bernie Sanders in the US than say Joe Biden. there are other both conservative and liberal, and even leftist parties, but they wield no real power. for example, the Japanese Communist Party has seats in their House of Representatives but it's less than 10% of the assembly, which basically means they can't pass any of their proposed legislation. a lot of the people what would be described as liberals in the US would be more like democratic socialists in Japan, while people described as conservative in the US would fit in pretty well with Japanese conservatives.

[@td8633]

@@fullmetalfunk The LDP sounds pretty great

[@c.w.simpsonproductions1230]

Ironically, the assassination achieved exactly what the assassin wanted and then some.

[@bloodlove93]

only one major shame....didn't catch on and become a trend, lots of "world leaders" out there who don't reallyyyyyyyyy need to continue existing. im saddened that likely very few will understand how to and actually make a gun like that to use it for a good reason, unfortunate because there's books and stuff online that make homemade guns easier to make than most think.

[@alterbennet5420]

​@@bloodlove93fbi, right here, he's encourage the assassination of world leaders

[@JoelLinus]

@@bloodlove93 Check out the story behind how the FGC-9 was made

[@ibrahimhelmy5715]

@@bloodlove93i feel like I’m on a watchlist just reading this comment 😭😭

[@tlv8555]

​@@bloodlove93Say hi to the FBI 😂

[@snakeboy2001]

Awesome video. I had no clue how much more there was to the story.

[@xrusous]

An excellent reporting. Strangely a year and a month passed since the event, not a single court session was held. Yamagami tweeted before the shooting that he was ready to sacrifice himself in order to save other victims.

[@nopasaran191]

If that was in a video game that would be kind of based

[@tomm5663]

Wow I never heard the full story on Abe’s assassination. Great video!

[@spectacles-dm]

Thank you!

[@franciscoacevedo3036]

@@spectacles-dm so you're telling me the moonies are Japan's talibán in the 80s(operation ciclón) xD??

[@samoak123]

He's not the first Abe to get assassinated.

[@mingyuhuang8944]

It's hard not to sympathize with a man who just sets out to eliminate the person that he deems to have ruined his whole family and his life. He saw through the corrupt nature of Abe. When the reports first came out, everyone just dunked on Yamagami for being a psychopath and Abe having poor security. But the reality the situation is far more complex. Yamagami did not harm anyone else, he did not harm innocent people, he only harmed the not so innocent.😢😢😢😢

[@bosunbill9059]

​@@franciscoacevedo3036 Japan`s Scientology and Jonestown more like

[@NikitaLab]

Hoog send me. NOT DISAPPOINTED! Subbed

[@spectacles-dm]

He's a hero. Brought a lot of people. Thanks you! Glad you enjoyed :)

[@simoneparvizi775]

+2

[@stefanscicluna2799]

Winnie Pooh sent me he told me to tell you to not forget his honey

[@BeardedDragonMan1997]

@@stefanscicluna2799scicluna😂

[@JUVENTINO1602]

epic content mate. subscribed.

[@jacksonletts3724]

One thing to note is that Japan has a long history of sympathizing with assassins. This was particularly on display in the lead up to WW2 in the so called “government by assassination,” but it’s even older than that. In the Tokugawa period you have the 47 ronin incident, for example. The shogunate even had a rule that if a samurai attacked another samurai, both would be punished. What the west would think of as the “victim” must have done something heinous to cause the attacking samurai to disregard his honor and throw his life way. Or so went the thinking.

[@error-try-again-later]

This mentality kinda explains their prosecution rate.

[@andersnelson]

Is that why ninjas seem to be well-liked Japan? They make animes about hero ninjas (such as Naruto).

[@michaeld7945]

​@andersnelson Not really. Ninjas are liked for the same reasons pirates or gangster are liked. The romanticized versions of them you see in media highlight the "cooler" aspects while downplaying the negative aspects

[@jettlucashayes8508]

​@michaeld7945 I mean Ninjas are spies/scouts so that's not a fair to compare them to actual criminals

[@lahuber2]

I knew of Abe's assassination, but I could never figure out why it happened. Thanks for enlightening me!

