Hope of Israel Ministries (Church of God)

"To defeat the enemy psychologically is the superior strategy. To defeat
the enemy militarily is the inferior strategy" -- Sun Tzu

After the Meiji Restoration in 1868, the samurai who ushered in the new government
soon found his class betrayed. First the annual rice allowance for the samurai was drastically reduced from a thousand bushels to only four hundred after 1868. In August 1876, a samurai was further obliged to accept a final payment in bonds and cash equivalent to one hundred and fifty bushels -- and thereafter no more. On such a low allowance many samurai, could barely subsist. There was an outcry among the samurai, but to no avail.

Many who were physically strong were drafted into the army or navy, which were expanding under an national program during that time. Those who were highly intelligent found their way into the numerous bureaucratic institutions under formation. Other young, ambitious, and dissatisfied samurai were sent to Western cities to vigorously learn the latest science and technology which Japan had deprived herself of for the previous two hundred years. An espionage and an intelligence network was also established in Europe and in America. The frustrated samurai who were brilliant enough found their way into nationalist organizations such as the Black Ocean and Black Dragon Societies to provide espionage on the home front and neighboring countries.

The original inspiration for Japanese intelligence-gathering dates back over 2,000 years when Sun Tzu, the Chinese strategist, expounded his techniques of espionage. Sun Tzu's work, Ping Fa, or The Strategy of War, is a classic textbook that has been used by the Japanese down through the ages. It was as astonishingly applicable in ancient days as it is today. Many historians on Japan have attributed much of the success of Japanese intelligence during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5 as being the result of generations of study of the axioms laid down by Ping Fa. Right up to the time of the attack on the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor, Japanese tactics for acquiring intelligence and putting it to practical use had been borrowed from Ping Fa

Invariably, when Japan borrows an idea from another nation, she improves upon it. Thus sometimes the workings of her secret services have baffled her rivals.

Richard Deacon, a fascinating researcher and investigator into the intelligence network of various countries, including the British, Russian, Chinese and Israeli secret services, found the Japanese the most imaginative in intelligence gathering than any other of the powers. In doing an investigative research into Japanese espionage, Richard Deacon wrote,

"Occasionally Japanese Intelligence in action has been so
blatantly daring and obvious that it has not been
recognized for what it is. At other times it has kept so low
a profile that the more complacent bureaucrats of other
secret services have been foolish enough to propound the
theory that Japan never had an effective Intelligence
organization" (A History of Japanese Secret Service, 1982,
p.5).

During the Tokugawa era, the Shogunate had a huge team of spies constantly on the move throughout the country, watching and listening for any signs of revolt or criticism of the government. Any indiscreet comment or tactless action was liable to result in the arrest of an individual or even a whole family. It was through this strong, efficient espionage that Japan was able to keep peace and run for over two hundred years without interruption.

During this Tokugawa era, an elite band of spies was usually recruited from the samurai class, who practiced an ancient art called nijitsu. The samurai was then called a ninja. In the Japanese-English dictionary a ninja is defined as "a samurai who mastered the art of making himself invincible through some artifice and is chiefly engaged in espionage." A ninja was therefore reputed to be able to walk on water and resembles a combination of James Bond and Batman.

Of all peoples of the world, the Japanese have the most intense desire for all kinds of knowledge. And it is not just mere knowledge for its own sake. Japan has applied intelligence-gathering services to make herself the greatest of the world's powers today. In 1855, during the Tokugawa era, the government established a bureau for the translation of foreign books. Five years later the first team of students was sent overseas -- apparently to study, but in effect to acquire intelligence since they were all attached to diplomatic missions.

The first major attempt to establish official contact with Europe was made in 1862 when a mission of thirty-five spies was dispatched to various capitals. The Japanese decided that an island like Japan needed to have a strong navy modeled after the Royal Navy of Britain -- at the time the most powerful fleet in the world. An army alone was not adequate for Japan's worldwide aspirations. Japan modeled her army after the French, but following the defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian War, she patterned it after the German model. Great strides were made between 1860 and 1870, so much so that soon Japan had highly specialized teams of men trained in western military and naval skills -- as well as in the industrial techniques required to produce armaments.

When the Imperial System was restored, all efforts were intensified to develop a modern educational system. The Meiji leaders introduced the Five Articles Oath of 1868, which stated that "knowledge shall be sought throughout the world so as to strengthen the foundations of Imperial Rule." Educational institutions were especially established and targeted for navigation and foreign languages to equip agents for fact-finding missions abroad. According to Richard Deacon,

"There has never been so highly efficient, smooth and
speedy a radical revolution anywhere in the world to
compare with the great Japanese experiment in the twenty
years between 1865 and 1885. Everything was planned
in great detail so that all intelligence received was acted
upon as soon as it was received" (ibid., p.33).

The Japanese government decided to spend huge sums of money to finance the sending of students to the United States and Europe, and the numbers of these were expanded year by year. Richard Deacon continued,

"A particularly important diplomatic mission was led
to the U.S.A. and Europe in 1871 by Prince Iwakura, the
Emperor's Minister of State, and it included fifty-four
students employed solely as intelligence-gatherers" (ibid.,
p.34) .

Because the Japanese could not easily disguised their nationality in Europe and America, it would appear that espionage in these countries would be harder. To an extent this is true. However the Japanese found, to their surprise, that the British and American naval and military intelligence were rather forthcoming with information and therefore there was no need to use bribery or some other devious method.

