_0.jpg)
After being confined for 12 years, one Japanese man is sharing his story of resilience and faith in God through his new autobiography.
Toru Goto is the president of Japan Victims’ Association Against Religious Kidnapping & Forced Conversion. The association includes people who were abducted, confined, and forced to renounce their faith.
On Feb. 10, 2025, Goto announced the publication of his autobiography, Desperate Struggle: Survival from 4,536-day Confinement. There were 300 people in attendance, and the date of the announcement comes exactly 17 years after he was released.
Goto is now 61 years old and is a member of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (formerly the Unification Church).
From the age of 31 until he was 44, Goto was held captive in an apartment building by family members. This was instructed by Christian pastor and professional deprogrammer Takashi Miyamura because he viewed the Family Federation as heretic.
For the first six years of his isolation, Goto didn't even know where he was in the country.
During his speech announcing the book's publication, Goto shared that his treatment was "the worst human rights violation since World War II, taking away any and all freedom."
"I hope this book will serve as an opportunity for people to think about what religious freedom really means."
Goto launched court proceedings after he was finally released, which meant the abduction and confinement of Family Federation believers became rare.
One of Goto's lawyers, Shinichi Tokunaga, stated that this autobiography had the potential to become the Japanese version of Victor Frankl's Man’s Search For Meaning.