[@bloodlove93]

most murder can be summed up as "hate" crime because you aren't killing someone you love, obviously you killed them because some ill will, it comes down to people suck and some can't move past that, and remember people are innocent, but treasure makes them guilty, meaning your luck is also your misfortune via jealousy from others. in the end its hatred, jealousy, desperation, desire, loss, to experience and move these is human nature.

[@That_One_Guy...]

@@bloodlove93 🤓 we all know basic reasons of murder nerd the OP is saying he doesn't know the motivation for Abe's assasination

[@AdamOwenBrowning]

@@bloodlove93you said so much without actually explaining why Abe was killed other than you squeezing the dictionary definition of "hate"

[@owenchafer1083]

​@@bloodlove93TLDR: Say little of importance with as many words as possible

[@greenbrickbox3392]

@@bloodlove93 lol we get it you watched that South Park episodes on hate crimes, very insightful

[@vyshap.6315]

The key question regarding the Moonies is: did they assert their goals and achieve popularity by "playing the system", or were they at the right place at the right time to be useful to the system and thus were "allowed" to succeed? The answer is probably that it was a bit of both, but it is worthwhile to think about them as being "useful idiots" as well as a nefarious organisation with agency.

[@seanhartnett79]

True.

[@ernstschmidt4725]

a nefarious organization dedicated to use useful idiots for nefarious purposes.

[@swanurine]

behind the bastards did two episodes on the Moonies, I feel they very much asserted their goals and crawled into positions with politicians by way of "eh theyre weird but why not"

[@elaikehler6030]

Like most of history its both, the mix of time and conditions and a psychotic determination to get power

[@juniperrodley9843]

There's a great deal of overlap between system-players and useful idiots. Many of them aren't big enough idiots to miss the fact that being a bit of an idiot is a great way to get the system's support.

[@zero95lucky]

Really love your editing style in this one.

[@Jabbersac]

Excellent video, really impressive. I hadn't known about the assassin's motive, and it explains a lot.

[@EnsignGeneric]

It may seem like a wild swing to us in the West, but this kind of story has played out before in Japan. In fact there are some very clear parallels between this and the May 15th Incident of 1932. In that case, a group of young naval officers, motivated by ultranationalism and the preachings of one very out there Buddhist monk, assassinated the sitting prime minister. Afterwards they surrendered to police and used their trial to explain their motives. Their candor and apparent eagerness to sacrifice themselves for their cause earned enough popular support that the judge let them off easy, partially leading to the rise of military power in Imperial Japan and touching off the events of the Second World War. Obviously the men involved in the May 15th Incident had much less sympathetic motives, but the structural parallels between the two events are still pretty clear.

[@filiperosa7496]

Is not that strange, the west have a lot of church based politicians and corruption

[@whatzittooya9012]

Well there is a very notable parallel: Hitler and the Beer Hall Putsch of 1923. After his arrest, he was put in a court with a sympathetic judge (who was a holdover from the Imperial court system, as many were), and gave long speeches pontificating on the necessity of his attempted coup. As a result, he was given a few years in a low security prison, with the jduge's reasoning that his patriotic intentions were a strongly mitigating favor in his attempted high treason.

[@NotSure109]

Nothing unsympathetic about it.

[@costakeith9048]

The actions in 1932 were a noble act of self sacrifice by promising young officers to change the course of the nation in the service of the Emperor. This was the assassination of a political has-been for perhaps cultural, but not expressly political reasons. While the assassins in both cases may be somewhat sympathetic characters, I really don;t see much more in common. Oh, and the second world war had nothing to do with Japanese militarism an everything to do the warmonger JFK forcing their hand by imposing an embargo in defense of the French Empire, hoping (sadly correctly) he could use it to draw the US into Britain's war of aggression against Germany in Europe.

[@EnsignGeneric]

@@costakeith9048 Found the Nazi, and one with a shaky grasp on the order of the US presidents besides.

[@duskpede5146]

i think this is the first time i've heard of an assassination in history that actually worked to fix the reason for the assassination

[@duskpede5146]

@@Mapleboi404i know enough about japanese communism to know thats not true

[@jamesrustle7536]

Look into the Assassination of Inejirō Asanuma, Mapleboi404 is 100% correct

[@LouisSubearth]

​@@jamesrustle7536While Japan is not a socialist nation, the Japanese Communist Party or Kyousantou is the most active self denominated communist party in the world outside of a socialist nation. Although their ideology is a lot less radical nowadays, being closer to social democracy instead.