In 1885, the Japanese were able to recruit a German military mission to Tokyo, Major
Meckel, who had been a pupil of the great strategist, Count Helmuth von Moltke. Count Moltke had been chief of staff to the Prussian Army until 1894. Major Meckel's value as an instructor in the arts of intelligence may be gauged by the fact that after the Battle of the Yalu River in 1904, the Japanese General Kodama telegraphed him and said the victory was due to his teaching.

In Japan, the government operated the intelligence service in conjunction with underworld thugs. The first external branch of the Japanese undercover espionage service was that of the Genyosha, or the Black Ocean. The society was founded in 1881 by Kotaro Hiraoka, a wealthy samurai who was interested in expanding Japan's influence to Korea, Manchuria, China and Russia. In 1882, Mitsuru Toyama, one of the leading figures of the Black Ocean, sent one hundred men to China to collect intetligence. Richard Deacon continues,

"This operation proved so highly productive that within a
few years he was in a position to arrange with Army
Intelligence not only to supply them with information, but
to carry out assignments for the Army in China" (ibid.,
p.37).

In 1881, the Kempei Tai, patterned after the Nazi's Gestapo, was also formed and they operated closely with secret societies and the Japanese Army and Navy.

The Black Ocean was so efficient in its operation that many of the Chinese secret societies were manipulated at the top by Japanese agents. Leading members of the Black Ocean set up bordellos, or brothels -- both in Japan and inside China -- with the express purpose of luring some of the triad bosses into what they picturesquely called Halls of Celestial Delights. Richard Deacon continued,

"These sybaritic institutions, controlled by Black Ocean
agents, set out to ensnare the paymasters of the Chinese
secret societies and obtain intelligence from them. By
encouraging them to spend huge sums of money on
whoring and drinking, they drained the societies' fund and
help at the same time to subsidize the Black Ocean . . . "
(ibid., p.39).

Intelligence was obtained partly by blackmail, sometimes by bribery and more often by employing "prostitutes highly skilled in extracting information from their clients". Richard continued,

"These bordellos were vastly superior to anything which
the Chinese had to offer: they pandered to those who love
luxurious surroundings and had unusual sexual proclivities.
The agents who controlled the bordellos patiently studied
the weaknesses and vices of their more important clients
and used this knowledge to extract the information they
desired" (ibid., p.39-40).

A wealth of intelligence was obtained in this manner, both in Korea and China, and much of it paved the way for a speedy and successful conclusion of Japanese's war against China in 1894-5 and in later years. Many of the Chinese leaders spent their time in pleasure houses in Shanghai, Hankow and Tientsin -- and most of the funds collected to be used for Chinese defense were diverted to the Black Ocean.

Earlier, the Black Ocean had not only spied in Korea but used agitation and disruption
to weaken the Korean government. When it was time, the Black Ocean implemented various bomb attacks and ultimately saw to the assassination of the Queen of Korea in 1895. Richard Deacon concludes,

"The Japanese Army chiefs were enormously impressed
by the role played by the Black Ocean Society as well as
by their own Military Intelligence. From then onwards they
gave intelligence as high a priority as armaments. No
other army in the world at the turn of the century put so
much faith in the support of an all-embracing espionage
system" (ibid., p.41).

The success of the Black Ocean brought forth many other societies, one of which was the Black Dragon, the Kokuryukai, established in February, 1901. The Black Dragon, a more clandestine society, prospered immediately because the Black Ocean was too successful and news of its activities had filtered through to the outside world.

Not all the news was favorable to Japan's image in Western eyes -- especially the assassination of the Korean queen. Both Mitsuru Toyama and Ryohei Uchida, the two most influential figures in the Black Ocean after Hiraoka, saw this only too clearly.

Ryohei Uchida had visited Russia and, after careful consideration, came to the conclusion that only Russia posed a serious threat to Japanese expansion on the Asian mainland. So it was he who founded the Black Dragon, which became the most secret society in Japan. Mitsuru Toyama, being more adverse to publicity, preferred to work behind the scenes, formulating policies and giving full support to Uchida. Richard Deacon describes Toyama this way,

"Toyama was a somewhat eccentric and lonely character,
part politician and part mystic. He was an ascetic who
enjoyed hours of silent contemplation and at one time he
is said to have lived on a diet of grass and leaves.
Despite this apparent unworldliness and love of seclusion
and even obscurity, Toyama always had access to the
highest political and military figures of the day . . . " (ibid.,
p.43) .

The Black Dragon started with the most secrecy, and so it remained for a long time. Many prominent citizens were attracted into it -- including some of the army officers connected to intelligence-gathering. Because it promised an adventurous career, young patriotic samurai found an outlet for their adventure-seeking nature. But, before long, members were drawn from any ambitious quarter. Thus eventually membership of the Black Dragon society ranged from cabinet ministers and high-ranking army officers to professional secret agents, blackmailers and hired killers. Initially its intelligence information came from Russia and Manchuria but

"by the end of the 1930s they had been extended to
Korea, China, the Philippines, Malaya, Hong Kong,
Singapore, India, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Turkey, Morocco,
the United States and many countries in the Caribbean
and South America" (ibid., p.44).

