This is Toru Goto. He was kidnapped, tortured, and confined for twelve and a half years in an attempt to force him to recant his religious beliefs. After realizing that his faith could not be broken, his family (yes, his family) and the deprogrammers gave up and threw him out onto the cold winter streets. Since he was set free in 2008, Mr. Goto has been at the forefront of advocating against deprogramming.
Initially used in America during the 1960s, deprogramming has now migrated to Japan & impacts thousands of people. Some of their stories have been collected here (http://kidnapping.jp/index-e.html).
At the moment I'm in contact with organizations such as the Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles (CARP) and Survivors Against Forced Exit (SAFE) to tackle this issue & get the cause for this trip going. Both organizations have Unificationist ties, are quite knowledgeable about deprogramming, and advocate strongly against it. Ideally I want to pull Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and/or another non-Unificationist organization into the fight against deprogramming. We're only one of many groups that deprogramming has affected. I think that if any consensus can be reached, it's that deprogramming is wrong, and it has to stop!
Please continue to share the blog with family & friends! It's less than 3 weeks before I depart & I want to do this as safely as possible! I'm going to do this trip no matter what and any support is much appreciated!
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