[@angelusvastator1297]

@@duskpede5146 technically in the sense that Japan actually didn't become communist. Also most communist parties in Japan are more centre left these days

[@duskpede5146]

@@angelusvastator1297 well no one disagree's that japan didn't become communist. but that wasn't really to do with the individual power struggles of post ww2 politics, but more because 1. the soviets did not occupy any part of japan so no communist puppet got set up. plus the US would never allow japan to flip red 2. after years of fascism (and before that, liberal democracy) communism never really became a serious part of japanese politics. and because japan lacks unions a socialist party wouldn't have much support, financial or not, from institutions. which also rules out the possibility of revolution 3. and thirdly, democratic socialism never works. its like you said that the socialist parties are all but centre left now. except thats the story of every socialist party will eventually become a centre left party as they become more prominent. its just the way things always go so yeah no, japan was never becoming communist assassination or no assassination

[@Lifiless]

Amazing reporting. Well done.

[@bladenx86]

That intro was really good. You deserve more subs.

[@pinkfloydguy7781]

Holy shit, 2022’s news cycle was so crazy that I completely forgot that Japan’s prime minister was assassinated.

[@lucask4377]

Former but yes

[@Drmonstereater1]

As someone who grew up in the UC (no longer a member) in the US, I want to say you got this very right. I remember hearing stories as a kid of the outrageous “donations” Japanese members had to make. It always felt weird. The donations asked of by US members were tame (if only in comparison). I especially like the broader point made about religion and state. I feel like a lot of people miss this hard when talking about the Moonies. It often feels like people go “Oh look at this koooky crazy cult” (which I for the most part agree with) but fail to abstract the larger lessons that can be learned. Great work, my dude.

[@XXMatt0040XX]

In the US that cult is called "Christianity." Plain and simple, it's too big to fail, and calling it a cult is an awful thing to say. But it's a cult all the same to me. The book tells you to give your church 1/8th of your money ffs... There is an ominous feeling of an encroaching "Christian Shariah Law"

[@DinggisKhaaniMagtaal]

I think it’s because these discussions can be legitimately difficult. There are a lot of ex-Christians in the US with very legitimate grievances with their treatment and how those attach to larger issues, but when getting towards the broader idea of separation of church and state, things become difficult, as I think many people in the States are not very approving of the French for using this separation a bit like a cudgel and creating a chilling affect particularly towards people of Islam. And while many people call for the dropping of tax exemption from religious organizations, it might have unforeseen consequences. As someone left-leaning myself, I wouldn’t want bishops approved by a Congressman for the sake of reducing taxes or threatened by government seizure. And even then it wouldn’t be right just to ignore legitimate grievances that churches and religious organizations have caused in the States and what parts of the system they have abused to do so.

[@visoriannull832]

@@DinggisKhaaniMagtaal That's why all churches need to be taxed, the concept of "state approved religion" Is as much of a bastardization of separation of church and state as the topic of the video.

[@LMMEntertainment]

@@visoriannull832 this is exactly why churches generally shouldn't be taxed, the guy just put a (good) reason why it's like that.

[@visoriannull832]

@@LMMEntertainment I'm not an anarchist. States are good and their power is just. When I say "state approved religions is bad" I don't mean "any time governments interact with religion it's bad.". ALL groups should be taxed just like everything else. The food you eat, water you drink, street you walk on, bed you sleep in, building you sit in, computer you type on, electricity you consume, and clothes you wear are taxed, and this is good, so should religious organizations. Want to not be taxed? Offset your tax burden with charity just like any other non profit organization. No, I do not care if "most charity is done by religious organizations." prove it. submit the proper forms and documents that SHOW you provide enough services to lesson your tax burden. Render unto Caesar, just like that one jewish guy said.

[@pffpffovich2398]

You can say that "Japan hates him" only if you consider twitter as an actual representation of japaneese people's opinions. Remember kids: twitter is not a real place.