Japan knew that if they were to advance into the mainland, the greatest threat was posed by Russia.

When the Russo-Japanese War started on February 8, 1904, no army or navy in modern history had been so superbly backed up with such a massive advance intelligence operation as Japans. One of the great features of Japanese strategy and tactics in their war with Russia was the secrecy observed and the false information circulated purposely. This, combined with their own system of intelligence gathering both before that war and during the fighting, enabled Japan to have an remarkable knowledge of their enemy's potential and war aims. This superior intelligence enabled Japan to defeat its enemy with an overwhelming victory.

The role played by the Black Dragon society in the Russo-Japanese War was undeniably great. Japan had identified Russia to be the main potential threat for Japanese ambitions on the continent. Under Ryohei Uchida, Japan's leading intelligence agent was Colonel Motojiro Akashi, who was known for his poetry and painting -- but was also for his brilliance in espionage. Under Akashi, the spy network soon spread from Stockholm to Paris, Zurich, Geneva, Copenhagen, Rome, Lisbon and London. Besides providing intelligence for Japan, Akashi's mission was to encourage Russian revolutionaries residing in France, Sweden, Germany and Switzerland. As Richard Deacon wrote,

"So successful were these Black Dragon agents that it is
believed not a single one of them was either caught or
lost" (ibid., p.57).

Japanese espionage were usually an extraordinarily comprehensive operation, planned to the last detail, not simply gathering military intelligence, but also obtaining a wide range of general information as well. The idea being that the more varied their alleged occupations, the greater the scope for extending their inquiries. These undercover agents ranged from fishermen to salesmen, and to archaeologists and teachers, language students and Buddhist priests. Some were even described as having become converted to the Muslim religion in order to win friends in areas of Muslim populations inside of Russia. Colonel Akashi stated,

"it is not enough just to make contacts with Muslims, a
diligent intelligence officers will need to understand their
religion to know how best to deal with them and not make
mistakes" (ibid., p.57).

Long before the Russo-Japanese War started, Japanese agents had already infiltrated into Treaty ports to provide services for each successive junk or trader, carrying for them sacks of rifles and military equipment. Each Japanese agent was said to have cleverly disguised himself as a coolie, working in the docks until they could emerge at the head of their eager associates. The ports and towns were so greatly infiltrated that it was estimated that one in every ten coolies working for the Russians in Manchuria was a Japanese agent. Richard Deacon wrote,

"they had shown initiative and imagination such as no
other naval intelligence service anywhere else in the world
could then equal. The American Officer of Naval
intelligence and the British N.I.D. were both in the
kindergarten stage in comparison with the Japanese at the
time" (ibid., p.59-60).

Thus a steady flow of up-to-date information was received from inside Russian-occupied territory from Chinese and Japanese spies. This was how the Japanese learned all about Russian plans for sowing electrically-controlled mines not only in the path of advancing troops, but also in harbors all along the coast. The result was that in the Japanese headquarters was the ever-changing map showing not only the positions of Russian mines, but the actual detonating points as well. Then, under cover of darkness, men would be sent out to de-activate the mines.

The Japanese were also among the first in modern warfare to introduce sabotage as a systemic policy. The work again was done by sending agents behind the lines. The special targets were electrical power stations, searchlights and railways.

Among the most efficient of the Black Dragon agents was a man named Hajime Hamamoto, who went into Manchuria in 1898 and eventually made his way into Russia where he set up a general store in a village not far from a military garrison. Hamamoto kept a small room at the back of his store where he displayed various trinkets, bits of cheap jewelry and inexpensive trifles appealing to women. He would then set out to make himself agreeable to the wives of Russian officers who came to his store and, when he had gotton to know them better, waited until they made a large purchase and then invited them into his inner sanctum. There, one wife at a time, these women were first of all shown all the wares and then given the opportunity to pick out some item which they were then given as a present.

To the Russian wives, Hamamoto, who gave himself a Mongolian name, appeared to be just another oriental, and they had no idea he was Japanese. He had mastered the Russian language sufficiently to be able to recite poetry to them and within a short span of time, he was the most popular store-keeper in the area with the Russian women. He was said to have ensnared two officers' wives by plying them with an aphrodisiac concealed in small cakes. But whatever the mode of his seductions, the affairs were kept discreetly to the little bedroom which led off from the inner display room of his store, so that there would be no opportunity for gossip.

For four years Hamamoto sent in regular reports to his superiors through a trusted runner, partly gained by chatting with his mistresses and partly from following up little hints they dropped. All this was passed on to the Military Intelligence in Japan via an agent in Vladivostock.

Among the most famous spy in China for Japan was a Manchu princess, better known as Eastern Jewel, the original Chinese name given to her. Eastern Jewel came from a Chinese family, the daughter of Prince Su of the Iron Helmet, who in the former imperial court of Peking, had inherited the allegiance of the tribes of Inner Mongolia. Prince Su was a close friend of Japan's Empress uncle, Prince Kanin, and had collaborated closely with his Japanese blood brother, Naniwa Kawashima, a member of the spy network in Manchuria. After Su's death she was adopted at the age of eight, by Kawashima who brought her up as his own daughter and re-educated her as a Japanese, adopting the name Yoshiko Kawashima. At fifteen, Eastern Jewel claimed she was seduced by Naniwa's septuagenarian father. At sixteen she slept with Naniwa himself. Before she was twenty she begun to seduce others.

