安倍晋三殺害事件から様々な「統一教会」の問題が指摘されているが、アメリカでは統一教会がグローバル企業して水産業界に進出しているという。
アメリカに「寿司」レストランを根付かせたのは、文鮮明に命を受けた日本人寿司職人、日本人信者たちなのだ。
2018年12月、日本の「漁業法」が70年ぶりに改悪された。
国会での審議も十分に尽くされないまま強行採決されたのである。
鈴木宣弘（東京大学大学院農学生命科学研究科）教授は、
「日本の制海権が脅かされる。」
「日本の食料と、国民の命と環境、地域、国境を守っている産業を
これ以上壊したら、国民の命と健康と国土、主権が守れない」
と強く警鐘を鳴らしていた。
２：００：３３〜
統一教会の重要な資金源が、マーケットが日本であるというのは知られた話で、彼らは30年間にわたって日本人から吸い上げたお金を貯めて、どこに進出しているかというと北アメリカなんですよね。
どんな業態をやっているかというと、なんと漁業なんです。北アメリカの例えば、ボストンとかマサチューセッツ州とかメイン州とかニューハンプシャーとかあの辺の漁業会社。アメリカだと漁船を持っている船会社があってそこが漁船員を雇うんですけど、そこを全部買収していくんです。
実は私は、メイン州のアメリカ人の漁業者、漁師さんを取材したことがあるんです。これは偶然であっったんですけど話を聞いてくれと言われて必死で話を聞いたんですね。それで、ああ、なるほどと。
彼らは魚をとるんですよ。それを加工して山海の珍味として売るわけですね。これは本当です。これはアメリカでも社会問題化してたんですね。
統一教会の社会進出というのは世界規模なんですよ。
日本はその足場にされてるんです。
この辺を、国会議員というのは法律を作る人たちですから、当然、法律を守る人たちでもあるわけだよね。その人たちが、脱法で集団で組織的にやっている団体と関わっている。利害関係、しかも一方的な便宜供与を受けちゃダメだろうというのは、極めて常識的なことだよね。日本というのはその常識的なことが守られていないということ。
2018/05/17 5/17 衆院・内閣委員会[午前] TPP11
参考人: 鈴木宣弘（東京大学
「グローバリズムは日本の国民の植民地化。制海権を失う状況。
ずたずたにしてしまったら、ほんとに主権を維持できるのか！」と警告を鳴らす。
○鈴木参考人 議員の御指摘のとおりで、いろいろな政策、方向性がセットになって、貿易の自由化、それと国内の規制改革という名のもとのルールの撤廃ということが、どんどん国内の農林水産業の、特に家族農業経営を追いやるような状況が今進んでいる。
言及いただきました種子法も最たるもので、まさにアメリカ発のグローバル種子企業が、日本の国民が食べる米も遺伝子組み換えにしたい、そういうことで、そうなると、国がお金を出して安全、安心な優良な種子を安く供給する、こういう体制が邪魔であるということになって、種子法がいつの間にやら廃止される。これは種の値段を下げるのが目的だと言われましたが、民間の種は、今、奨励品種の十倍もしている、米の種が。ですから、種の値段が下がるわけがない。
関連法では、今まで県の試験場が培ってきた種とその情報をただで民間企業に差し出せと書いてある。平昌オリンピックでイチゴの種が問題になったのに、種子法に関しては、米麦の種をただで企業に差し出せと書いてあるわけですよ。
こんなことをやれば、グローバル種子企業はぬれ手でアワで、ただで材料を得て、それを遺伝子組み換えをちょっとして、高く売りつけてくる。それを日本の農家は買わざるを得ない。日本の国民は、そういう遺伝子組み換えの米を食べざるを得ない。まさにグローバル企業による日本の国民の植民地化ですよ。こういうことがどんどん進んでいるわけです。
これは漁業権の開放でもそうです。沿岸漁業権を全部企業に開放すればいいと。どこの国が買うかわかりませんよ。制海権を失うような状況ですよ。
だから、こういうことを進めて、日本の食料と、国民の命と環境、地域、国境を守っている産業をこれ以上ずたずたにしてしまったら、私たち国民の命と健康と国土、それから主権というものは本当に維持できるのか、そういうことが全部総合的に今進められている。そこの点を問題にしなきゃいけない。御指摘のとおりだと思います。
※国会議事録 https://kokkai.ndl.go.jp/#/detail?minId=119604889X01720180517&spkNum=65¤t=1
東京大学農学部の鈴木宣弘教授 IWJ インタビュー2018.12.27
漁業権〜日本の「制海権」が外国のお友達に狙われている可能性がある
● 鈴木宣弘教授「今だけ金だけ自分だけ」
極端な規制緩和の果てに安価で危険な食品が市場を埋め尽くす!?
