The Assassination of Abe Shinzō and Japan’s New Cult War: Yamagami Tetsuya and the Second-Generation Problem

ABSTRACT: Based on media analysis and interviews, this article analyzes the role of the second generation of marginal new religious movements in Japan’s latest “cult war.” The assassination in 2022 of former Prime Minister Abe Shinzō by Yamagami Tetsuya catalyzed a cult war in which persons in Japanese society strongly oppose groups identified as “cults.” Investigation of Yamagami’s motivations reveals that he sought revenge against the Unification Church/Family Federation by killing Abe, who was politically connected to the organization but not a member. Yamagami’s written manifesto is interpreted in the article as a cult-war document bearing the hallmarks of a second-generation grievance narrative. The article considers the impact in Japan of Yamagami’s actions in light of media responses to the assassination, the galvanization of second-generation activism, and reactions from the political class. Popular concerns about controversial new religious movements have shifted away from converts towards the second-generation cohort as a class of victims.