Eastern Jewel was sent back to Manchuria and became one of the most attractive and ardent undercover agents Japan had. She often disguised herself as a man and was described as

"strikingly attractive, with a dominating personality, almost a
film-drama figure, half tom-boy and half heroine, and with
this passion for dressing up as a male. Possibly she did
this to impress the men, or so that she could more easily
fit into the tightly-knit guerrilla groups without attracting too
much attention" (ibid., p.151).

In Shanghai, during a New Year's party, she met Major General Takayoshi Tanaka (the same Tanaka who later became U.S. prosecutor Joseph Keenan's assistant during the Tokyo trial and, as one who constantly saw to Keenan's sexual needs, was adequately taken care of) of the Shanghai Special Service Organ. General Tanaka was working closely with the mastermind spy in China, Major-General Kenji Doihara. That night, Eastern Jewel tried to seduce Tanaka. The General rebuffed her politely, reminding her that she was a princess while he was a commoner. The following day, Eastern Jewel borrowed money from him. Again, the following week, she borrowed more money from the General until finally Eastern Jewel managed to downgrade her caste and convince him to go to bed with him.

From this blossom of romance with Major Tanaka, Eastern Jewel was able to play an
effective espionage role with many of Doihara's spy network in China. She was well acquainted with Pu Yi and had the boy-emperor inviting "Eastern jewel to consider his home her home as long as she remained in Tientsin". It was through this close liaison that Eastern Jewel was able to manipulate the boy-emperor Pu Yi to do what the Japanese wanted him to do, including Pu Yi's abduction from Manchuria and finally his installation as the puppet Emperor of the newly Japanese-created state of Manchukuo.

After the installation of Pu Yi as the puppet-Emperor of Manchukuo, Eastern Jewel continued to play various roles which found her in bed with sing-song girls and, for a time, as mistress of Major General Hayao Tada, who was chief military advisor for the puppet-Emperor Pu Yi.

Much of Eastern Jewel's mysterious activities throughout Manchuria and China, until the
end of the Pacific war, were heard of from time to time. But eventually she disappeared from view. Her later activities included taking a percentage of ransoms paid by wealthy
merchants on kidnapping activities after securing their release. She needed the money because she had to hire professional actors and sing-song girls to satisfy her various sexual appetites. Finally on November 11, 1945, a news agency reported that "a long sought-for beauty in male costume was arrested in Peking by the Chinese counter-intelligence officers." Shortly after she was arrested by the Chinese, she was tried and executed.

As early as the 1920s, the Japanese had been working along the Californian coast and
the Gulf of Mexico. The fact that many Japanese immigrants had settled in California and Mexico made it easier for the Japanese undercover agents. The most effective covers for Japanese agents were the occupations of fishermen and barbers. The technique was to teach the Mexicans to fish scientifically and arrangement were made with the government of Mexico to allow Japanese fishermen to fish on the Mexican coast. One of the tasks set by the Japanese Naval Intelligence was to keep a watch on the US fleet when it was conducting maneuvers off of Southern California.

The Panama Canal was also another prime target for Japanese espionage. There in Panama City, were forty-seven Japanese barbers in the mid-thirties -- all linked to an attractive Japanese girl named Chiyo Morasawa who operated a clothes shop. She regularly collected all the tit-bits of barbers' gossip and, together with photographs of military installations, passed them over to her husband who was a Japanese Navy officer.

Another famous spy network operating in Hawaii was under a Japanese named Commander Itaru Tachibana. Earlier, in 1930, Tachibana had entered the United States and enrolled as a language student at the University of Pennsylvania, but later switched to the University of Southern California and from there worked in a spy network. However, he was arrested by the FBI while trying to recruit ex-navy officers to spy for him in Hawaii.

"Bail of 50,000 dollars was demanded before [Tachibana]
could be released. The Japanese Consul in Los
Angeles immediately produced this money to get
Tachibana free and he was speedily 'sprung' from
captivity" (ibid., p. 183).

Tachibana's work was carried by a Takeo Yoshikawa who was transferred from the
Japanese Navy to the Foreign Office. In August, 1941, he was sent to Honolulu under
the cover name of vice-consul Ito Morimura. Though not a professional spy he was
nevertheless adaptable, versatile, imaginative and effective. He frequented the Shuncho-ro Restaurant which had an excellent view of the harbor. To be more clandestine, the Japanese spy network also used a German named Dr. Keuhn, whose attractive and gregarious daughter Ruth played her full part by making friends with American naval officers at parties and tennis courts. Ruth started a beauty parlor and learned a great deal by listening to the gossip of her clients, mainly U.S. officers' wives. Yoshikawa had an eye for detail and a mass of information was collected, including names, numbers and technical idiosyncrasies of ship movements and transmitted to the Hawaiian Japanese consul. Although American Intelligence officers were aware that the U.S. Naval fleet was being watched by the Japanese, they were skeptical that Japan had any heinous design for Hawaii. Further, Japanese counter intelligence was very effective in confusing American intelligence by getting all sorts of naval information from every Japanese embassy and consulate around the world -- ranging from Stockholm to Cape Town, and from Geneva to Naples as well as that from Hawaii.

A key question which the Navy Intelligence in Tokyo put to Yoshikawa was on which day of the week were there the most ships in Pearl Harbor. Sunday was his answer as Admiral Husband Kimmel invariably brought his fleet into Pearl for the weekend.