活路は共助による資源管理！
漁業法改悪（水産改革関連法）「浜の乗っ取り」に関して…
「予期せぬお友達が狙っている可能性がある。日本の《制海権》(戦時，軍事力によって一定海域の自国による行動の自由を確保し，かつ管制しうる状態)が欲しいと狙われている。すでに日本の沿岸部のマンションやリゾートホテルが赤字で社長が日本人の名前でも外国の方、国が関与しているような買い物もある。今後この漁業権は一度企業に付け替えると売買可能にしていくということなんで、制海権狙いで、どんどん赤字でも買い占める人が出てくる。」
｢統一教会｣が米国に寿司を広めた知られざる経緯
日本人信者たちがいかに寿司企業を拡大したか
東洋経済オンライン The New York Times 2022/07/20 10:15
本記事はニューヨーク・タイムズ紙に2021年11月5日に掲載されたものです。
https://toyokeizai.net/articles/-/604521
(抜粋）
”ヤシロたちは熱心に聞いていた。「あなたたちこそが水産業のパイオニアだ。シーフードビジネスだ。先駆けとなり、繁栄を取り戻すのだ」。文は彼らにこう告げたという。
信者が育てた事業は今や、アメリカで唯一の全国的なシーフード会社と言っていいだろう。専門は寿司で、社名はトゥルー・ワールド・フードという。
ヤシロが長年社長を務めた同社は、現在ではアメリカ17州（およびイギリス、カナダ、日本、韓国、スペイン）に支社を持つまでに成長した。トゥルー・ワールド・フーズは、40種類以上のサーモンやイクラ製品、5種類の鯛などの魚介類だけでなく、うなぎのたれ、包丁、ゆずなどのシトラス類、もちアイスクリームなど、アメリカの寿司職人が必要とするほぼすべてのものを扱っている。
親会社であるトゥルー・ワールド・グループ社長を務めるロバート・ブルーによると、トゥルー・ワールド・フーズは2021年度、アメリカとカナダで8300以上の顧客に販売しており、その大多数は寿司屋だった。
日本の子会社は2021年、アメリカに100万キロ以上の鮮魚を輸出する勢いである。多くのアメリカの都市で、中・高級の寿司屋向け販売の7〜8割を同社が占めており、同グループの年間売上高は通常5億ドルを超えるとブルーは語る。”
” トゥルー・ワールド・フーズは、結局は利益重視のコングロマリットで、その宗教的な背景は興味深くはあるがさして重要ではないかのように見えるかもしれないーー言ってみればマリオット・インターナショナルの寿司版のようなものだと。マリオットは、何十年にもわたって一般株主が主導し、時には創業者一族のモルモン教の信仰とは相反する経営判断（例えば、アルコールの提供など）を行ってきている。
しかし、モルモン教創始者のジョセフ・スミスとその直系の弟子たちによって、その歴史の大半を導かれてきた水産会社をイメージするほうが、現実のトゥルー・ワールドには近いだろう。
トゥルー・ワールドは創業以来、そのアイデンティティーの基礎となる部分、つまり誰がリーダーを務めるか、どこでどのように、いつ事業を拡大するか、年次総会でのメッセージ発信、事業が果たすべき目的、従業員が受け入れるべき犠牲とその理由などを、ビジネス界の通例に反して、直接的、または間接的に文個人の力によって形成してきたのである。
例えば、トゥルー・ワールドが1つのブランド、1つの事業として業界をリードしてきたのは、統一教会のおかげである。もともと、トゥルー・ワールドの卸売部門は正式には統一されていなかった。ヤシロがシカゴで指揮を執り、ナガイがボストンを管轄するのと同じように、ほかの信者たちも独立した事業を立ち上げたり、あるいは継承して、南はマイアミ、西はカリフォルニアまで広がる勢力圏を形成していったのである。"
"信者たちの企業を次々合併
法人としてのトゥルー・ワールド・グループは、1976年にインターナショナル・オセアニック・エンタープラゼズ（以下IOE）として設立され、統一教会インターナショナル最大の収益を生み出す営利目的の子会社に成長した。IOEの初期の役員には、アメリカ統一教会の2人の会長だけでなく、文自身も含まれていた。文が肩入れするアラスカの水産ベンチャーなど、IOEによる主要な買収は、彼の個人的な関心を反映していた。が、卸売事業については"真の父"の影響力は限定的だった。
1994年、ハドソンバレーの教会の敷地で開かれた海洋摂理についての祝賀会で、文はIOEの社長から黄金のトロフィーを贈られた。この頃には、文が始めたことの方向性はますます明白になっていた。会場はボストンのロッキーネック・シーフード、シカゴのレインボーフィッシュハウスなど、アメリカ中の同業者のブースや展示で埋め尽くされていた。
合併はすでに始まっていたのだ。しかし、それぞれ独立した企業のリーダーたちが、その保有株を統一教会インターナショナルに寄付し、トゥルー・ワールド・フーズとして一体化することは、決して前もって決められてはいなかった。
「自分の会社はいわば自分の小さな王国であり、とても居心地がいいものだ」と、ヤシロの妻で、レインボーフィッシュで彼と共に働き、後にトゥルー・ワールド・グループの管理者となった、ジェニファー・ヤシロは語る。それを放棄することは、「トップダウンの」のスピリチュアルなビジョンの一部だった、と彼女は振り返る。"
1人につき100ドル札1枚を渡し、全米に派遣
旧・統一教会がアメリカで“生魚”を売り始めた「意外な理由」─寿司ブームを支えた“日本人信徒たち”
クーリエ・ジャポン 7min2021.12.4
ニューヨーク・タイムズ・マガジン（米国）ニューヨーク・タイムズ・マガジン（米国）
