The Seven Damning Sins of Soka Gakkai-Komeito

The Sin of Excessive and Meaningless Prosperity in "Kyogyo"

The sixth sin, is what we may call the sin of being too prosperous in "Kyogyo" (literally speaking~ empty business or empty enterprise business or enterprise which is poor or empty in contents).  Soka Gakkai, as we have already seen is an "Empty Enterprise Corporation" with very little content. We may liken it to a puppet, whose only feature is being a giant organization.  Such an organization as this has never existed before, not even one which has been created by the power of the State. The Imperial Army, or the Women's National Defense Society before the Pacific War, or even the bureaucracy of the present day, looks shabby along side Soka Gakkai.  Its potential financial power is indeed enormous. When they collected funds for the purpose of constructing the Grand Main Temple, 35.5  billion yen (almost $100,000,000) was raised immediately, and this astonished the world.  It is presumed that the Liberal Democratic Party during the General Elections of 1967 received about 2 billion in funds from financial circles, and at most 4 billion, even if the funds which leaders of the party factions gathered
were included.  The interest alone on 35 billion yen is almost 2 billion (more than $5,500,000).  Financially it is a most affluent organization.
It is said that the circulation of Seikyo Shimbun, the daily of Soka Gakkai, is 3.5 million, which places it next to The Asahi, The Alainichi and The Yorniuri, Japan's three largest dailies.  In addition they publish the religious theoretical monthly "Dai Byaku Renge" (Great White Lotus Blossom), the weekly "Seikyo Gurafa" (Seikyo Graphic), the bulletin of Komeito "Komei", the monthly "Dai San Bunmei" (The Third Civilization), the organ of Komeito "Komei Shimbun" (Komei News), the monthly "Ushio", the weekly "Shukan Genron" (Weekly Speech), the magazine for children "Kibo, No Tomo," (Friend of Hope), etc.  Their publication output is enormous. Ushio, a monthly journal of opinion, is said to have a circulation of 400,000, which is just below the circulation of the popular magazine "Bungei Shunju", in the monthly magazine field. The Democratic Concert Association (Minshu Ongaka Kyokai- its abbreviation is Min' on), which plays a large role in the cultural activity of Soka Gakkai, is becoming a threat to "The Worker's Concert Council" (Kinrosha Ongaka Kyogikai, its abbreviation Roon) which is a similar organization supported by the labor unions. "Min'on" has the power to invite some of the world's most famous artists and ballet dancers and promote them in concerts abroad as well as in Japan.
Soka Gakkai has branches in more than 70 countries, where they carry on mission work, but no political activity.
Next, as to the financing of their mammoth organization, their income for the most part comes from two sources, from contributions paid by Finance Department members and from the sales of publications.  According to President Ikeda, who says that Soka Gakkai does not force anyone to pay membership dues, a finance department member is one who has been a believer for more than 10 years and is affluent (enough to afford the contributions) and who has the desire to contribute.  It be said that all offerings are strictly voluntary. Membership in the Finance Department requires that a person be able to afford the contributions, and is confined to those who are deeply religious.  The contributions they make four times each year are Y4,000 at the lowest ($ 11.10). I cannot verify this, but it is said that the maintenance expenses come to somewhere between 1.6 billion and 2 billion yen per year.  This is a major source of finances.  Besides this, it is said that the income from Seikyo Shimbun and other publications amounts to another 1 biflion per year. The major sources of income are confined to these, so they are simple.
As President Ikeda declares, they do not collect membership dues from the rank and file of members.  The salary of their office workers is low and the number is small, and the amount of money paid for manuscripts of Soka Gakkai members is almost nothing, therefore their overall epenses are very modest.  These are the current expenses.
In the case of finances for construction of Kaikans (Communtity centers), and other special expenses, the President and the wealthy members contribute and raise funds.  At any rate, its finances are ample and it is the best customer of banks.
Komeito is financially a separate account.  Their major source of income is the party organ, Komei Shimbun, and other publications.  In addition, members who hold elective office, from the highest to the lowest, must contribute 3 %-20% of their salary to the party.  The party reported an income of Y885,070,000 for the first six months of 1968, and expenditures of Y895,560,000.  The expenditures for the most part, went for purchase of paper, printing, and paying taxes.  Salaries, and bonuses of its employees are rather small.  Komeito is managed and operated at low cost.  Party membership fees are not collected as a general rule.
During elections, candidates of all parties spend money like water, and one new conservative candidate running as an independent spent, according to my calculation, more than Y1OO,000,000 (about $278,000).  A Komeito candidate does not spend such amounts in political campaigns.  Their major expenditures are those used in advertisement and the cost of paper and printing in advertisment. Rather than say they spend as much money for publicity as the other parties, it is more correct to say they are not beaten in the contents and quantity of publicity. In addition, under their system, every member works in the elections according to his ability. Members who have offices offer them without charge as campaign headquarters, those who have cars offer their cars without fee, and services of canvassers are all free, so it is only natural that they spend very little money in elections.  In the case of Komeito, no candidate spent more than Y500,000.
However if the facilities, goods, and labor were calculated at a fair price, the amount spent would be far in excess of Y1OO,000,000.  Roughly speaking, if 5,000 people work in a campaign for a candidate for 20 days, this means a total of 100,000 man days and if we estimate the expense for traffic, food, wages at a minimum of Y1,000, the total will be Y1OO,- 000,000.  We can therefore say that Komeito actually spends more money than any other party.  With the present-day high cost of labor, this kind of "human wave tactics" used by Komeito is becoming a big problem for them.  Diet members who have been elected by such methods are causing big problems and it is only natural that they are referred to as "Gorioshi Giin" (Force-My~ Way Dietman).