Weekly Shincho - Editor-in-Chief Itsushi Sakai's Prejudice: Protesting Against Articles on Methods Violating the Public Offices Election Act

In the July 10th (Wednesday) issue of 'Weekly Shincho', an insulting article against the Happiness Realization Party and Happy Science was published under the headline 'Because Everyone Will Lose in the Upper House Election, I Want to Hear the Opinion of 'Ryuho Okawa', the Guardian Spirit of the President of Happy Science'. As the Director of Public Relations for the Happy Science Group, I hereby lodge a protest.

Editor-in-Chief Itsushi Sakai of 'Weekly Shincho' continues to publish such articles with extreme prejudice, saying things like 'Weekly Shincho recognizes your group as a cult'. Currently, there are two defamation lawsuits between our group and Shinchosha. The articles that mock our group's founder, President Ryuho Okawa, and our group itself demand serious religious reflection, but there are many other issues with this article. Below, I will list some points of protest.

The headline 'Because Everyone Will Lose in the Upper House Election...' is a violation of the Public Offices Election Act

First, the article's headline was 'Because Everyone Will Lose in the Upper House Election, I Want to Hear the Opinion of 'Ryuho Okawa', the Guardian Spirit of the President of Happy Science'. This time, Editor-in-Chief Sakai used 'a blatant method of violating the Public Offices Election Act' to create the article's headline.

The article was published on July 10th, and the House of Councillors election is on July 21st, so voting has not yet taken place. Despite this, a false headline was created based on false information about our association, stating 'Everyone Will Lose in the Upper House Election...', and advertisements were run in newspaper ads exceeding 30 million copies and on train car ads. This violates the proviso of Article 148 of the Public Offices Election Act, which states 'Do not abuse freedom of expression by recording false matters or distorting facts to harm the fairness of elections'.

Furthermore, this article was written based on the coverage by reporter Shinya Ogiwara, but I am convinced that the headline was directly attached by Editor-in-Chief Sakai with the aim of ensuring all candidates of the Happiness Realization Party lose. This is because, in past trials, a reporter from Weekly Shincho testified that 'the headlines are attached by the editor-in-chief'. This also violates Article 148-2, Paragraph 3 of the Public Offices Election Act, which states 'No person shall use their position in editing magazines to publish or cause to be published reports and critiques related to elections with the purpose of preventing election success'.

While I appreciate Editor-in-Chief Sakai's 'enthusiastic reporting as a watcher of our association', I firmly protest against the attempt to prevent election success by violating the Public Offices Election Act with a 'twisted editorial policy'. The stance of abusing freedom of expression and even attaching illegal headlines to sell should be corrected immediately.

'Only Writing About Money' - Fear of Becoming Another 'FOCUS'? Jealousy Towards Religion?

Next, upon reading the article, it meticulously calculates the forfeited deposits related to the elections of the Happiness Realization Party, which was founded in 2009. 'Always writing only about money' is because the circulation of Weekly Shincho is declining, and there is a 'fear of becoming another 'FOCUS' with continued deficits'. Or is it because the 'jealousy towards a continuously developing religion' cannot be suppressed?

The Happiness Realization Party was founded with the aspiration to save the nation. Although it has not produced any successful candidates in past elections and the deposits were forfeited, we believe that a path will surely open as we continue to strive with high ideals. It may be futile to say this to Editor-in-Chief Sakai, but he should seriously reflect on his twisted heart that mocks those who make earnest efforts.

'If the Media Makes Mistakes, This Country Has No Future'

Editor-in-Chief Sakai has in the past had his guardian spirit summoned and recorded spiritual messages ('Weekly Shincho Editor-in-Chief: Devil's Radioactive Contamination' published by Happy Science Publishing), and since then, he has been the most reactive to spiritual messages among all media. This time as well, Weekly Shincho constructs articles based on various public spiritual messages, but if spiritual messages concern you so much, you should study them honestly. A twisted heart will become straight, and the tendencies of a 'poverty god' or 'plague god' heart will surely be corrected.

We wish to convey to many citizens the truth that 'if the media makes mistakes, this country has no future'. We also intend to fairly convey that there are 'heavenly people in the media world' and not just people like Editor-in-Chief Sakai.

The economic policies that the Happiness Realization Party has advocated since its founding have begun to bring prosperity to Japan in the form of Abenomics since Prime Minister Abe took office. This development and prosperity are spreading to many citizens, and the light is also flowing to the believers of our group. We intend to continue to respond resolutely to such mockery and insults, convey the truth, and continue to develop.

Regarding Weekly Shincho, 'Research on the Devil Nesting in Weekly Shincho', 'Weekly Shincho Editor-in-Chief: Devil's Radioactive Contamination', and 'Disqualified Human: Shinchosha President Takanobu Sato's Runaway to Ruin' (published by Happy Science Publishing) have been published. We hope many people will read them, make the reality of malicious journalism known to the world, and advance the cause of justice.

Director of Public Relations for the Happy Science Group, Nobuyuki Watanabe