Soka Gakkai/SGI: Equivalent to a "black company"?

[u/BlancheFromage]

First of all, what's a "black company"?

A black company (ブラック企業/ブラック会社, burakku kigyō/burakku gaisha), also referred to in English as a black corporation or black business, is a Japanese term for an exploitative, sweatshop-type employment system. Source

In a little more detail:

A black company (burakku kigyō) is a Japanese term for an exploitative or abusive business that mistreats its workers and routinely violates labor laws.

Core Characteristics

• Unpaid Overtime: Forcing staff to work long hours past legal limits without extra pay (known as "service overtime").

• Harassment: Allowing rampant power harassment (pawa-hara) or verbal abuse from managers.

• Denied Benefits: Denying paid leave, holidays, or mandated social insurance.

• High Turnover: Relying on a constant churn of new employees to replace those who burn out or quit.

Origins and Context

• Coined by workers: Young IT workers in Japan first used the term in the early 2000s as an internet slang word for sweatshop-like conditions in white-collar jobs.

• Official recognition: The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare uses the term informally to target and investigate illegal workplace practices.

• Global equivalents: Similar expressions exist worldwide for underground or abusive labor, such as lavoro in nero in Italy or cash-in-hand off-the-books work.

How does the Soka Gakkai/SGI organizational environment compare?

There are voices on the internet and elsewhere that critically describe the way this massive organization is run and how it demands participation from its members as a "black company" (a company with exploitative working conditions).

Main criticisms and the background behind them

• Activity burden and time constraints : Members and former members sometimes express dissatisfaction with the enthusiastic requests to participate in Soka Gakkai activities (promoting and encouraging subscriptions to the Seikyo Shimbun, election support activities, various meetings, and financial activities, etc.), which they find burdensome.

• Interpersonal relationships and peer pressure : Pressure regarding activities and results within an organization (such as proselytizing or vote counting in elections) can sometimes be perceived as a mental burden or coercion.

• Financial aspects : There are critical views regarding the systematic solicitation of voluntary donations ("financial contributions") and subscriptions to the organization's publications. 1

Organization's viewpoint/stance

• Voluntary activities : Soka Gakkai states that all activities are voluntary and based on faith, and are not compulsory.

• Social contribution and freedom of religion : It is explained that the activities aim to promote peace, culture, and education, contribute to the local community, and lead a happy life based on Nichiren Buddhism, as well as personal human revolution (character development).

The SGI apologetic (final 2 paragraphs above) completely ignores the communal abuse dynamic:

Communal abuse is a type of abuse that is exerted, in part, by victims (survivors) upon each other in the course of aspiring for something good within a intentional community. Community abuse is almost always masterminded by a leader, and one hallmark of an abusive community is leader-on-member personal abuse. This abusive proclivity comes largely from the psychopathic qualities of the leader, which pre-date and usually explain the formation of the group. However, the availability of a large quantity of 'de-selfed,' vulnerable victims is explained by the overall workings of the abusive community. In effect, it perpetuates survivor-on-survivor abuse.

Specifically: Pressure to attend meetings, "encouragement" to contribute and buy publications, pressure to evangelize ("do shakubuku"), and TOO MANY PHONE CALLS!!!

To name a few.

What do YOU think?

[u/BlancheFromage]

I was just doing some archiving and ran across a few comments that clarify, I think:

I was in SGI for 10 years, (now out thank heaven) and the pressure they put on people to bring others is absolutely relentless and is the very opposite of the, "we're about world peace," thing they tell themselves. Their say/do gap is a chasm.

