© EPA-EFE/FRANCK ROBICHON/TASS

The approval rating of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s Cabinet keeps falling and relentlessly approaching the level to be followed by at least a major reshuffle and perhaps even the resignation of Prime Minister himself.

According to the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper, the cabinet's performance is only estimated at 27%. 65% of those polled disapprove of it, with their number growing with every single day. In August, the approval rate was 54%. If thу pace continues, November may see it drop below 20%, which is fraught with an inevitable government crisis as per Japanese standards.

Kishida has a dime a thousand problems.

First and foremost are the hiking prices caused by both the growing imported energy costs and the falling national currency that is turning up the heat. The yen has weakened past 150 to the dollar, falling to the lowest in 30+ years. With rising food prices becoming the focus of TV news, voters get annoyed by the government’s inefficient economic policy and the prime’s minister cautious and watered-down statements.

Also, the public has bristled at Kishida’s decision to appoint his son one of his secretaries, opening the door for his brilliant political career. Labor dynasties are commonplace in Japan’s political world, though. There have been enough second- and third-generation deputies and even prime ministers. People virtually inherit constituencies after their authoritative parents, and the generously favored voters start voting amicably for the heirs of their political overlords. But this time, the current prime minister’s outright nepotism has stirred a storm of irritation.

Finally, his popularity was affected by the official funeral ceremony for former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot by a lone assassin in July. Most people were far from being Abe’s fans and got perplexed by the fact that the international-scale ceremony was arranged at public expense, that is, for taxpayers' money.

Still, all of these problems fade in comparison to the clamorous scandal which followed Abe’s tragic death. The murderer said he sought revenge on Japan’s affluential Unification Church the ex-PM mixed with. And he succeeded in doing so, let’s be blunt about it.

The assassination motive caused a real stir in the country. Earlier, this religious organization had questionable dealings to be incidentally highlighted by broadsheets. This time we deal with a cascade of investigations, and a tawdry tale has come to be known. More than half of deputies from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party resorted to services of the Unification Church during their election campaigns to get volunteers, whispering campaigns and votes. In a quid pro quo manner, the politicians took part in the Church’s public events and spoke on its media, raising its profile and authority. And this, in turn, was an important element of that organization’s international political and commercial activities.

And the entity is the cat's whishkers.

The Unification Church (the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity) was founded in 1954 by Korean Sun Myung Moon in Seoul. He felt destined to become a faith leader at the age of 16, when Jesus Christ appeared to him to be later followed by Buddha, Laozi, Confucius and Muhammad, as he argued.  Moon denied the Second Coming of Christ and declared himself the Messiah. He outlined his religious views, largely based on the Bible and the revelations received, in the book titled The Divine Principle.

Researchers classify the Church among the so-called new religions, but traditional Christian denominations have declared the teaching a heresy. In a number of European countries, it is deemed as a destructive sect, and Russia has outlawed its entire activity.

At the same time, information has been released in the United States that the Church was created through the agency of South Korean CIA, a comrade organization for the US Central Intelligence Agency. What attracted the secret services was apparently Rev. Moon’s advocacy for eradicating communism as a satanic thing. This issue was highly sought after in the West during the Cold War. Moreover, activities of the charismatic religious leader and his organization could have proven useful for promoting South Korean interests abroad.

And that's exactly how it happened.

Having proclaimed the unification of people before the one God, regardless of their race, nationality, religion, the church created some 300 nonprofit organizations in over 150 countries, rallying up at least 5 million followers. Economically, the sect has been backed by companies it owns in the food industry, fishing, computer production, medical equipment, hotels, media and a lot more.

The irony of it is that in Japan, the Church got the green light at the turn of 1960s by then Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, the late Shinzo Abe’ grandfather. Kishi intended to use its anti-communist potential as a counterweight to the strong socialists and communists. This approach was certainly converted into political services to the entity.

In turn, it started preaching in Japan, resulting in very specific forms of commerce.

Using psychotechnics of destructive sects, its activists forced fans of Moon's teaching to pay through the nose for magic items – jugs, rosaries, personal seals, mini-pagodas, and welcoming monetary offerings. Moon's followers claim that all of this helps cleanse karma, remove sins, calm the ancestors, and become free of misfortune.

Scandals, court proceedings and revelations have become a regular thing, but all of those are resolved or hushed up without major consequences.

But Abe’s murderer, whose mother gave all of her savings to the Unification Church, with his villainous act prompted that the Japanese society, politicians, law enforcers and the media clap eyes on all the wrongdoings by Moon's adherents.

The cautious Kishida did not harp upon inquiries into the sect's activities, having apparently realized that the Church's unsightliest activity aspects and ties with politicians might be exposed. However, the public has eventually fought its way to an official investigation scheduled for late October, which is quite a rare thing as regards religious communities. The latest case was an investigation into the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult responsible for the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack, which killed over 2,000 people.

Meanwhile, information has leaked that the Unification Church offers Japanese politicians to sign cooperation memoranda, and some of them have allegedly agreed. This may be hard evidence that sectarian fraudsters, unlike ordinary voters, had an opportunity to affect the ruling party’s political agenda.

This caps it all for Kishida!

Amid an economic turmoil the Prime Minister faces a challenge of trying to mitigate the scandal that tears down his party’s reputation. But the opposition craves for a rumble, and people seek punishing greedy cultists and cleansing politics of corrupt politicians.

At some point he already had to sanitize the Cabinet of those caught in dealing with the sect. And on October 24, one of its key members, Japanese Economy Minister Daishiro Yamagiwa resigned by the same token. This is a strong blow to Kishida, but the public may prove unsatisfied with a single resignation. Meanwhile, the Liberal Democratic Party needs to maintain its parliamentary position for strategic goals. A good reason to sacrifice the current prime minister, given the party’s king-size subs' bench....