[@spetty3736]

Amazing channel so glad I found it

[@spectacles-dm]

_updated_ Hey! If you enjoyed this video, you'd probably love our most recent one, "How Cultists Broke China's Government." KZbin slapped the video with age restrictions and is suppressing its visibility... Check it out: kzbin.info/www/bejne/emSaZYRoapiHd5I _original_ Two things to note. First, KZbin has screwed with our links, so if you want to check our sources or our Patreon, you'll just have to copy-paste the links in the description rather than click them. Sorry about that. And second, the day after we wrapped production on this, a man set himself on fire apparently in protest of Abe's state funeral. NPR has a good article about it, if you're interesting in learning more.

[@BeardedDragonMan1997]

😂😂😂❤

[@BeardedDragonMan1997]

0:20 😅

[@Gamerad360]

Yeah, youtube does that a lot they don't want you linking off youtube. You should integrate them in the video, it's not that difficult. I want to note for the record that the seperation in the US is the separation of religion from control of the state, not that religion has no say in state. It's very clear from Jefferson and the constitution this is the case.

[@valyshknee4203]

should've clarified that he wasn't a member like he said, but he certainly had connections with it, Which is what drove the assassin to target him, you are doing what i think is "flim flam" which is saying something is not true, but then saying it is true later on but not directly "Even though he is not a member" then later on "Which drove the party (Shinzo Abe's party) to cut all ties/connections to it (The Unification church), The party he was leader of."

[@RedSaint83]

KZbin has gotten overzealous regarding removal of links and certain words.

[@JayDonagh]

I did a presentation on Shinzo Abe to a college class of Canadian students. Very complex and complicated topic to explain to people who have zero context into any of this. But towards the end of the presentation many of my classmates didn't have much sympathy for him. One girl even said she thought the killer had nice hair.

[@GalacticNovaOverlord]

​@@anon_148Nope. If evil falls, that is a good thing. There is little to no good about Shinzo Abe. Though ironically his party won the next elections probably boosted by him lol

[@NuniaBiznaz]

@@GalacticNovaOverlord still a little retarded to go "ok but that guy looked kinda good though"

[@jango7889]

@@anon_148 lmao fr

[@Jayce_Alexander]

​@@GalacticNovaOverlordAnd just like that a boob popped up to, without a hint of irony, claim an assassination in a modern functioning democracy had been "a good thing". Are you trying to trump the girl the OP spoke of by showing off your IQ of 60?

[@robertortiz-wilson1588]

​@@GalacticNovaOverlordYou have a problem you need to get over.

[@OOZ662]

This isn't the first time that an individual or small group have committed a crime of passion/rebellion/whatever you want to call it and ended up with massive public support. It's an interesting phenomena.

[@robertbeurre1825]

Honestly France has got it right

[@LeLouisLafontaine]

Yes, and I don't understand why he is has a bad opinion of it "according to some ineffective, but to most a rather uncomfortable standard"... It's normal I think for us in France, and I surely don't want any lawmaker or representative come up and justify a law based on their faith alone.

[@seriousblurs7996]

​@@LeLouisLafontaine It's probably referring to peripheral symbols which by not wearing them somehow is seen as an offence to the deity or culture they are attached to. This is a discussion in many places other than France as well though Example. Some religions (or cultures within at least) mandate covering your face. But doing that can be a problem for identification. Other religions mandate carrying weapons, which is obviously seen as even more of an issue considering.. well, this video for example.

[@Kamome163]

This video is incredibly well made. The production, story telling and visuals looks those of a big production team. Keep producing this high quality content, can't wait to watch more of your videos! 🙌

[@spectacles-dm]

Wow, what a compliment to hear that from you. Means a lot. Thank you so much!

[@-delilahlin-1598]

Thank you @Kamome for recommending this video. The quality is outstanding, subscribed 💕

[@groza7094]

@@spectacles-dm I couldn't have said it better myself, you just earned another subscriber, the visuals are really awesome and the story flows very smoothly, great work

[@mingyuhuang8944]

It's hard not to sympathize with a man who just sets out to eliminate the person that he deems to have ruined his whole family and his life. He saw through the corrupt nature of Abe. When the reports first came out, everyone just dunked on Yamagami for being a psychopath and Abe having poor security. But the reality the situation is far more complex. Yamagami did not harm anyone else, he did not harm innocent people, he only harmed the not so innocent.😢😢😢😢😢

[@satisfied656]

No wonder it turns into poop at the end if traitor #Trump💩 and the filthy GoP is involved😏

[@miroslavhoudek7085]

I thought I already knew what's there to know about this - but I had no idea that GOP regularly praises the church as well. This channel is really worthwhile, even if I already saw several videos on that particular topic. Well made, soothing, concise, connecting the right dots ...