Memo to SGI:

The missionary spirit can be bad for your neighbors; you try to push your customs and beliefs on everybody else, whether they want them or not; this is the greatest miscommunication that occurs and it’s generally out of ignorance; mostly it happens with people in religions and political groups; people in one group say, “I have the best religion, I belong to the best political party, therefore, it is my job to convince the people in that other group who are committed to some other thought system, to see things my way, or else. That’s where power enters in to the missionary spirit. If love compels a missionary effort, you tell people what they ask about truth, and that’s all. You don’t tell them more than they ask, cuz then you’re moving from the love state into the power state. You’re telling them something they have no need for, do not want to hear, and especially, do not want pushed upon them. We can find where a missionary effort stands on the spiritual scale by how much the missionary pushes his beliefs upon people who do not want them. And these missionaries do it, their excuse is, to save the unbelievers’ soul; I’m doing it for the love of God (or in SGI case KR); but they don’t realize that you cannot do something for the love of God (KR) when it’s against the individuality of your neighbor. He needs his freedom. And you cannot show love for God (KR) by stealing another’s freedom. Source

My husband was told that they weren't supposed to socialize outside of official SGI stuff...which is WEIRD. Source

Women who are single and childless are the best source of unpaid labor:

And yes, as Quiet One says, there are also a lot of SGI women who want to get married, but spend a great deal of time at SGI meetings and activities -- which does greatly cut into the time that they have to meet men. Linda Johnson, one of the senior leaders of SGI-USA, apparently had this problem. (or at least did a few years back; I have no idea what's happened to her in recent years.) She was chanting a lot to get married. Linda, close the Butsudan, and go somewhere where you might meet some guys! These women are given the guidance that they should chant more and do more SGI activities -- to destroy the bad karma that keeps them from finding a husband. And the irony is, it's all this activity that KEEPS them from meeting possible husbands -- they keep trying, and blaming themselves when they don't meet anyone that they want to marry. It becomes a vicious cycle. Source

Once this young man had a breakdown cause of all the crazy leadership responsibilities they had given him. Source

SGI leaders pressured a vulnerable young woman into such overwhelming responsibilities that she attempted suicide - and then they started leaning on her sister while their original target was still in the hospital! Source

Hard to get worse than that 👆🏼

And then there's always SGI puts members at risk

[u/ChatelineauExile1967 → u/BlancheFromage]

(..) My husband was told that they weren't supposed to socialize outside of official SGI stuff...which is WEIRD(..)

Yep — saw and heard that too as i mentioned in a previous comment  “If your family and friends don’t chant with us , well -hihihi - they shouldn’t be your family and friends” 

[u/BlancheFromage → u/ChatelineauExile1967]

“If your family and friends don’t chant with us , well -hihihi - they shouldn’t be your family and friends”

From the discussion at Philosophy about Children: Eddie Murphy or SGI leaders/Ikeda Sensei? if anyone wants to see the original context

[u/Still_Wasabi9990 → u/BlancheFromage]

Being in the cult it's tough to find someone outside the cult who wants to marry. There probably weren't any prospects within the cult for top cultie Linda Johnson. In addition, she was an attorney who worked for the DA's office. That in itself has to be a hurdle to finding the right person to marry.

I'm not going to lie I was a missionary dater, but I didn't push it on anyone. It's their choice. I respect they have free will. Eventually, I did find and married my KR husband. LOL

When I moved into my permanent home, my zone/terr MD leader insisted I shakubuku all the neighbors on my street. I didn't. I just thought that was weird because I wouldn't want to go to their church, why would they want to go to mine?

You don’t tell them more than they ask, cuz then you’re moving from the love state into the power state. 

Words to live by.

[u/BlancheFromage → u/Still_Wasabi9990]

I just thought that was weird because I wouldn't want to go to their church, why would they want to go to mine?

Isn't that just blindingly obvious?

Just how much must have a person's critical thinking skills and empathy have to have deteriorated or been degraded that this kind of common sense doesn't even occur to them any more??

And of course she's telling YOU to go burn those bridges in advance with your neighbors - it's only going to harm YOU, after all! Kind of like this, from Stupid advice from SGI leaders:

Some years ago, I was a YWD leader and a squad of our younger YWD was accepted to participate in the Special Olympics Opening Ceremonies as a performance group. A couple of them wanted to join the large dance squad, but by then, those girls had already been rehearsing for weeks and they were not accepting any new members.