On December 5, 1941, Yoshikawa was still passing messages to Tokyo, indicating the
arrivals and departures of battles ships and all the minutes were speedily relayed by the Foreign Ministry to Naval Intelligence in Tokyo. When the Pacific war started on December 7, Yoshikawa managed to burn all his code books and any compromising material in his hands before he was interned by the Americans, Dr. Keuhn and Ruth were arrested and so too was Mrs. Keuhn. Though the initial sentences were harsh, all three were later released after the war.

Jews and anything Jewish have always fascinated the Japanese. Jews are known to be good at making money and so are the Japanese. Jews claim to be a special race and so, too, do the Japanese. Jews claim to have a divine mission to rule the world and so, too, do the Japanese.

The thirst for knowledge about anything Jewish is remarkable. Many bookstores in Japan have a special section for books on Jews and Judaism. In 1970, a book titled Nipponjin to Yudayajin (The Japanese and the Jews), became a million-seller. It was an attempt to compare cultural and religious practices and beliefs of the Japanese with those of the Jews. Years later, another book, The Jewish Way of Blowing the Millionaire's Bugle, expounded the Jewish way to financial success. Soon a avalanche of other Jewish books followed. Unfortunately, many of the books are anti-Semitic in outlook - an outgrowth of the Nazi influence during Japan's alliance with Germany during the war. An example is Scenario for Annihilation, which denies the Holocaust during World War II. As Edwin Reingold, a former Times correspondent, wrote on his research on Japan,

"Today, as it did during those war years, a rash of anti-
Semitic books periodically appeared on the Japanese
market that causes concern among sophisticated
Japanese and, of course, Jewish residents and visitors
and Israeli diplomats. The phenomenon seems to run in
cycles" (Chrysanthemums and Thorns, 1992, 179).

Since Japan has a Shinto sacred mission to rule the world, books on so-called Jewish conspiracies are by far the most popular. The Secret of the Jewish Power That Moves the World, written by Eizaburo Saito, a LDP parliamentarian, describing the worldwide Jewish conspiracy was an instant hit. Many others followed; Japan: Blueprint of Jewish Conspiracy, How Japan's Nucleus Has Intercepted Freemasonry, The Jewish Plan for the Conquest of the World -- all instant best-sellers.

Many historical Western figures are viewed as Jewish agents in these books. Marco Polo, the Rockefeller family, Matthew Ferry, Christopher Columbus and Franklin Roosevelt are all, therefore, Jewish agents of an international Jewish conspiracy to control the world. Many Japanese even associate Jews with America.

Thus if there were a group of people in the United States that claimed they would eventually succeed in a conspiracy to rule the world for a thousand years (like a group of ninja) the Japanese would certainly like to know more about them. During the late 1960s, the Japanese came to know of one such American organization which claimed this very goal. These "fanatics" claimed they would one day be transformed into invincible beings, and manifest themselves whenever and wherever they like as invisible human beings. They claimed they would rule the world from Jerusalem and that they would determine rules and policies for the rest of the world -- including Japan. These "fanatics" were united in a organization called the Worldwide Church of God.

Not only was the Worldwide Church of God an organization that claimed a single world
governmental role in the near future but was Jewish (as perceived by outsiders) as well. Instead of keeping Christmas and Easter like other normal Christians do, members of the organization observed the perplexing Jewish festivals such as the Passover, Shavuot and others. Its main thrust was to convey an important message worldwide, and its leadership was constantly on the lookout to meet emperors, kings, prime ministers and presidents of countries around the world. Then, after delivering the message, they claimed a number of world crisis would unfold and that this group of ninja would eventually rule the world.

In Japan, without any effort of their own, an overture from such an organization took place. Upon further investigation, what make it alluring was that the leader of the organization, Herbert W. Armstrong, was a man of high standing -- not only in America, but more so in many African and Asian countries where Japanese goods were penetrating.

Hirohito's reputation had been badly tarnished during the Pacific war and better public relations were a must to present a better image of the emperor worldwide. Earlier, a women Christian tutor, Elizabeth Grey Vining, was contracted to give private tuition to the Crown Prince Akihito for one hour a week. But that was not enough. Public relationships must be intensified. Herbert Armstrong was described as a man of peace, whose educational system taught millions worldwide. He was later to be described as an "Ambassador for World Peace" whose work was to bring him respect from King Leopold III of Belgium and other world leaders.

Herbert Armstrong continued to preached a message that "a strong hand from somewhere" will ultimately put the whole world under one roof. The Japanese ruling audience was perturbed. During the invasion attempts by Kublai Khan in the thirteenth century, the Sun Goddess had sent a Kamikaze, or divine wind to disperse the invaders. So, too, when Japan was waging a war with Russia in 1905, the Sun Goddess had sent a divine typhoon to sink the Russian fleet. With Herbert Armstrong's message, the Japanese were becoming less sure. Had the Sun Goddess become so displeased with her intimate subjects that She then gave the mandate to rule the world to some "Jewish" fanatics? Such a possibility was disturbing -- but too dangerous not to examine further. After all, when Japan needed that Kamikaze most during the closing days of the Pacific war, the Sun Goddess was not around to help them. Pilots who committed daring acts in the name of Kamikaze on the decks of Allied ships died without stimulating any divine wind or turning the course of the war.

