Goto's statement to Tokyo District Court - Part 3

In Part 3, Mr. Toru Goto is taken to an apartment in Tokyo under scrutiny immediately after his father's death (June 1997). After confined in the apartment for 6 months, he is taken to another apartment in Tokyo in Dec.1997.

I post the English translataion of (2)&(3) in Second Confinement, which are hilighted blue in the index below.

Index of the Toru Goto's statement submitted to Tokyo District Court

1.   Personal History
2.  Joining Unification Church (1986)
3.  First Confinement (Oct 1987 - Nov 1987)
4.  After Escape from First Confinement
5.  Second Confinement(1) Confinement in Niigata (Sep 1995)
   (2) Transferred to First Apartment in Tokyo (1997)
   (3) Transferred to Second Apartment in Tokyo (Dec 1997)
   (4) Miyamura's deprogramming work
   (5) First Hunger Strike – 21 days
   (6) Second Hunger Strike – 21 days
   (7) Third Hunger Strike – 30 days
   (8) Release from Prison
6. After Hospitalization
7. At the End

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5.   Second Confinement

(2) Transferred to First Apartment in Tokyo (Jun 1997)

Soon after my father's death, I was taken to my parents' house in a van under scrutiny.  The reason was to bid farewell to my father.  I left my wallet, driver’s license, cash etc in the apartment in Niigata as I thought I would be brought back there.  My sister and brother's wife guided me to the front door of the apartment.  A few men were waiting outside of the front door, and everyone got in an elevator together, and we arrived at the ground floor.  I was taken to a van surrounded by people.  I noticed later that 2 men among those waiting in front of the front door were my brothers’ sisters’ elder brothers. 

A man who had visited the apartment for de-conversion purposes drove the van, and my brother's wife sat next to the driver.  In the middle row, my brother's sister's elder brothers sat in the middle and on the right hand side, and a former-UC member (female) sat on the left.  In the far back row, my sister sat on the right, and a former UC member (male) sat on the left, and I was made to sit in the middle, so this made me unable to escape.

I struggled to keep in calm in mixed feelings, which came from the shock and sadness after I lost my father, from the nervousness that my pretension of leaving church may be discovered, and from the anger and indignation towards my family who did not release me from confinement and scrutiny.  As mentioned before, I had to behave well, so my pretension would not be discovered.  I had to continue waiting until the moment to escape without fail would come.

When I arrived at the parents’ house in Nishi-Tokyo City where my fathers’ body was placed, my mother and brother had already been there.  I saw my father's body lying down.  I didn't get along with my father, but I respected him as I saw him working passionately as a company manager.  Though he was a Buddhist and differed from me in faith and value, I wished we could understand each other.  I was extremely sad to farewell my father in this way.  While I was next to my father's body, I was completely surrounded by my relatives and former UC members who came all the way from Niigata in the van.  Those UC members hardly knew my father though. 

 
After the farewell, I was surrounded by family and former UC members and taken to the van again.  My brother said to me, "We are not going back to Niigata anymore."  I was taken to an apartment called “Ogikubo Place” in Suginami-Ku in Tokyo, and confined in the room 605. (Police told me the details of the apartment after their investigation.)  (Chart 3)

My brother went to work during the day, but my mother, sister and brother's wife were always monitoring me.  I couldn't see the front door directly because there was a curtain before the front door.  It was still my pretension period, so I couldn't take careless action such as checking the front door by opening the curtain.

Nevertheless I had a chance to look at the front door at one time.  I clearly saw a lock with numbers around the doorknob.  As I was looking for a chance to escape from the apartment, I shouted in my mind, "I'm not free yet." and I was prostrated with anger and despair. 

The room was also on level 6 and was too high to escape from the window.  My wallet, driver's license and cash, which I left in Niigata, were not returned to me.

As the confinement continued, my brother became impatient.  One day when I just walked towards the front door, my brother yelled at me, "Go away.  Unpleasant." and he didn’t allow me to approach the front door.  I felt unspeakable fear in my brother's words and actions.

(3) Transferred to Second Apartment in Tokyo (Dec 1997)

Around at the end of Dec. 1997, my mother, brother, brother's wife and some men took me to another apartment called "Ogikubo Flower Home" in a van again under scrutiny.  I was confined in the room 804 of the apartment (Chart 4).  I was taken to a room facing verandah in the far back of the apartment, and I was told to stay there (M in the Chart 4).   Soon after the arrival to the new apartment, I walked to the position where I could see the front door in order to check if it was possible to go out of the front door.  I clearly saw the front door had been installed with a chain and lock, so the front door could not be opened without a key (Pic 2).    My brother shooed me away to the room in the back.

I felt humiliation that I was not being treated as a human and protested, “you are treating me like a dog.  I’m a human.”  All the windows were installed with special locks, and keys were needed to unlock them.  The windows could not be opened from inside (Pic 3).  My mother, brother, sister and brothers’ wife always monitored me, and they told me to leave the sliding door of my room open.

Though 2 Years and 3 months had already passed since the confinement in Niigata and 2 years had passed since I said I would renounce my belief, there was no sign of release from the confinement at all.  The situation of my pretension to leave the church was in deadlock, and my mental situation was almost reaching a breaking point. 

"Why do I have to continue this kind of thing in Japan which guarantees the basic human rights and religious freedom under the Constitution?  Though they are doing some unlawful acts such as forcefully abducting and confining to de-convert people, they don't show any prick of conscience and criticize the Unification Church.  I have to spend a day after day by pretending as a former UC member, and by forcing me to sing their tune."  I had a fearful feeling for what would happen to my sprit if this situation continued.

In addition to that, I couldn't do anything but feel growing frustration and emptiness, thinking in mind "I could have started a married life with my fiancée if I was not abducted and confined."  So soon after I was transferred to the "Flower Home 804", I was determined to reveal that I had pretended to renounce my belief.  I called my brother, and made him sit, and I told him that I had pretended.  I condemned him by banging on the desk, "You are wrong to do this kind of thing."  I vented my gloomy feeling, which had accumulated within myself for a long time.

As a result of my announcement that I had pretended to leave the church, it became a routine that I received all kinds of criticism, defamation and abusive words from my family members and Takashi Miyamura & others who visited the apartment later on.  I became to receive their uncompromising deprogramming work to force me to abandon the faith.  Soon after the announcement of revealing my pretension, I proceeded towards the front door to try to escape.  I was grabbed by my brother, pushed down and I was caught.  I was shocked to know that my physical strength got much weaker than I thought.

The feeling of despair attacked me, as I had to give up on my escape plan from the confinement apartment, not only because the door was locked by chain and special tool, but also my escape was refused by force.
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The end of Part 3


Lint to other part of Goto's statement
Goto's Statement Part 1
Goto's Statement Part 2 
Goto's Statement Part 3 
Goto's Statement Part 4 (First Half)
Goto's Statement Part 4 (Second Half) 
Goto's Statement Part 5
Goto's Statement Part 6   


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