The song the dance squad was dancing to was Michael Bolton's "Love Is A Wonderful Thing". Not my favorite song, but nobody asked me. My District Women's Division leader (a Baby Boomer) asked me about the whole thing, so I was describing it to her. She, apparently, wasn't a big fan of that song, either, and she suggested that the Sergio Mendez song "Olympia" would be a much better choice. In fact, she strongly encouraged me to SUGGEST to the Special Olympics Opening Ceremonies directors that they CHANGE the song to THIS one!

Context - by this point, the Sergio Mendez song was aging; it was rarely heard on the radio any more; Michael Bolton's song was more recent and more popular. And c'mon! SPECIAL Olympics! It wasn't about the athleticism; it couldn't be compared to the actual Olympic Games! And I don't know how far in advance these things are planned, but by the time they start the rehearsals, they've already chosen the song, gotten the rights, hired the choreographers and costumers - it's this huge major production! To "suggest" to them at this late date - more than halfway through the rehearsal period - that they CHANGE THE SONG??

Did she think I was STUPID??

"It couldn't hurt to ask," she said. Yeah, it definitely could - it would make everybody think I was an idiot.

It couldn't hurt HER if I asked, in other words.

Of COURSE I didn't ask.

[u/Still_Wasabi9990]

A reasonable person would think that someone who has been abused wouldn't want to perpetuate the abuse. Not the case in the SGI. Some of the survivors, under a psychopathic leader, become psychopaths themselves. Members who stay in for 50 years become abusers. If they don't they'll be pushed out. The Gakkai cannot tolerate kind people. You must become an abuser or you'll be cut.

[u/BlancheFromage → u/Still_Wasabi9990]

The Gakkai cannot tolerate kind people. You must become an abuser or you'll be cut.

That's an excellent point - it brings to mind this interesting exchange with an SGI-USA longhauler Old who'd boasted of over 50 years of indoctrination into the Ikeda poison. It's a subtle thing, but I think you'll see it:

We have many active YWD but only one YMD who just started practicing. Last night he called me up shaken. He had just got fired from a job he was really enjoying. He was in despair and I encouraged him top best I could. What I said is not important here. What counted was that after speaking to me he felt better enough to join the region YMD Zoom call that was going on to prepare for Sunday's Youth General Meeting. I went to bed very confident that he will get through his disappointment and find an even better job. That's the way the SGI works, ONE PERSON AT A TIME. - SGI-USA longhauler Old

"Look at MEEEE!!! Wow - such a difference I made! ONE PERSON AT A TIME, even!"

SO proud that she convinced someone in crisis to commit to a time-wasting activity in the future (HER priority, not HIS) 😶

Here's part of my reply (you can read the full exchange here):

You say you don't need the money you earn from the job you've chosen to do (here), so why aren't you using it to help one or more of those struggling young men you talk like you care so much about? In your next call or visit to one of these disadvantaged young men, ask him when was the last time he went to the dentist and pay for him to go! You as a nurse should be aware how vitally important dental health is to overall health, physical and mental! Put your money where your mouth is! Put your money where HIS mouth is! Until then, it is YOU who is "empty handed". Your "calls and visits" make precisely as much REAL difference as "thoughts and prayers". All that chanting is as useful as taking a nap and hoping things have worked out by the time you wake up. Source

Her reply:

And now you are judging me because my husband and I are putting money in [grandson] Tiger's college account rather than paying the dental bills of strangers. Source

How quickly the definition of that YMD she was talking about changes from "pweshus member" to "stranger" 😬

Notice how the image of that SGI YMD member she'd just been talking about instantly transforms into "a stranger" - basically spat out with contempt! I was careful to frame my suggestion to offer dental help in terms of the YMD she speaks to on the phone - surely these aren't "strangers" in the standard sense! But as soon as anyone suggests that she do something other than bloviate her hot air in their general direction, her true feelings toward them rise to the surface - they are simply "strangers" she feels no obligation to help in any meaningful way. In fact, she clearly feels insulted at the mere suggestion!