Japan's desire for knowledge is not only in the areas of technology and business, but extends to divinity and futurology. As Richard Deacon wrote,

"The zeal for learning even extended to a passion for divination, or trying to ascertain what would happen in the future. As the twentieth century draws to a close futurology is being regarded in some circles as a science and various institutes for predicting future trends " (A History of the Japanese Secret Service, p. 6).

Across the Pacific Ocean, a mysterious man named Osamu Gotoh was soon to be found as the head of the newly created Japanese department of Herbert Armstrong's Ambassador College in Pasadena, California. He appeared sincere and was becoming more and more like one of the organization's members, eventually being baptized into Armstrong's church by one Richard Plache, who taught the Epistles of Paul at the college. In a book by David Robinson was a section headed "The Mysterious Mr. Gotoh," (under the heading of "Sex and the Single Apostle") squeezed in between "Tales of Masturbation and Prostitution" and "The Lochner Tapes." Robinson, who became disillusioned with Herbert's personal life, took one of Richard Plache's classes and came to know more about the mysterious Osamu Gotoh. In 1980 he wrote,

"I was in Pasadena in the Spring of 1970, taking classes. One of those was the Epistles of Paul,' under Richard Plache Richard was intelligent and witty. He came in one day, saying he had just baptized Gotoh. He shook his head, saying he just didn't know if he had done the right thing. He had told Gotoh: The only good Jap was a dead Jap,' a WWII quote, coupled with a takeoff on the symbolism of baptism. He shook his head again, saying Gotoh didn't like it one little bit" (Herbert Armstrong's Entangled Web, 1980, p. 85).

Apparently, Osamu Gotoh had sold Herbert Armstrong on his ability to arrange introductions to the ruling LPD leadership and Imperial family in Japan. As lavish praise came from Herbert Armstrong for his services in opening doors to the Worldwide Church, so too did his expense account become "lavish." According to several accounts, Osamu Gotoh's yearly expense account exceeded $100,000.

According to David Robinson, Osamu Gotoh's activities around the globe was as extensive as a spider's web. He left behind a smuggling trail with black-market profiteering in Vietnam and the Middle East. David Robinson saw the contradiction and expressed,

"As you know, in the church we have said at the time of
baptism one is to be in the spirit of humility. Subsequent
events, as reported widely have shown Richard Plache
may have had ample grounds for concerns about his
official act. The smoke left along Gotoh's back trail is so
dense that it demands fire also" (ibid.).

According to William Dankenbring, who is a watchdog over the Worldwide Church of
God's activities in Pasadena, wrote,

"Meanwhile the degeneration and corruption in the
Worldwide Church of God continued, and speeded up.
Charges were made that millions of dollars were being
spend just to entertain world leaders. The charge was
made that Osamu Gotoh spent several hundred thousand
dollars in one year in a questionable manner" (Back to
Babylon, p.9).

Ambassador Report also stated that on June 6, 1975, while arranging for Herbert Armstrong to visit the worldly high and mighty, Gotoh was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport for carrying a large amount of undeclared jewelry. Gotoh, if tried by a jury and convicted, could have received up to a five year jail sentence and a $50,000 fine. But soon he was released and disappeared out of the United States and beyond the reach of the Federal agents. Then Gotoh was later engaged by the church once again, and released in 1977 for obscure reasons. The Ambassador Report stated ,

"He is now free to enter and leave the U.S. as the
Department of the Treasure is no longer after him. Their
spokesman, however, admitted that the Department had
been under pressure from above' to lay off Gotoh. He did
not elaborate any further" (The Truth Shall Make You Free,
John Tuit, p.74).

No one could possibly have imagined that the pressure from above came from the other side of the Pacific. All thought it was the college that exerted the pressure.

But back to the earlier events. The College Administration was pleased that a true
Japanese could teach the Japanese language to its students so that they could speak the language fluently. Osamu Gotoh was a tremendous help. Besides, he could provide Herbert Armstrong with a connection to the Imperial family in Japan and also elements of the right-wing ruling LDP party. Political parties need funds, and an American organization, with a reputation of being wealthy, was only too willing to help. It would be too hard to refuse such an opportunity. When Herbert Armstrong's pictures with world leaders were flashed across its flagship magazine, The Plain Truth, and were seen on television programs covering America from coast to coast and many international areas as well, telephone calls began flooding in. More volunteers were needed to cater for the innumerable request for subscriptions and booklets. Circulation increased and members of the church were obliged to contribute more funds for the work God had commissioned them to do.

In any successful marketing oriented organization an image of quality, of prestige, and of service is important. This image was well provided by Herbert Armstrong himself meeting world leaders and by the fine once-built-never-repeated auditorium at the Pasadena campus -- made of gold and ornate fixtures which portrayed to the members and to the world the image of quality and prestige. This spilled over to the church's other organizations such as the Ambassador Foundation with its annual worldly concert series.

The marketing of the Worldwide Church of God was provided by ground crews in all major cities of the Western world and many countries in the developing world as well, dividing the world into twelve regional areas for administration under the Apostle (Herbert Armstrong). The church became an efficient well-run organization and was much envied by other rival Christian groups. However, the Worldwide Church of God proceeded one step further. Under Herbert Armstrong, the church appointed a propagandist and an ideologist to cement the organization into a well-woven unit -- and this service was well provided by an evangelist named Gerald Waterhouse, whose was work patterned after Paul Goebbels of Nazi Germany and Dr Shumei Okawa of Japan.