[@danubeisreallypeculiarrive7944]

Well the cult was at the begging or maybe even to this day financed by CIA so... US agency used tax payer money to prop up cult.

[@crimsonfire6932]

It’s pretty wild when you consider that this churches teachings are strongly heretical.

[@miroslavhoudek7085]

@@crimsonfire6932 I suppose that conservatives are not only into real-politik but also into real-theology :-)

[@boarfaceswinejaw4516]

@@crimsonfire6932 thats just christianity in general. Jesus: abandon wealth, live modestly, and love your fellow human. christians for the next 2000 years: how bout no

[@HackerArmy03]

@@boarfaceswinejaw4516 More like all religions, you could say the same thing with Iran, India, Russia, and Saudi Arabia (their respective religions) nowadays. At least Christianity tried to moved on from its past, adopting into modern society and morals.

[@FreeTerran]

Just found this channel and its awesome.

[@Aurekbeshisk]

This is a wonderful video. Each one of the fours parts fits perfectly despite the video being only 12 miutes long.

[@jacob5169]

The way I describe this is, "I found out more about Shinzo Abe's assassination and the details behind it. It was crazy! The dude was in with a cult!" "Who? The Assassin?" "NOPE!"

[@dpm305]

Abe wasn't really in the cult so much as a fellow rider. Think of it like all the politicians who hanged out with Jim Jones before he fled America. Basically as a politician he needs allies and cults tend to present themselves as social religious movements, and they tend to have a lot of sway and influence due to their members, so politicians often try to make friends with religious movements. Of course, sometimes those religious movements turn out to be cults, and sometimes politicians don't always care who they align with. It's is an issue, but it is an issue with the system rather than a simple case of "there was a politician in a cult".

[@jackkentner158]

You sound like the one in the cult here, considering you're justifying his death. Freak.

[@agrajyadav2951]

ok burger

[@hayaokakizaki4463]

​@@agrajyadav2951nanking happened

[@adurpandya2742]

Yo, this cult keeps showing up in random issues. Wtf. Someone needs to deepdive into this cult.

[@jord.an6123]

People have. Google it. There's some incredible pieces, of long form journalism, about them.

[@gaiusjuliuspleaser]

Behind the Bastards did an episode on the history of the Moonies

[@ddii2786]

This was explained extremely well. Take my sub. :D

[@HappyCannibal]

My ex-best friend from middle school was a part of the Unification Church and since we were best friends, i hung out with her a lot. Yeah, that religion is a mess and it was always uncomfortable when ever she and her family spoke about it being the one true religion and its teachings and seeing how brainwashed she was. She's an ex because she was emotionally abusive towards me but sometimes i regret cutting off all ties just so I could hear her thoughts about everything happening in the world now, especially since it's all an antithesis to her upbringing

[@alaskagyal]

I watched the stream of the speech. I saw Abe shot live. At the time I was so shocked, so horrified. But now, I completely understand the assassination. I love how we've gone from "how terrifying" to "oh, that's why? yeah that makes sense."

[@alfredandersson875]

People who know about Abe’s politics and background haven’t changed their opinion. “We’ve” always hated him

[@alaskagyal]

true, i don't think his grandfather was the most admirable person@@alfredandersson875

[@icantthinkofaname4265]

Sometimes violence is the answer.

[@thecaynuck]

It's still a condemnable offense to assassinate.

[@thecaynuck]

@@icantthinkofaname4265 Violence is almost never the answer. Here killing a man over religious stuff is ridiculous.

[@williamatchison8763]

I was living in Japan when he was assassinated. I can say that the collective feeling everyone had from my perspective was "meh". It was no where near as impactful as the One Piece movie

[@drzerogi]

It depends on where you live. Where I lived, people were shocked over the event.

[@drzerogi]

@@user-gw2xu7ey8u It's Japan: every prefecture is a boomer prefecture.

[@EternamDoov]

One Piece movie?

[@tealover70]

LOOL

[@SertWasAName]

​@@EternamDoovone piece film: RED

[@ducitrinh]

thank you!