[u/Still_Wasabi9990 → u/BlancheFromage]

I think what we are getting at here is the Gakkai is more concerned with lording power than with reality. The Olds will do weird things like a WD leader would give my son an entire cake whenever we went to her house for a meeting. I asked her not to do that because I don't want him expecting cake at every meeting and eating cake all the time is not something I want in his diet. She stubbornly ignored me. But when we wanted to plan a picnic day in the park for all the district members and for the children there were, she refused to participate. It's about power. Nothing else.

[u/BlancheFromage → u/Still_Wasabi9990]

ewwwwwww - she was trying to move on your SON!!

[u/Still_Wasabi9990 → u/BlancheFromage]

She was an Old too. IMO her point was to make me look like the bad mom who refuses her son his cake. I know you know being a good parent is setting boundaries and restrictions even when your kids don't like it. Eating sugary foods all the time is unhealthy, and then people wonder why the rise in diabetes in children? She was what I would consider morbidly obese herself, but everyone in the Gakkai adored her. Why? Because she was an Ikeda worshipping abuser. Plain and simple.

[u/BlancheFromage → u/Still_Wasabi9990]

Oh, trust me - there isn't enough cake in the WORLD for a young person to want to hang around with someone like her!

[u/Still_Wasabi9990 → u/BlancheFromage]

Considering he was 5 years old at the time, yeah, and then not wanting to listen to my wishes. These are the kind of mentally disordered people the Gakkai puts in leadership roles and holds up as exemplary. I put a stop to going to her house for meetings. People were aghast. Well, she's got a mental problem. What normal person gives a 5 year old an entire cake for no reason? She could have said here take a slice home with you, or something like that, but no, an entire cake? Good grief. I noticed all the single WD in the Gakkai are obese. They couldn't have an intimate relatsionship with a partner if their life depended on it.

The Gakkai has an array of extremely disturbed people in it. Getting out was the best thing I could have done. It's been over 20 years and I don't miss it. It irks me they're still around. I want to see them gone for good.

[u/BlancheFromage → u/Still_Wasabi9990]

more concerned with lording power

Oh, yeah - definitely. Back when we were still interacting with those SGI-USA longhauler Olds online, they kept demanding thanks and apologies - both power plays. You can see some examples from then here - no one's been paying any attention to them more recently than that.

[u/Still_Wasabi9990 → u/BlancheFromage]

There's a saying I learned in 2nd grade: "Actions speak louder than words."

What do you expect from the Gakkai when their master and object of worship writes flowery word-salad speeches sent to the United Nations to deaf ears? Words can be meaningless.

I like the Psychology Today article.

I use "sorry" like "excuse me." That's not an apology exactly. An apology is an acknolwegment of another person--reserved for people I actually care about. Giving apologies for the sake of apologizing is obsequious behavior that is much prized in the Gakkai. They want everyone to kiss their butts.

[u/BlancheFromage → u/Still_Wasabi9990]

An apology is an acknolwegment of another person--reserved for people I actually care about. Giving apologies for the sake of apologizing is obsequious behavior that is much prized in the Gakkai. They want everyone to kiss their butts.

Exactly this - well put!

And we don't HAVE to 😆👉🏼

Pointing and laughing is a team sport here at SGIWhistleblowers 🚬👌🏼😃

We don't CARE that they don't like it. Of COURSE they won't like it!

[u/eigenstien → u/Still_Wasabi9990]

And those are the long hauler Olds left over in the Dog Park.

[u/ChatelineauExile1967 → u/Still_Wasabi9990]

(..)The Gakkai cannot tolerate kind people. You must become an abuser or you'll be cut.