Gerald Waterhouse came from San Angelo in Texas, and was one of the founding members of the Worldwide Church of God. He was a pioneer and established the Canadian, British, South African and Australian work. As a pioneer, he was regarded as a fundamentalist whereas later students were considered more liberal and easier to be influenced. Gerald Waterhouse went around the world magnifying the image of Herbert Armstrong and providing a framework for total control,

"'Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the
coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord', God had
raised up Mr Herbert Armstrong to be the Elijah to do the
work at this end time . . . He is the Zerubabel, the Moses,
the king David . . . Herbert Armstrong will bring you to the
place of safety . . . "

The members were taught to be faithful and to pay their tithes to the church and not
ask questions. The church, with more revenue, had a greater means to carry the gospel
to the world. Members were taught that the Worldwide Church of God was the only true church and that there was no salvation outside the organization. Therefore, according to this reasoning, one was lost even if he was a law-abiding and God-fearing member of another Sabbath-keeping group, even if he had repented in ashes, even if Jesus Christ personally granted him forgiveness as He had promised. He could not be saved without paying obeisance to the Worldwide Church. For in the last days (continued the propaganda) there is only ONE Apostle, under God the Father, and all other doors are shut. That "apostle," of course, was Herbert W. Armstrong!

In attempting to fulfill the role of Elijah, as stated in Malachi 4:6, Herbert Armstrong
went worldwide, being photographed with children ranging from SEP youth in the United States to young children in Shanghai. But the real test came for him to reconcile with his son Garner Ted, his ONLY remaining son - it turned out to be too hard for him. Gerald Waterhouse was very sure that Herbert Armstrong would continued to live and ultimately be the leading member of the two witnesses in Jerusalem, as pictured in the book of Revelation in the Bible.

"Herbert Armstrong will be based in Jerusalem He will bring
down his Rolls Royce from England and drive back and
forth between Jerusalem and Petra. In Jerusalem, Herbert
Armstrong will witness to the whole world by satellite with
great power ... I will be in Petra, and where will you be?"

The more he continued to preach, the more the members continued to love it. Members of the church seemed to want to escape the conditions of the current world with its problems -- and Waterhouse's comments provided much comfort. After every sermon, many gushed about what a great message he had preached. They were more assured than ever of being in the place of safety and in a place of final training.

Thus with Gerald Waterhouse as propagandist, members who valued their salvation send in money and the money passed through Osamu Gotoh into foreign hands. Some money inevitably was spent on themselves. In 1974 Osamu Gotoh and Stanley Rader, a Jewish attorney representing Herbert Armstrong were seen in the Hilton Hotel in Madrid making arrangements with a house prostitute for her services. The witness, Mr. and Mrs. Jim Fox of the San Jose Church of God, became so disillusioned that they dropped out of the Church altogether. David Robinson, a field minister in Tulsa, recorded that there were widespread reports of Gotoh's womanizing, especially with female members of the Armstrong party.

Later, David Robinson, who witnessed the perversity of Herbert Armstrong, also found
himself out of the ministry. Herbert Armstrong had often claimed that he spent 300 days a year traveling outside the United States, and Robinson wondered what was so pressing for Herbert in the "commission" to keep him away from home so much. Further, David Robinson wondered aloud what the "Apostle of God" had to do with the geisha girls in Japan. In his last meeting with Herbert Armstrong, David was in the home of the former in Tucson. David was accused by Herbert of insinuating he was senile. As David defended himself, Herbert went on to talk about sex -- a subject that enchanted him immeasurably. David wrote,

"Mr Armstrong then went back to talk about geisha girls in
Japan. Apparently someone had said I accused him of
committing sex acts with a geisha girl . . . He proceeded
to give me a lecture about geisha girls. Well, I have never
been in Japan and have no firsthand experience with
them. But he seems to be thoroughly familiar with the
subject. He wanted to know if I was aware that geisha
girls didn't provide sex with their services. I attempted to
reply I had heard this was true, but he was so engrossed
with the subject I felt sure he never heard my response"
(Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web, p.249).

David Robinson also described that Herbert Armstrong always had a long and private session about sex with graduating seniors from Ambassador College before they finally graduated, and girls came out from the sessions, stunned and angry. Herbert Armstrong needed to be explicit and his lectures were often quite graphic in detail. Without that session for the graduating seniors, Herbert Armstrong felt that it was like a cake without its icing.

In Japan, Herbert Armstrong was highly honored. He was closely associated with Prince Mikasa, the youngest brother of Emperor Hirohito, the mastermind in Japan's conspiracy to conquer the world.

Prince Mikasa matriculated at the military academy in 1934. He specialized in tanks and graduated in 1936. Later he was promoted to be an Army lieutenant colonel during World War II.

But in June 1937, as the Strike-South ideology was gaining momentum, and while preparations were being made to stage the Marco Polo Bridge incident for the takeover of Peking and central China, Prince Mikasa was acting as a representative for Hirohito. From the Palace, he proceeded to the great naval base at Yokosuka on Tokyo Bay to bring the Emperor's personal message that Hirohito expected every man to do his duty.

