fraudulent "vaccines" remotely. In February 2017, actress Fumika Shimizu abruptly retired from her former entertainment production agency amidst multiple filming projects for a full-time role in Happy Science, declaring she had been a member of the group since childhood, under the influence of her parents, both of whom were longtime believers in Happy Science. Okawa's son and potential successor, Hiroshi Okawa, left the movement and is now one of its outspoken critics. In an article in The New York Times, he commented, "I believe what my father does is complete nonsense". His father has denounced Hiroshi as "demonic" and has sued him for defamation. In a 2022 interview with The World, Hiroshi described Happy Science as a "cult". Regarding Ryuho Okawa's spiritual channeling sessions, Hiroshi said "It's just a performance". Hiroshi also estimated the number of Happy Science members to be around 13,000. On February 10, 2022, the fifth chapter of anthology manga "Kami-sama" no Iru Ie de Sodachimashita ~Shūkyō 2-Sei na Watashi-tachi~ (A Home Life With God ~We Children Born Into Religion~) written by Mariko Kikuchi was removed by the publisher, Shueisha following backlash from Happy Science. The other chapters were removed on March 17, 2022. It was later reported by the Weekly Flash magazine in April. References Notes Further reading Baffelli, E; Reader, Ian (2011). Competing for the apocalypse: religious rivalry and millennial transformations in a Japanese new religion. International Journal for the Study of New Religions 2 (1), 5-28 Clarke, Peter B. (ed.) (1999), 'Kofuku-no-Kagaku: The Institute for Research in Human Happiness' in A Bibliography of Japanese New Religious Movements: With Annotations, Surrey, UK, Japan Library (Curzon), , pp. 149–67 Pokorny, Lukas; Winter, Franz (2012). Creating Utopia': The History of Kofuku no Kagaku in Austria, 1989–2012, with an Introduction to Its General History and Doctrine. In: Hödl, Hans Gerald and Lukas Pokorny, ed. Studies on Religion in Austria. Volume 1, Vienna: Praesens, pp. 31–79 Yamashita, Akiko (1998), 'The "Eschatology" of Japanese new and new new religions: from Tenrikyo to Kofuku-no-Kagaku', Japanese Religions 23, 125–42 External links Japanese new religions Religious organizations established in 1986 Religious organizations based in Japan 1986 establishments in Japan Cults COVID-19 misinformation