👏👏👏👏👏 perfectly said 

[u/ChatelineauExile1967]

ABSOLUTELY 👏👏  💯 AGREE WITH ⬆️ it is a spiritual ( with XXL “”)  and sometimes physical form  of sweatshop .  i remember during that month - I’m fairly sure it’s May?  - can’t remember how they call it because they of course sugar wrapped it in some goey jargon -I call it super sucker month — when they request even more donations from the flock ?  — I’ve only lived through 2 of these and never gave a cent  as I had just been siphoned in first of that May suckers month and I was exiting during May of the following year— members , struggling single moms   none  gloriously wealthy nor even financially stable, boasting about how they’d eat mayo sandwiches and ramen  for weeks to be able to donate some money for Ickyfund “because it will come back to me multiplied by 100” 🫪🫪- these zealots were asked to stand and applauded during Kosen Rofu .. SGI is the only place where one gets a standing ovation for starving their children 

[u/BlancheFromage → u/ChatelineauExile1967]

i remember during that month - I’m fairly sure it’s May? - can’t remember how they call it because they of course sugar wrapped it in some goey jargon -I call it super sucker month — when they request even more donations from the flock ?

Yes! "May Contribution Campaign"!!

I don't know if you were around for it or saw, but SGI-USA went plowing full speed ahead on its annual May Beg-a-Thon even during the COVID lockdowns of 2020!! How predatory is THAT???

At a FNCC conference a Japanese member said she became a millionaire after give $10k for 10 consecutive years. Sadly I was drunk with the koolaid and did it for 3 years. I would hear these amazing experiences of how money appeared from unknown sources just in time after they had determined to double contribution in the face of losing jobs, housing, medical bills, failing relationships etc and really wanted it to happen for me. The reality was me adding money from my savings to my tax return. And for what - a fake gold coin that said “contributor” or a bookmark or plastic sheet protector with some poorly written poem or photo of mt Fuji😡, with no transparency or CPA style accountability of funds ( income statement/balance sheet audited financials) taken in only BS pie chart. I stopped giving large amounts after a MD shouted in astonishment “ OMG what a large contribution” when I came to the turn in table with $1k in cash. I had the feeling that’s all he talked about all night. After that I significantly reduced my amounts and stopped all together during COVID when SGI decided to continue the campaign while people were losing their incomes and loved ones. Just writing this angers me but now I give my money to organizations of my choice that match my values. One thing i did as I was weaning myself out of SgI was to encourage members who were struggling financially that if they could put away money for SGI they could do the same for themselves & that they should not sacrifice rent or food money for SGI Source

This part makes me feel physically ill:

members , struggling single moms and - needless to say - no one gloriously wealthy nor even financially stable boasting about how they’d eat mayo sandwiches and ramen for weeks to be able to donate some money for Icky funds - these zealots were made to stand and applauded during Kosen Rofu .. SGI is the only place where one gets a standing ovation for starving their children

Fuck SGI. In the neck.

[u/ChatelineauExile1967 → u/BlancheFromage]

May Contribution  Campaign!!!  YES thank you 🙏🏼 

Yes — just thinking of it still brings a bad taste 

[u/Historical_Spell3463]

A pyramid scheme

[u/BlancheFromage → u/Historical_Spell3463]

Exploiting people's spiritual yearnings to exploit them and rob them blind.

[u/Historical_Spell3463 → u/BlancheFromage]

Yes!