[@Elephantnegotiationsociety]

really awesome work here

[@automobilistic]

Extremely well produced video, and an insightful one at that. Its not too often that a video so succinctly delivers exactly what I hoped, and in such a great package

[@spectacles-dm]

Wow, how kind! Thank you so much. We're so happy you enjoyed :)

[@mingyuhuang8944]

​@@spectacles-dmIt's hard not to sympathize with a man who just sets out to eliminate the person that he deems to have ruined his whole family and his life. He saw through the corrupt nature of Abe. When the reports first came out, everyone just dunked on Yamagami for being a psychopath and Abe having poor security. But the reality the situation is far more complex. Yamagami did not harm anyone else, he did not harm innocent people, he only harmed the not so innocent.

[@aydankhaliq2967]

Hey, my new favourite motorsports youtuber!

[@ElSuperNova23]

Mission accomplished for Tetsuya I suppose, in more ways than one.

[@spectacles-dm]

💀

[@Mahlak_Mriuani_Anatman]

Respect

[@ActionBastardo]

The other assassination attempt with the impromptu bomb: We'll get em next time.

[@deardaughter]

You did a perfect job w this

[@shinnaay]

Thank you algorithm for recommending this fantasticly made video!

[@luistorres6594]

Sun Myung-Moon is the Joseph Smith of Korea

[@Discovery173]

Another great video! so happy to have discovered the channel, keep up the great work and see you at the top!

[@spectacles-dm]

Thanks so much for your support Saitam! Can't wait to see you there haha

[@Awakiia]

Wild, very informative

[@meganmacdonald1137]

wow I clicked on this video on accident, but it was so well done. I learned a lot. Thank you.

[@kroktal8896]

Aum, the cult that did the sarin gas attacks, is still active in Japan because there wasn't anything in the law that could justify their dismantling

[@mmyr8ado.360]

They're just under a new name and in hiding, Aleiph I think

[@bloodlove93]

they got more? should put it to good use.

[@melaniey.5596]

And what’s worse is that it isn’t the only notable cult present in Japan. The Happy Science cult is also there and it seem they have, even if minimal, political influence.

[@mythirduniquehandle]

Aum Shinrikyo, crazy what they did with the Tokyo subway attack like jesus christ

[@sumiben5211]

Because no one wants to accept that religious fairy tales are the real problem

[@thecatinthefedora1201]

If a church starts trying to meddle with politics, it should lose its tax exempt status

[@viliml2763]

They only got their tax exempt status by meddling with politics in the first place...

[@DRYeisleysCreations]

If the government starts trying to meddle with religion, it should lose its government status.

[@anuvisraa5786]

the same whit al ngo

[@Awesomeisme7000]

Sounds shitty and will absolutely be used to demonize Christians like it already has in Europe and North America... such as with them speaking out against murder of children, mutilation of children with "colon surgeries" for sake of gender affirming care, being against prostiution and sexual exploitation of women, mass lockdowns of people, being able to hold church gatherings, etc. etc. A society without religion will make up some degeneracy to takes its place like with LGBTQABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ.

[@Awesomeisme7000]

@@anuvisraa5786 NGOs often make shit way worse, just look at Africa. Also they are often involved with human trafficking.

[@ao4698]

I was living in Japan when it happened, and I was in class. It was insane when the pop up came on the teachers laptop saying about the news. Everyone was in shock I’ll never forget it

[@kgbisfsb8438]

This channel is fire

[@benhunter3542]

To say the Japanese hated Abe is not true. He was polarizing but popular. Many Japanese still mourn him.

[@iansteel6403]

Abe loved his nation and his nation loved him. There are many saboteurs in every nation that help control discourse, sadly.

[@thefatherinthecave943]

@@iansteel6403I’m sure the 200k Korean women who were raped under Shizos orders appreciate that he’s loved by his nation

[@needmorequarts1081]

@@thefatherinthecave943 pretty sure that people rapes because of their own uncontrollable urge and desires rather than someone else's orders, too many people take information on the face without knowing the real truth or context much less if you get information on KZbin where people created content to attract more views, the more controversial it is the more it would get viewed and in the end journalism is just the same everywhere else.

