The Tamesis
March 10, 2026
Tokyo – The World Federation for Peace and Unification Family (formerly the Unification Church) announced on Monday that it has filed a special appeal with the Supreme Court, seeking to overturn a Tokyo High Court decision upholding a lower court order ordering the religious group’s dissolution.
The order came into effect following a ruling by the Tokyo High Court on Wednesday, causing the church to lose its status as a religious legal person, prompting the resignation of its officials. The court-appointed liquidator has initiated proceedings to liquidate his assets to compensate victims whose assets were systematically and illegally solicited for church donations.
If the Supreme Court revokes the dissolution order, the liquidation process will also be stopped.
The “Religious Groups Law” stipulates that if the court finds that “a religious group violates laws and regulations and has behaviors that are obviously harmful to public interests,” it can order the dissolution of the religious group.
In October 2023, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology submitted a request for a church dissolution order. There have been two previous examples of Japanese religious groups being ordered to disband. The Unification Church ruling is the first time a dissolution order has been issued against a religious company for violating the Civil Code.
The High Court’s ruling confirmed that the church caused losses totaling 7.4 billion yen to at least 506 people between 1973 and 2016. The high court upheld a Tokyo District Court order in March last year to dissolve the church.
