TOKYO (RNS/ENI) A Christian man has won a lawsuit in Japan’s highest court against a local mayor who had allowed the free use of local government land for a Shinto shrine.
In its Jan. 20 decision, the Supreme Court said the no-cost land grant to the Sorachibuto Shinto Shrine by the city of Sunagawa, on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido, “clearly violates clauses on the separation of religion and politics” under the country’s constitution.
The court cited article 89 of Japan’s constitution, which says, “No public money or other property shall be expended or appropriated for the use, benefit, or maintenance of any religious institution or association.”
Sakae Taniuchi, a senior member of the Church of Christ in Japan, and the other plaintiff, Masayoshi Takahashi, had also charged that Mayor Katsutoshi Kikuya of Sunagawa had improperly provided free land to another Shinto shrine. The court ruled that shrine could stay.
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