Text by Daniel Fromson
https://courrier.jp/news/archives/269954/
統一教会の名で知られる世界平和統一家庭連合の創始者、文鮮明はかつてニューヨークで信徒たちに語った。「あなた方は、鮮魚ビジネス、すなわちシーフード・ビジネスのパイオニアです」と──。
アメリカで、彼のビジネスはどのようにして広まっていったのか。そこには日本人信徒たちの多大な貢献があった。
寿司をアメリカに広めたのは旧・統一教会だった
統一教会の巨大な資金源となった日本
文鮮明は、平壌で展開されたプロテスタントによる信仰運動、「平壌リバイバル」の余波がまだ残る1920年に生まれた。文によれば、彼が15歳だった復活祭の日にイエス・キリストが現れ、彼がすべき仕事について語ったのだという。
文は、共産党によって強制労働収容所に収監されたことをはじめ、迫害とサバイバルの物語をひとつの神話に仕立てることによって、主にアジア、アメリカ、欧州で数万人の信徒を惹きつけた。
キリスト教の教えに、仏教、儒教、シャーマニズム、そして魅力的な性的要素を混ぜた文の教義は、韓国の他の新興宗教とそれほど変わらなかった。だが最終的に、統一教会を他の教団と分けたのは、教会の日本での大成功だった。
統一教会、文鮮明亡きあとの妻と息子たちの激戦
脱会者によると、日本統一教会の財務局と密接な関係にあった商社「ハッピーワールド」が中心となって、日本全国を網羅する宗教関連商品の販売員ネットワークを構築した。
統一教会との関係を否定するよう訓練された販売員たちはよく、相手が患っていそうな病や抱えていそうな悩みを探って、潜在的な顧客にアプローチした。彼らの病や悩みは、たとえばものすごく高価な朝鮮人参茶やミニチュアの石塔を購入すれば治ったり解決したりするとされ、そうした商品は韓国にある文の提携先から仕入れられていた。
彼らの手法は怪しかったが、うまくいった。資金集めは大成功で、統一教会の歴史を研究するマイケル・ミクラーによると、日本は文のグローバルな活動を支える「巨大な資金源」となった。
「100ドル札1枚」を渡して、全米に信徒を派遣
1972年、文が活動拠点をアメリカに移すと、日本人信徒の一団が先陣を切って彼の跡を追う。元会計係の宣誓供述書によると、文の日本人会計係が信頼するアシスタントは、180万ドル（約2億円）が詰まったブリーフケースを持ってアメリカにやってきた。さらに、1976年から2010年にかけて、日本統一教会は36億ドル（約4077億円）を超える資金を米国に送っている。
こうした「人材」と「資金」の流入が、当初、主に2つの方面からアメリカにおける寿司（ビジネス）の将来を形作っていった。
1つ目は、この数十億ドルの資金をもとにビジネスを展開する新会社に、寿司関連事業を加えたことだ。法的には文の教会とは異なる組織でありながら、ワシントンに本社を置くその会社は「統一教会インターナショナル（UCI）」と命名された。UCIは現在、トゥルー・ワールド・グループをその傘下に置く。
UCIは寿司関連以外の事業も展開する。ときには直接、ときにはペーパーカンパニーを通して、文のメディア関連事業、反共活動、バレエ団、文の脱税容疑裁判を担当したローレンス・トライブの弁護活動、さらには北カリフォルニアのチンチラ牧場にも資金を投じる。それと同時に、UCIは統一教会がシーフードビジネスの道を開拓する手段となった。
寿司の運命を方向づけた2つ目の要素は、より明快だ。1980年までに、数百人の日本人信徒が、地球の裏側のアメリカまでやってきたのだ。
ニューヨーカー・ホテルのボールルームで、ヤシロ・タケシは信仰の“兄弟姉妹”とともに世界の飢餓を終わらせる計画に召集され、誇らしく思ったという。だが実際には、ことはもう少し複雑だった。
The Moonies made America love sushi
theknowledge. 2021/11/19/
https://www.theknowledge.com/2021/11/19/the-moonies-made-america-love-sushi/
Reverend Sun Myung Moon was notorious for tax fraud, “sacramental sex rituals” in his Unification Church and marrying off thousands of identically dressed “Moonies” in huge ceremonies. But the Korean also got America to love sushi, says Daniel Fromson in The New York Times. In 1980, the 60-year-old outlined The Way of Tuna to followers at his New York headquarters, a 2,000-room former hotel. It was a plan to feed the world with fish. (His father was a spiritually minded fisherman.) Already rich from selling expensive “cures” for ailments in Japan, Moon moved to the US with suitcases full of cash and ploughed tens of millions of dollars into buying boats and processing plants for his church’s fish distribution business, True World Foods.