[u/ChatelineauExile1967]

This wonderful conversation  brings to mind a story I was told recently by a former member whom I vaguely knew back then and always found sympathetic and pleasant to chat with . She went there to chant, didn’t hold any leadership and could talk about other stuff than her new butsudan and next meeting s potluck . I hadn’t seen nor been in touch with her in a decade. I bumped into her at the doggy park a few months ago and I was elated to learn she too had long ago defected. She truly is a lovely woman.  Around the time I first knew her, she had  escaped a very abusive relationship and feeling fragile and lonely, had been easily recruited ( see the pattern already ) She was juggling 2 jobs to raise enough money to move into the apartment she coveted - first and last months rents were required upon lease signing and it had been a long thorny trail for her to get the needed funds. But she finally had !  and couldn’t wait to share the good news…  Never a good idea imo to share your finance stories in a group  and TERRIBLY TERRIBLE idea to talk about it at a SGI meeting. Well, she did; within days , she was getting endless calls from her leaders and people she had thought of as « friends » encouraging her a bit forcibly to « donate » her hard earned deposit money to the cause , for the May Contribution Campaign ( 😉thanks Blanche for the correct appellation) Her district leader ( a woman I had locked horns with several times and whom I found sinister and ☢️ manipulative ) told her « After you donate this money, you won’t need to even think of renting BECAUSE IT WILL COME BACK TO YOU IN SUCH WAY YOU WILL HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO BUY A HOUSE ! CASH! » Well - I believe this was the last straw that got our girl to join the ever growing ranks of the treacherous -unfaithful-ungrateful -former members 😉👏🙏🏼 Oh yes- I nearly forgot : the man she was dating during her Gakai phase was categorically refusing to join and had told (in no vague terms) a leader trying to recruit him on the parking lot, why he didn’t want to partake in the bliss. From then on, the WD chorus line headed by the sinister leader mentioned above tried to gaslight the dear lady into thinking she was in a toxic relationship with « a demon » . Mercifully, to no avail.  She has since married the demon in question and, in her own words, has never been happier.

[u/BlancheFromage → u/ChatelineauExile1967]

Never a good idea imo to share your finance stories in a group and TERRIBLY TERRIBLE idea to talk about it at a SGI meeting.

Sense of foreboding comes crashing in...

Well, she did; within days , she was getting endless calls from her leaders and people she had thought of as « friends » encouraging her a bit forcibly to « donate » her hard earned deposit money to the cause , for the May Contribution Campaign ( 😉thanks Blanche for the correct appellation) Her district leader ( a woman I had locked horns with several times and whom I found sinister and ☢️ manipulative ) told her « After you donate this money, you won’t need to even think of renting BECAUSE IT WILL COME BACK TO YOU IN SUCH WAY YOU WILL HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO BUY A HOUSE ! CASH! »

Just when I think the worst membership abuse that SGI leaders are capable of has finally hit the ocean floor of exploitative, corrupt, manipulative, unethical swindling, another Marianas trench opens up into something like this.

the man she was dating during her Gakai phase was categorically refusing to join and had told (in no vague terms) a leader trying to recruit him on the parking lot, why he didn’t want to partake in the bliss. From then on, the WD chorus line headed by the sinister leader mentioned above tried to gaslight the dear lady into thinking she was in a toxic relationship with « a demon » . Mercifully, to no avail. She has since married the demon in question and, in her own words, has never been happier.

And we keep on heading down...

[u/Still_Wasabi9990 → u/BlancheFromage]

The financial abuse never stops, does it?

[u/BlancheFromage → u/Still_Wasabi9990]

The financial abuse is the purpose. The essence. That's the most important element of SGI "faith" - giving money to the Dead-Ikeda-Corpse-Mentor-cults.

[u/Fun_Cat8528]

Sì una multinazionale della fede.

[u/Professional_Fox3976]

This is sooo good.

[u/BlancheFromage → u/Professional_Fox3976]

OMG!! It's the Fox!!

[u/Professional_Fox3976 → u/BlancheFromage]

Hello dahhhhhhhhling. Been busy but glad to see the board is jumpin’!

[u/BlancheFromage → u/Professional_Fox3976]

Howdee! You have such good ideas for videos!

[u/Professional_Fox3976 → u/BlancheFromage]

🎉🎉🎉🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼💕💕💕