[@Oddricm]

@@thefatherinthecave943 Shinzo Abe was born 1954. Japanese occupation of Korea ended 1945. You can call the case that he denied Japanese war crimes, but unless you think you can time travel he didn't order Japanese war crimes at the tender age of negative nine years old.

[@ElliotKeaton]

@@thefatherinthecave943 Let's not forget his role in the Atlantic Slave Trade either, since we're blaming random things on him.

[@schmoo...]

Great video - love the production quality! Looking forward to other videos from you

[@Emilytea]

Politicians HATE this one neat trick!

[@gu98marrafon174]

Sun Myung Moon is such a strange caracther, here in Brazil he bought 200 hectares in the middle of nowhere and two football clubs, i really don't know if the unification church have many followers here but i wouldn't expect the team i played as a child and the assassination of a political leader would be linked

[@accesskeeper]

The whole video is about how bad this church is, but not much relation to Abe. As i understood. And he killed him because of his speech in the church only. And whole country Japan bought it? Seems like a joke. Please someone explain me. I clearly see different purpose.

[@NuwandaLunaDragon]

the people didn't "bought" what the assassin said, but what the investigations after the assassination showed

[@Volition1001]

Incredible video, looking forward to your future work

[@spectacles-dm]

Thank you so much! You won't be disappointed :)

[@titanghost7556]

As a Southern Christian that whole Moonie Theology just had me going "This is the most blatent Heresy I've ever heard" and was saying Heretics in my head more than a Warhammer Space Marine

[@kwanlinus6999]

Rather ironically, the Moonies for some reason have a large following down South

[@adrianaslund8605]

American conservative tends towards their own brand of heresy.

[@hopeforkarens]

Well it isn’t more outlandish than Mormons or scientology

[@jamesolson4975]

WOW. I was not expecting this.

[@mrflowers1234]

This was a really well done video from such a small channel. Wishing you much success!

[@burningphoneix]

I wouldn't use "support for a state funeral" as correlation to whether someone has positive opinion on a person. A lot of people can simply be generally positive or ambivalent towards Abe but also not what the expense of a state funded funeral.

[@angelusvastator1297]

Agreed. Some ppl have more things to care about

[@pepsiatlas5452]

Unification church's approval rating drop to near zero The assassin: they called me a madman

[@NotOrdinaryInGames]

Thanks for the TL;DR, I will not forget.

[@bonsai5753]

Rewatched the video because this is incredible. I’m blown away by the quality

[@spectacles-dm]

:) so glad you love it so much!

[@chicagofineart9546]

Abe's family has roots that go deep into Japan's history of early 20th cen. Japanese imperialism. Maybe Spectacles could do a similar report on Church of (Unified) Scientology in the U.S. and how they came to be recognized as a "church" in the first place.

[@NERGYStudios]

Incredible for you to state that 'Everyone hates Shinzo Abe' when his assassination itself seems pretty cloudy.

[@youcantbeatk7006]

Clickbait is clickbait.

[@Nylon_riot]

I am in the states and it reeks. I thought it had something to do with Abe pushing for the re-militarization of Japan.

[@terryhollands2794]

I learned something today about Japanese society. Thanks for your effort.

[@Jobe-13]

I was so sure his assassination had to do with Abe’s connections to Nippon Kaigi alt-righters and _it’s_ connections with the modern Yakuza. I did not expect anything like this.

[@spectacles-dm]

So glad you enjoyed and learned something!

[@Jobe-13]

@@spectacles-dm 👍

[@haruhisuzumiya6650]

Sometimes both answers can be true, a political assassination styles the alt right in Japan and the unification church

[@pepsiman7711]

Alt Night whats that ? some indie book store

[@longiusaescius2537]

Keep using 2013 terms in 2023 please

[@lilmsgs]

Well said

[@GunFunZS]

American attorney here. You stated that "it is technically illegal for American religious organizations to endorse political candidates " .... That is completely false. It is illegal for 501 c 3 to do so. There is no requirement that a religious organization must be a 501c3. Or for that matter Incorporated in any form. It is entirely possible to have an informal church, or even a for-profit church. In either case it can participate in politics.

[@chandanbhat]

Like many others before me, I came from the Hoog community post too. Have to say, I'm not disappointed, great channel and great videos, really loved the future cities one!

[@spectacles-dm]

Thank you! Glad you're enjoying the videos!