He gave followers a $100 bill each as “seed money”, and told them: “Go forward, pioneer the way and bring back prosperity.” Luckily for them, 1980s America was gripped by all things Japanese – Toyota cars, Casio watches, the TV miniseries Shogun. But Americans needed encouragement to eat raw fish. “Nobody knew what sushi was,” says In Jin Moon, one of Moon’s daughters. If a state had no sushi restaurant, his followers opened one. The church’s mass arranged marriages to Americans enabled his “Japanese fish pioneers” to remain in the country.
Moon died in 2012, and the past decade has been marred by a succession battle among some of his 14 children. But True World Foods still supplies most good-quality American sushi restaurants with more than a million kilos of fresh fish a year, and is reeling in annual revenues of $500m.
✔︎True World Foods
http://www.trueworldfoods.com
INVESTIGATIONS
Sushi and Rev. Moon
By Monica Eng and Delroy Alexander and David Jackson
Chicago Tribune• Apr 11, 2006 at 2:00 am
https://www.chicagotribune.com/investigations/chi-0604sushi-1-story-story.html
On a mission from their leader, five young men arrived in Chicago to open a little fish shop on Elston Avenue. Back then, in 1980, people of their faith were castigated as "Moonies" and called cult members. Yet the Japanese and American friends worked grueling hours and slept in a communal apartment as they slowly built the foundation of a commercial empire.
They were led by the vision of Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the self-proclaimed messiah who sustained their spirits as they played their part in fulfilling the global business plan he had devised.
Moon founded his controversial Unification Church six decades ago with the proclamation that he was asked by Jesus to save humanity. But he also built the empire blending his conservative politics, savvy capitalism and flair for spectacles such as mass weddings in Madison Square Garden.
In a remarkable story that has gone largely untold, Moon and his followers created an enterprise that reaped millions of dollars by dominating one of America's trendiest indulgences: sushi.
Today, one of those five Elston Avenue pioneers, Takeshi Yashiro, serves as a top executive of a sprawling conglomerate that supplies much of the raw fish Americans eat.
