was a

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

councilwoman who committed suicide following allegations of petty theft. The circumstances of her death were initially thought to have been "mysterious." Asaki was notable in Tokyo for making comments critical of

Soka Gakkai is a Japanese new religions, Japanese new religion led by Minoru Harada since December 2023 based on the teachings of the 13th-century Buddhist priest Nichiren. It claims the largest membership among Nichiren Buddhism, Nichiren Buddhist group ...

Scandal and death

As a councilwoman, Asaki repeatedly questioned why city garbage collection contracts went exclusively to Soka Gakkai-affiliated companies. She received death threats after raising the issue. In July 1995, she was accused of stealing a T-shirt from a clothing store. Asaki was never actually convicted of shoplifting, but Soka Gakkai claims that she was guilty, explaining, "In recent years, shoplifting by housewives has become a social issue." She offered a restaurant receipt as an alibi, but police discovered that it was forged. Several newsweeklies reported that the clothing store proprietor was a member of Soka Gakkai who could have invented the shoplifting charge. All of the newsweeklies were later sued for

defamation Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...

for their reporting. On September 1, 1995, Asaki fell to her death from a sixth-story apartment building next to

Higashi-Murayama Station is a junction passenger railway station located in the city of Higashimurayama, Tokyo, Japan, operated by the private railway operator Seibu Railway. Lines Higashi-Murayama Station is served by the Seibu Shinjuku Line, the Seibu Kokubunji Li ...

. Police ruled the death a suicide. She was 51.

Conspiracy theory and lawsuits

On September 23, 1995, Asaki's widower and surviving daughter, as well as her coworker in the Tokyo city council, all made statements to the press to the effect that they believed Soka Gakkai was involved in Asaki's death. Their statements were reported by ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' and several Japanese newsweeklies. Soka Gakkai's president compared the bereaved family to

Aum Shinrikyo , better known by their former name , is a Japanese new religions, Japanese new religious movement and doomsday cult founded by Shoko Asahara in 1987. It carried out the deadly Tokyo subway sarin attack in 1995 and was found to have been respo ...

, a religious cult famous for dropping poison gas into the Tokyo subway system. The Gakkai sued Asaki's family and the newsweeklies that reported their allegations, and in 2001, courts awarded the Gakkai 2 million yen. In 2008 and 2009, Asaki's coworker Hozumi Yano won two defamation suits brought by Soka Gakkai for expressing his opinion that she was murdered. The Gakkai continues to claim that it has "prevailed in every defamation case in which Asaki's death was at issue."The Asaki Case Resurfaces
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Akiyo, Asaki Suicides by jumping in Japan 1944 births 1995 deaths 1995 suicides Critics of Sōka Gakkai