Crossover: Becoming Japan’s Prime Minister? Chapter 251 252: Decisive

"How did things go?"

In a Japanese-style house in Tokyo, an old man knelt before a low table, looked at the bowing and respectful Aizawa Satoshi in front of him, and asked.

"It may not have gone smoothly, Nagasawa-sama."

"Oh? How did it not go smoothly?"

The old man put down the cup in his hand, looked at Aizawa Satoshi with sharp eyes, and asked.

He was the overall person in charge of the Unification Church in Japan, responsible for all matters related to the Unification Church in Japan.

Aizawa Satoshi did not dare neglect anything and reported in detail everything that had been said in Toru's Western-style house.

He said, "Nagasawa-sama, Fujiwara Toru is very resistant to us and has no intention of working with our Unification Church. I can feel his dislike for us."

The old man did not care. He rely chuckled and said, "From a politician's perspective, he is too young, just a fledgling child."

"Young people are always full of vigor and always have their own ideas. They are like newborn calves that are not afraid of tigers, fearless, confident in their own abilities, and unconcerned with the rules people have followed for a long ti."

"Young people always think they can break all common sense and conventions, and think they are different. However, history has proven that in the end they cannot accomplish anything. Only when they grow older and hit walls everywhere do young people truly grow up and mature."

Seeing that the old man was not angry over his failure, Aizawa Satoshi finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Then, Nagasawa-sama, what should I do? Should I continue to approach Fujiwara Toru and persuade him to work with us?" Aizawa Satoshi quickly asked.

"The more outstanding young people are, the more self-centered they are. It is useless for you to go to him. You cannot persuade him, and in the end it will only make him more annoyed."

The old man spoke lightly.

"Please guide , Nagasawa-sama." Aizawa Satoshi lowered his head and said respectfully.

"It's very simple. Stop him when he runs for district mayor. He boasts about his appeal and thinks he can easily win the position of district mayor with the support of the Fujiwara family and the Ōoka family."

"Then let him have a taste of failure and let him understand how politics in Japan really works."

"Smart young people will definitely change their thinking and ideas after suffering a setback, and understand the benefits of working with us."

"If he is still stubborn, then continue making him fail and let him understand that without working with us, he cannot do anything."

The old man said slowly, "…The Reverend is currently in Arica. He thinks highly of this young man, Toru."

"The Reverend said that if things are handled well, Fujiwara Toru will be the most important figure in the future of Japanese politics. As long as he can be brought into our fold, we can go even further in Japan and gain even more benefits."

"So many pri ministers have worked with us, and so many Diet mbers have worked with us. How much trouble can one Fujiwara Toru cause?"

"Under this overall trend, Fujiwara Toru has no choice."

Aizawa Satoshi said in surprise, "I didn't expect even the Reverend to be paying attention to matters in Japan."

The Unification Church's base was in South Korea, because it was a very suitable environnt for cultivating religion, and most South Korean officials worked with the Unification Church or similar religious organizations.

In addition, back when Nixon was President of Arica, the first Reverend of the Unification Church had already seen the upper limit of the denomination's developnt, which was Arica.

Only when the Unification Church also had a large number of followers and believers in Arica, and thereby influenced Arican politics, could the Unification Church reach its peak.

So at that ti, the Unification Church went to Arica to develop and supported Nixon.

It had to be said that the first Reverend had good foresight. The Unification Church had been cultivating itself in Arica for nearly fifty years.

As for the results, perhaps there had been so culture shock. Compared with its influence in South Korea and Japan, the Unification Church's developnt in Arica had been sowhat slow, perhaps because there were too many similar organizations and groups in Arica and the competition was too fierce.

Especially in Arica, the largest similar denomination was actually the Squid Church. Many Aricans chose to convert in order to gain the support of the Squid conglorate or marry into the Squid family.

The daughter of a candidate for Arican president was one of them.

"The denomination's progress in Arica cannot be stopped, but South Korea alone is not enough for us to rest easy. Only by bringing all of Japan into the denomination's sphere of influence can we have more energy to preach in Arica."

"The Reverend said that the most important person in Japan is Toru. He has sufficient appeal, the Fujiwara family's background, and he himself is smart enough. That is why I entrusted you with the task of contacting Toru. You must not let down my trust."

The old man's tone was sowhat stern as he lectured Aizawa Satoshi.

Aizawa Satoshi quickly said, "I definitely will not let down the Reverend's and your guidance."

The old man nodded in satisfaction. "Good, go and prepare. Block Fujiwara Toru's election and let him know how to make the right choice."

"He is still young, and he can afford to experience failure. It will be fine for him to run again in a few years."

...

"Who was that person?"

After Aizawa Satoshi left and Haibara returned to the living room, she saw that Toru was deep in thought and softly asked.

Toru ca back to his senses and smiled. "A bunch of rats crossing the street. You don't need to worry. Compared to the Organization you were once in, these rats are much easier to deal with."

"However, rats have their own trouble too, which is that there are too many of them. If you're not careful, it can easily turn into a rat infestation."

A trace of coldness flashed through Toru's eyes.

