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Japan1973 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses
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THE ERA OF THE “TODAISHA”
On September 6, 1926, an American-Japanese, Junzo Akashi, arrived in Japan as the Society’s missionary to Japan, Korea and China. He established a branch in Kobe, but this was later moved to Ginza, Tokyo, and finally to Ogikubo, then on the outskirts of Tokyo, where a printing plant was set up. Until the outbreak of World War II, Japan, Korea and Taiwan were covered by full-time Watch Tower colporteurs from Japan. The number of these in Japan reached a peak of 110 in 1938. It seems that there were no congregational meetings, such as the Watchtower study, but emphasis was placed on street meetings and distribution of the Japanese edition of The Golden Age (later, Consolation). In 1938 alone, 1,125,817 magazines were distributed. Akashi gave the organization the name “Todaisha,” meaning “The Lighthouse.”
From the time of the “Manchurian Incident” of September 18, 1931, militarism was very much on the ascendancy in Japan. Accordingly, on May 16, 1933, Akashi and a number of others were arrested and examined by the public procurators on suspicion of having violated the 1925 Peace Preservation law of Japan’s police state. However, they were soon released because of lack of evidence. But further difficulties loomed on the horizon!
After Japan joined Germany in an anti-Communist pact in 1936, all religious bodies came under heavy pressure from the government. As a result, the Roman Catholic Church changed its position with regard to doing obeisance to Shinto shrines, permitting this as a “nonreligious” ceremony! The government asked all religious bodies to send their representatives to the front to pray for Japan’s victory, and most complied. Under the Religious Bodies law of 1939, Buddhist sects and Christendom’s sects respectively were compelled to unite their denominations. In 1944, both the Protestant alliance (Kyodan) and the Roman Catholic Church joined the Japan Wartime Patriotic Religious Association, along with the Shinto and Buddhist sects. How were Jehovah’s witnesses treated during the oppressive rule of the Shinto warlords, supported by their pantheon of “eight million gods”?
A summary report prepared by the Japanese Ministry of Home Affairs in 1947 describes those turbulent days: “In May 1933, Akashi and several of his associates . . . were arrested on lese majesty charges in Chiba Prefecture and the Todai-sha was dissolved. It was reorganized and many members . . . (some 200 in all, including 50 residents of Tokyo) were dispatched throughout Japan, Manchuria, Korea, Taiwan, etc., making speeches and distributing literature [translated] by Akashi. They asserted that the doctrine of the Trinity was false and advocated a ‘Jehovah’ monotheism; that all religions other than that of the Todai-sha were inventions of Satan, and that the political organization of the world was also an invention of Satan causing oppressive war, poverty and disease; that Christ would rise and destroy these satanic inventions in Armageddon and construct the Kingdom of God. Finally, and this was the crux of the case as far as the Japanese courts were concerned, because otherwise they would have had no interest in the doctrines of this or any other religious body, ‘the Todai-sha was assisting in the establishment of Jehovah’s organization and system.’ Since this assertion was considered as a plan to overthrow the Japanese state structure (Kokutai), the members of the Todai-sha were arrested on June 21, 1939, and some were found guilty.”
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Japan1973 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses
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On June 21, 1939, in one swoop, 130 others of the Todaisha were arrested—ninety-one (including Junzo Akashi) in Tokyo and eighteen other prefectures in Japan, thirty in Korea and nine in Taiwan. The Todaisha headquarters in Tokyo were surrounded by more than one hundred armed police, and a thorough search was made. Here, twenty adults and six children were arrested. Akashi, his wife, and second and third sons were put in the lockup at Ogikubo police station.
In August 1939, Junzo Akashi alone was transferred to the Ogu police station. For seven months he was investigated there by special police of the religious department. They used violence in order to extract “confessions” from him. He was tortured day and night, and had as his cell mates poisonous insects, mosquitoes, lice and bugs. He was kicked and thrown repeatedly to the floor, and his face beaten until it was unrecognizable. His whole body was covered with wounds. Finally, according to this Doshisha University report, he gave up and put his seal to anything the police asked of him. After increasingly violent cross-examinations, the police completed their report on Junzo Akashi on April 1, 1940.
On April 27, 1940, Akashi and fifty-two others were charged formally with violating the Peace Preservation law. Akashi himself was also charged with sedition against the government and disrespect for the emperor. On August 27 of the same year, the Todaisha was banned as an illegal organization that incited public disorder. The trial of Junzo Akashi and the fifty-two others continued through 1941 and 1942, during which time one died of illness. Finally, all but one, who responded to the military call-up, were convicted and sentenced. Junzo Akashi received a sentence of twelve years and the others from two to five years of imprisonment.
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Japan1973 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses
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Yes, many kept their faith, and a number of these are serving loyally as Jehovah’s witnesses to this day. However, it appears that the majority of the Todaisha were following a man, Junzo Akashi. For example, the person that underwent the hard prison experiences just described above was interviewed on May 18, 1971, on the Tokyo Channel 12 TV program. After he had described the activities and persecutions of the Todaisha, the interviewer asked him: “What about the activity of the Todaisha today?” To which he answered: “It has achieved its purpose, and so it no longer exists.”
And how about Junzo Akashi himself? Within two years of his release from prison, Akashi wrote the president of the Watch Tower Society a letter, dated August 25, 1947, in which he indicates that he did not agree with what the Society published as far back as 1926. This was actually before he accepted his assignment as branch overseer to Japan. Thus Junzo Akashi, by his own confession, had been playing the part of the hypocrite for more than twenty years.
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Japan1973 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses
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One of Brother Ishii’s early memories is the announcement of the “new name” Jehovah’s witnesses in 1931. A brother at the Tokyo branch built a shortwave radio, so that they could listen in to the assembly at Columbus, Ohio, while Junzo Akashi explained. They heard Brother Rutherford call for the adoption of the “new name,” and the great shout of acceptance by all the brothers. Those in Tokyo joined in that shout at the same time!
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Japan1973 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses
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As Brother Ishii’s investigation proceeded, the police showed him a report on testimony given by Junzo Akashi, and which astonished him in that it was a clear departure from the truth. They asked him: “Do you believe Akashi?” He said: “No. Akashi is an imperfect man. So long as Akashi follows the principles of the Bible faithfully, he may be used as God’s vessel. But because his testimony is now entirely different, he is no longer my brother. Therefore, I do not have any relation with him.” Akashi had stated in this testimony that he himself was Christ.
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Japan1973 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses
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When Katsuo Miura married in the spring of 1931 he was twenty-four years old, and his bride, Hagino, seventeen years. From Sister Ishii, Katsuo Miura obtained The Harp of God, Deliverance and other books, and readily recognized that these contained the truth. He paid a visit to the Todaisha headquarters in Tokyo, and, in turn, Junzo Akashi visited the Miuras in Ishinomori. There, in October 1931, Akashi “baptized” them by sprinkling water on them in their private bathtub. (Thus, like many others, they had later to be rebaptized.)
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