Religious Cult at the Door

Hello everybody, I had several times very bad experience in Japan with religious people and cult group. Today, I wanted to sleep a little longer in the morning on weekends. These pesky cult groups came several times and knocked our door and disturbed our private time. I knew I should not open and stay calm but my family (wife and children) felt very terrible and scared. After that, I could not sleep and was repairing the gas stove. I asked my wife to bring children outside to play a bit because the weather was nice, but she refused to go out without me. She said she is very afraid and scared of these kind of aggressive people even she is Japanese. I called the police but they said if they did not make a physical attack and damage, they simply cannot do anything. Can someone suggest me any clear Japanese law prohibiting a psychological (mental) attack and privacy disturbance? I respect diversity, I respect human rights, and I respect each religion but one�fs religion should not bring disturbance to other people daily life. Your suggestion is much appreciated. To be honest, we were very talkative and open people before but now we try to avoid Japanese people who come with smile and hidden agenda particularly related to religion, money, and sex.

How are they aggressive? I've never experienced anyone being particularly pushy to the point I'd avoid going out, though it's annoying when they ring the doorbell.

I've seen apartments with signs saying 'no unsolicited visits' or specifically 'no Jehovah's Witnesses' along with 'no flyers' etc. if it's a common problem maybe putting up a sign will help.

Yes, they (2 men and 3 women) were very pushy and aggressive. The man put his legs and hold the door with his hands which did not allow me to close the door easily. The women were asking me which language do you speak "Please wait!" "We have some brochures in your language" "We are very kind" "I want to explain you more details." Based on our experience, I put the mentioned sign but one man said he is a delivery guy. So I opened and saw 4 people behind him. We feel a psychological attack and pressure. The help for us would be greatly appreciated.

If they cannot get any new member while visiting apartments, they stay at the entrance of our building, which doesn't have a lock, and wait for some people. I suggested to make a lock for the entrance door in household meeting but they said it was always like that and we do not want to change anything.

Just tell them not interested, please go home(Kyomi ga arimasen, Okaeri kudasai) very gently.
If they don't leave, you can tell them call police(Okaeri kudasai, Keisatsu ni tsuho shimasu).
Once you can ask to leave but they don't, you can call 110 because of law(enforceable rules).
But I think they will keep visiting your home, this is because their mission to visit and expand their new members. If you live in an rental apartments, your ex residents belonged to one of those group, they have past record of history therefore they will visit your apartment, this is same as newspaper subscriptions and membership.(they also have ex history of your former residents) .

The man put his legs and hold the door with his hands which did not allow me to close the door easily......one man said he is a delivery guy.

These are things you can talk to the police about to encourage them to do something about it.

But like the other poster wrote, I've lived in 5 different places in Japan as a Japanese and never encountered anything as aggressive as that from anyone. Even religious cults leave promptly and politely as soon as I say "no thank you". I can fully understand why your wife is scared, because this is quite an unusual situation, and your neighbors' committee's attitude is not helping.

What does your chonai-kaicho say? Have you talked to your city hall or even the politician of your district? I truly feel sorry for your situation.

Yes, I have been very gentle enough for them for a long time. What I am asking is that is there any functional Japanese law to stop these kinds of people?

Thank you so much for your kind support and warm words. Next week, I am planning to visit a free lawyer in shiyakusho and also international center to bring up this issue. But from our Japanese neighbor's saying, it is nearly helpless to ask support from shiyakusho. So, we feel insecure here and I worry about my children. Every time if someone knocks our door, I tell my children stop speaking and do not make any noise. They feel that something is not right and their moods change after that.

What I am asking is that is there any functional Japanese law to stop these kinds of people?

The following info seems to be close to your situation.
https://www.bengo4.com/c_1009/b_455126/

You can Google sets of keywords such as �@‹³�@Š©—U�@ŒxŽ@�@–@—¥ to find out more.

Thanks a lot!

In addition, to pay our deepest respect to the Japanese people who lost their precious lives during nuclear bomb, I felt a kind of duty to bring my family to Hiroshima although it was an expensive trip for our family. While we were standing next to Children's Peace Memorial, two women approached us with beautiful smiles and we allowed them to talk to our children. A couple minutes later after meeting, they asked about my country, my job, about my plan in Japan and our living place in Japan, we thought it is a casual meeting/conversation and happily talked with them but after that they gave us brochures of religious cult and we were totally shocked. My wife went to the park administration to complain but they said they could not anything. Frankly saying, they ruined our day there. For us, it became very difficult here to distinguish sincere people and people with hidden agenda.

Sorry to hear of your encounters. We've lived in different places in and around Tokyo, and in Kansai area as well, and yes we have received some visits and phone calls by religious groups, but once we said "not interested" firmly and politely, they stopped coming, and none tried to put their foot in the door. Though once I remember one persistent newspaper salesperson who did that...

I think once they go as far as putting the foot in the door, this is where you should be reporting to the police. You can talk to your local police once again what they did, maybe get the nearest "koban (police box)" phone number and names of officers there in charge, and IF they come again and do the same, you can hold up your mobile and tell them firmly that you'd call the police if they don't let you close the door. I don't know how your apartment is set up, but would your neighbors hear your voice if you raised your voice a bit? I would try (not yelling but just firmly and a bit louder) "doa wo shimesasenai to, keisatsu wo yobimasu yo!" to see how they react.

Or if they are generally persistent, even across the door, you can say across the door:
"kyoumi arimasen" (I have no interest)"
"o-kaeri kudasai" or "kaette kudasai" (please leave)
"kore ijou kitara, keisatsu wo yobimasu" (if you come more, I will call the police).

A couple minutes later after meeting, they asked about my country, my job, about my plan in Japan and our living place in Japan, we thought it is a casual meeting/conversation and happily talked with them but after that they gave us brochures of religious cult and we were totally shocked.

Actually, I don't see anything wrong about that one. Would you still be shocked if it was a business card or a YMCA brochure they gave you?

Thank you very much for your kind support. We have been answering these kinds of people with politeness "We are not interested, Sorry!" "We will call the police." But it seems to me that they frequently re-organize their members visiting our home and put the new ones to come again. Our Japanese neighbor told us that "Religious people are looking for psychologically week people, and if you answer politely, they will try to catch you near the station or near our home in the future and come again and again because they are psychologically well-trained to persuade others." Frankly speaking, we feel very insure and helpless now. Even we go out now to just buy a few things in konbini and to go to our work, we started looking around carefully if someone is following us.

Please do not discuss business card here. It is not related to this topic. I would never give my business card to strangers who just popped up on the street.

Please do not discuss business card here. It is not related to this topic. I would never give my business card to strangers who just popped up on the street.

Perhaps you misunderstood my comment, but that's alright.

We are just listing up a few examples of our family's experience with these kinds of people in a few years here to make a clear picture of the situation and seek for a correct help. Please understand, I am writing on behalf of my family here to seek for help, not for argument. Many many thanks for those who have been very kind with their time to write their supportive messages.

I fully understand what you are trying to do, and I wasn't trying to argue. Thank you for your comments.

Thank you very much for understanding too. While living here more than 7 years, I have never turned to this website for help. For just his children's happiness and comfort, sometimes a helpless father can go for search beyond the border.

You just need to be very firm with them. All your stories have happened to myself also. But as I got older into my adult years (I'm 37 now) and more confident in life, I just was able to tell them no. And also comment in a loud manner that their behaviour is unacceptable.

And when I say comment, I mean I would use more aggressive choice words. As they prey on the weak that do not have the confidence to fight back against their poor behaviour. When they realize they are up against someone strong, they back peddle quite quickly like dogs with their tales between their legs.