During the Imperial Conference with Hirohito on November 11, 1941, Prince Mikasa
sided with the Emperor for the final decision to go to war and to attack Pearl Harbor. He
was involved in many plots and, in de facto, was an envoy of Hirohito. David Bergamini wrote, referring to Captain Masanobu Tsuji, who was described as a tough, zealous and brilliant officer who designed the plan for the conquest of Malaya, Singapore, and the capture of Bataan in the Philippines:

"Already in 1934, with Prince Mikasa's patronage, Captain
Tsuji had recommended himself to Hirohito by his deft
handling of the Military Academic Plot . . . If anyone
doubted his imperial mandate, he had only to show his
credentials: a set of cuff links from Prince Mikasa,
embossed with the fourteen-petal chrysanthemum of
imperial princes, and a sake cup from Hirohito, embossed
with the sixteen-petal chrysanthemum reserved for the
Emperor himself" (Japan's Imperial Conspiracy, p.869).

When the battle at Rabaul in the South Pacific was decisive, Prince Mikasa, representing Hirohito, and Lieutenant General Anami were sent to Bougainville to bolster the morale of the fighting men in the field.

Prince Mikasa was identified by David Bergamini as the mysterious Lieutenant Colonel X during the staged palace coup on the night of August 14, 1945 to prevent the Emperor's broadcast. The purpose of the staged coup was to give the appearance to the outside world that Hirohito had been an intimidated puppet of the militarists. This ploy outwitted the Allied intelligence officers and persuaded the Occupation forces under General MacArthur that Hirhito was not to blame for the war. Analyzing Prince Mikasa's identity during the staged coup, David Bergamini wrote,

"Now, no military man ever presented himself at a palace
gate -- least of all at the Double Bridge -- without giving his
name and showing his credentials. The identity of
Lieutenant Colonel X, in short, was not genuinely unknown
to the officers of the Imperial Guards . . . In gossipy
Japan only the imperial taboo which gives anonymity to the
private acts of members of the Emperor's immediately
family could account for such an unidentifiable personage
in the Inner Palace enclosure at such a crucial junction in
Japanese history" (Japan's Imperial Conspiracy, p.101).

Prince Mikasa was also acting as a personal envoy for the Emperor, overseeing the activities of Unit 731, the laboratory for bacteriological experiments on human beings and for germ warfare. Researcher and investigator Edward Behr wrote,

"'Guilt by association' is an unattractive concept, but the
involvement in Unit 731' of immediate members
of the Imperial Family cannot be ignored. A 'Unit 731'
photographer recalls taking a group photograph at Ping
Fan of the officers there, with Hirohito's youngest brother,
Prince Mikasa, in the place of honor, during an inspection
tour. The photographer, Yamashita, was not allowed to
accompany Prince Mikasa and his party inside the out of
bounds laboratory sections, so he cannot tell whether the
Prince 'saw everything' or not. He remembers the
occasion well, however, because he received a severe
dressing-down from General Ishii: reflection from the sun
on the Prince's spectacles marred the picture, obscuring
Mikasa's eyes. Later, in his memoirs, Prince Mikasa
mentioned 'Unit 731' -- without citing its actual name,
noting that he had watched a film about it and talked to a
senior medical officer who had given him details of
prisoners deliberately infected with cholera" (Hirohito:
Behind the Myth, 1989, 207).

Prince Mikasa was to become a close friend of Herbert Armstrong and on numerous
occasions was photographed with him and shown in the Worldwide Church's publications. In one of their meetings, in which Mr. Armstrong addressed the Japanese Diet in Tokyo, Prince Mikasa said,

"Dr. Armstrong has been very kind to me and I have ...
kept a close friendship. Dr. Armstrong has helped the
academic affairs of Japan and international peace"
(Ambassador For World Peace, 1983, p.8).

"Honor in Japan is not lightly given" the church publication proudly proclaimed, but through Prince Mikasa's connections, Herbert Armstrong was well commended to the emperor. Hirohito conferred on Herbert Armstrong the "Order of the Sacred Treasure, Second Class", one of the highest decorations that can be presented to a non-Japanese in recognition of "the outstanding (for) . . . promotion of mutual understanding".

On page 16 of the same issue, Herbert Armstrong was shown in photographs with his
seven "Japanese Sons", former Prime Ministers Eisaku Sate, Kakuei Tanaka, Takeo
Miki, Takeo Fukuda, Masayoshi Ohira, Zenko Suzuki and the most famous of them all, Yasuhiro Nakasone. All of these men were directly or indirectly connected with Japan's underground thugs. Ironically, though the publications from the church claimed Herbert had met Hirohito, the prime World War II instigator and mastermind, the Emperor found the "Ambassador for World Peace" not worthy of being granted a photo with him for publicity. If they appeared together, they would roughly have been the same height, and would have be quite comfortable with each other. This is in contrast to Hirohito taking a photo with General MacArthur in September 27, 1945, in which the General took an imposing stance with the Emperor.

The true stories of Hirohito, Prince Mikasa, Osamu Gotoh and Herbert Armstrong are
intriguing. As it is written in Proverbs 25:2,

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter but the glory of
kings is to search out a matter.
As the heavens for height and the earth for depth, so the
heart of kings is unsearchable.

Hope of Israel Ministries -- Taking the Lead in the Search for Truth!