AICHI - The sale of religious corporations that operate temples and shrines across Japan is drawing growing scrutiny from authorities, who fear the transactions could be used for tax evasion and money laundering, as brokers openly advertise properties and corporate status for tens or even hundreds of millions of yen.
"This is a private website," one listing said.
"New religious corporation, Sapporo, 60 million yen. Fine to leave it unattended after purchase," another read.
"Right to establish a new religious corporation, 15 million yen," said another listing.
The website displayed the names of temples and shrines from across Japan alongside transaction prices running into the tens of millions of yen. Some were in the Tokai region.
"Aichi Prefecture, Toyota City, 300 million yen," one listing said.
"Gifu Prefecture, Nakatsugawa City, with land and buildings, 200 million yen. A station will be built for the linear motor Shinkansen, turning the area into a tourist destination. Land prices may rise," another said.
The site listed about 150 religious corporations for sale, including temples, shrines and new religious organizations.
Religious corporations in Japan receive broad tax benefits. Income from donations and sales of amulets, as well as assets such as land and buildings, are generally tax-exempt, and corporations with annual income of up to 80 million yen are not required to file income and expenditure reports.
Sales targeting those benefits are now becoming a problem. A man who operates the site agreed to discuss the business.
"Some people want to sell because they have no successor and want to dispose of it for cash," said Takao Yamamoto, a religious corporation broker. "Another case is collateral for debt. Some temples were forced to sell the religious corporation because they could not repay debts."
Yamamoto, who says he works as a religious corporation broker in Osaka, said many buyers have aims unrelated to faith.
"Most people who come here are not thinking about practicing religion," Yamamoto said. "There are various advantages for buyers. Some want to use it for inheritance, and some want to use it for tax evasion or tax savings. I do ask what their purpose is. If they openly say 'tax evasion,' I cannot sell it."
If misused, a religious corporation could be used for tax evasion or money laundering, because income or money obtained through illegal acts can be placed into the corporation as donations, making the trail difficult to trace and potentially allowing it to become tax-exempt.
"I was told, 'You must not sell them' and 'You will be arrested,'" Yamamoto said. "But no matter where I look, there is no law saying you cannot sell one."
Yamamoto said all transactions are conducted in cash and that no receipts are issued.
"We lay out the cash, and after the buyer leaves, I split the money with the seller," he said.
He said Japanese buyers are not the only ones seeking religious corporations.
"Chinese buyers, for example, buy one for 60 million yen because it is cheap and ask, 'Can I bulldoze everything?'" Yamamoto said.
Yamamoto said he confirms with buyers that the purpose is religious faith and stresses the need to properly maintain buildings and appoint a chief priest.
Visits to facilities listed on the website showed no one present at one site. Another temple was also deserted, with overgrown vegetation and parts of its pillars visibly decayed.
"There has not been much coming and going recently," a nearby resident said. "After the bubble burst, visitors stopped coming."
At another temple, a person believed to be the chief priest was present. When told the temple was listed for sale online, the priest said, "Really? That is a problem. I did not put it up, and it has to be removed." Asked whether he had any knowledge of the listing, he said, "None." The priest denied that the temple had been put up for sale.
The national government has also begun treating the sale of religious corporations as a problem and has moved to investigate. Daihoji, a 550-year-old temple in Aisai, Aichi Prefecture, which is not connected to any sale, received a document in May.
"A questionnaire like this came from the Agency for Cultural Affairs," said Renge Haseo, chief priest of Daihoji.
The sender was the Agency for Cultural Affairs. The document was titled a questionnaire on the sale of religious corporations and asked whether recipients had heard of religious corporations being bought and sold, or whether they had been approached about a sale. The questionnaire is being sent randomly to religious corporations nationwide.
"There were about three times when people said they wanted to buy a temple I concurrently oversee," Haseo said. "I declined each time, but I have been approached by people who wanted to buy it."
The questionnaire went further.
"It said, 'Please tell us if you know of anything that appears to be improper use of corporate status,' 'Please write down anything you have actually seen' and 'We may conduct follow-up interviews later,'" Haseo said. "I was surprised that the government was going this far."
However, Haseo said that given the state of Buddhism in Japan, selling a temple cannot be rejected outright in every case.
"It is said that the number of temples is three times what it should be," Haseo said. "If they become difficult to maintain in the future, then integration or closure, even if not through sale, should naturally be possible."
The questionnaire also reached Yamamoto, the religious corporation broker.
"For the question, 'Have you seen signs or websites?' I wrote, 'No,'" Yamamoto said. "When it said, 'Please tell us if you have,' I thought, that means me."
Asked whether that was a blatant lie, Yamamoto replied, "It is a blatant lie. There is no problem even if I write a lie, because I will not be punished."
Yamamoto himself operates a religious corporation, but its principal object of worship is merely a printed sheet of paper attached to a wall.
Asked whether he feels guilty, Yamamoto said, "No. I only sell after they tell me what their purpose is."
An Agency for Cultural Affairs official told CBC Television that based on the questionnaire and interviews, the agency plans to conduct hearings with about 30 corporations whose responsible officials have changed frequently in the past.
"I think regulation of sales is impossible," Yamamoto said. "You cannot distinguish between religious corporations that are operating properly and those that are sloppy."
Religious corporations are being bought and sold, sometimes without those connected to them even knowing. Behind the transactions lies a large and opaque shadow market.
Source: CBC