He stood up and said, "Haibara, I need to make a call ho."

With that, Toru walked back to his bedroom, took out a laptop, and made a video call.

In the video, the old master of the Fujiwara family was sitting at the entrance basking in the sun. Seeing that Toru had actually video-called him, the old master chuckled and said, "Toru, what made you think of contacting this old man? Did you run into trouble?"

Toru asked, "How much do you know about the Unification Church?"

The old master sat up straight, his expression turning serious. "They really ca to find you."

"You knew they would co to find ?"

"No, I was only guessing. Before, when you were at Tokyo University and Shuchi'in Academy, you ntioned that you wanted to enter politics or even beco pri minister in the future, but at most those could be taken as jokes."

The old master said, "…But you said the sa thing in Chiba, at the competition venue, in front of so many people. Everyone knows you weren't joking. You genuinely intend to enter politics."

"Toru, you are outstanding and you want to enter politics, so the Unification Church would definitely co looking for you. It's just that I didn't expect them to co so early. After all, you are still too young."

Toru asked in a low voice, "Does the Fujiwara family cooperate with the Unification Church?"

"There is so cooperation."

Toru was startled. He had not expected the Fujiwara family to actually have dealings with the Unification Church. Then perhaps it would be better for him to cooperate with them too?

The old master sighed softly and said, "The existence of the Unification Church has beco too big to fail. Not only our Fujiwara family, but even the Ōoka family has cooperation with the Unification Church."

"All the major kazoku throughout Japan have more or less had contact with them. It's just that so cooperate more deeply, while others cooperate more superficially."

"For old political families like our Fujiwara family or the Ōoka family, the relationship with the Unification Church is relatively shallow. If you want to gain the Unification Church's support, you must pay a sufficient price, and we old political families are unwilling to pay too high a price."

Toru asked doubtfully, "Is the Unification Church really that powerful?"

If the Unification Church was really that powerful, Toru actually would not mind cooperating. In any case, a cult causing trouble in Japan had nothing to do with him.

"It's not a matter of whether they're powerful. Toru, it seems you dislike the Unification Church very much."

"Because I don't trust them. Any talk of cooperation is nonsense. I'm not an idiot. I can tell they're trying to get leverage over and then control ."

Toru spoke honestly.

The old master smiled and said, "This is also why we old families are wary of the Unification Church. So-called cooperation is a joke. What they want is simply too much."

"We are wary of the Unification Church, but among the many politicians in Japan, many are far more willing to work with them."

"Otherwise, a forr pri minister was assassinated and died, and it was related to the Unification Church, so why did the matter simply fade away without anyone pursuing it, and why did not a single official ntion it? Because the Unification Church is involved in too many things."

Toru sat up straight and humbly asked for guidance. "Please explain it more clearly, Grandpa."

The old master considered his words and said, "This is actually the trouble brought by voter politics. Voters seem democratic, but democracy itself has never truly existed."

"Political participation in Japan is actually not high. During elections, only a small portion of Japanese people actually go to vote. Most people are too lazy to vote, or they vote with their feet."

"You and I both understand that so-called elections are actually completely unrelated to ordinary people. For example, if you want to run for district mayor, are all the people running against you commoners?"

"Of course not. They are actually, like you, representatives of other political families, and they themselves are part of our shared community of interests. No matter how the voters choose, in the end they elect one of us."

After pausing, the old master continued, "…And it is precisely because of this voter politics, and because Japanese people vote with their feet, that the Unification Church has been given the soil to grow and develop, allowing them to intervene in politics."

"Religion's brainwashing of its followers is very powerful. I do not know the exact number of people in the entire Unification Church in Japan, but there are at least nearly a million."

"As long as the Reverend of the Unification Church says a word, those nearly one million people will all vote for one person, and those million people also have all kinds of relatives and friends."

"Under their influence, their relatives and friends will also vote for that one person. They do not care about their voting rights anyway. Voting for anyone is all the sa to them."

"In that situation, even if there is a huge gap between you and your opponent, you might still be overtaken. And if the race is close, you will definitely lose."

"It is precisely because of this that many politicians work with the Unification Church, just to get their votes."

"At the sa ti, those who lack sufficient political resources, in order to contend with old political families like us, will also borrow outside forces, naly the power of the Unification Church, to compete with us."

The old master's words also carried an indescribable helplessness. "…That old man from the Omikado family was shot in the chest and died. The Omikado family is also an old political family, so why did they not even make a sound about the Unification Church?"

"That's because the Unification Church promised them that it would fully help other mbers of the Omikado family run for positions such as councilor. With that kind of exchange of interests, they naturally would not beco hostile to the Unification Church."

"Toru, this is politics. Everything is decided by interests!"

Toru remained silent.

He understood.

This damned thing was a problem with Japan's system.

Toru thought further. Arica and England also had similar systemic problems.

Why did Arica's Democratic Party strongly support illegal immigrants? It was to get the votes of those illegal immigrants, playing the ga of ghosts crossing the border.

This was actually quite similar in effect to the Unification Church.

Perhaps only so decisive and ruthless thods could be used.

(To be continued.)

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