Adhering to a plan Moon spelled out more than three decades ago in a series of sermons, members of his movement managed to integrate virtually every facet of the highly competitive seafood industry. The Moon followers' seafood operation is driven by a commercial powerhouse, known as * True World Group. It builds fleets of boats, runs dozens of distribution centers and, each day, supplies most of the nation's estimated 9,000 sushi restaurants.
Although few seafood lovers may consider they're indirectly supporting Moon's religious movement, they do just that when they eat a buttery slice of tuna or munch on a morsel of eel in many restaurants. True World is so ubiquitous that 14 of 17 prominent Chicago sushi restaurants surveyed by the Tribune said they were supplied by the company.
Over the last three decades, as Moon has faced down accusations of brainwashing followers and personally profiting from the church, he and sushi have made similar if unlikely journeys from the fringes of American society to the mainstream.
These parallel paths are not coincidence. They reflect Moon's dream of revitalizing and dominating the American fishing industry while helping to fund his church's activities.
"I have the entire system worked out, starting with boat building," Moon said in "The Way of Tuna," a speech given in 1980. "After we build the boats, we catch the fish and process them for the market, and then have a distribution network. This is not just on the drawing board; I have already done it."
In the same speech, he called himself "king of the ocean." It proved not to be an idle boast. The businesses now employ hundreds, including non-church members, from the frigid waters of the Alaskan coast to the iconic American fishing town of Gloucester, Mass.
Records and interviews with church insiders and competitors trace how Moon and members of his movement carried out his vision.
In a recent interview Rev. Phillip Schanker, a Unification Church spokesman, said the seafood businesses were "not organizationally or legally connected" to Moon's church, but were simply "businesses founded by members of the Unification Church."
Schanker compared the relationship to successful business owners-such as J. Willard "Bill" Marriott, a prominent Mormon who founded the hotel chain that bears his name-who donate money to their church.
"Marriott supports the Mormon Church but no one who checks into a Marriott Hotel thinks they are dealing with Mormonism," he said. "In the same way I would hope that every business founded by a member based on inspiration from Rev. Moon's vision also would be in a position to support the church."
LEADER'S SEAFOOD STRATEGY
But links between Moon's religious organization and the fish businesses are spelled out in court and government records as well as in statements by Moon and his top church officials. For one thing, Moon personally devised the seafood strategy, helped fund it at its outset and served as a director of one of its earliest companies.
Moon's Unification Church is organized under a tax-exempt non-profit entity called The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity. The businesses are controlled by a separate non-profit company called Unification Church International Inc., or UCI.
That company's connections to Moon's Unification Church go deeper than the shared name. A 1978 congressional investigation into Moon's businesses concluded: "It was unclear whether the UCI had any independent functions other than serving as a financial clearinghouse for various Moon organization subsidiaries and projects."
UCI as well as its subsidiaries and affiliates such as True World are run largely by church members, Schanker said. The companies were "founded by church members in line with Rev. Moon's vision,'' he said. "It's not coincidence."
Sometimes the links are more direct. The boatbuilding firm US Marine Corporation shares its headquarters offices with the church and lists the church as its majority shareholder, according to corporate records.
SERVING THROUGH BUSINESS
A portion of True World's profits makes its way to the church through the layers of parent corporations, Yashiro said, adding: "We live to serve others, and this is how we serve by building a strong business."
Moon predicted in 1974 that the fishing business would "lay a foundation for the future economy of the Unification Church." In fact, while Moon and businesses affiliated with him reportedly have poured millions of dollars into money-losing ventures including The Washington Times newspaper, the seafood ventures have created a profit-making infrastructure that could last-and help support the church-long after the 86-year-old Moon is gone.
Much of the foundation for that success has its roots in Chicago. True World Foods, Yashiro's wholesale fish distribution business spawned near Lawrence and Elston Avenues, now operates from a 30,000-square-foot complex in Elk Grove Village.
The company says it supplies hundreds of local sushi and fine-dining establishments. Even many who might have religious reservations about buying from the company do so for one simple reason: It dependably delivers high-quality sushi.
"We try not to think of the religion part,'' said Haruko Imamura, who with her husband runs Katsu on West Peterson Avenue. "We don't agree with their religion but it's nothing to do with the business."
Like Moon himself, who served a 13-month prison sentence for tax fraud in the 1980s, the seafood companies have at times run afoul of U.S. laws.
In June 2001, True World Foods' Kodiak, Alaska, fish processing company pleaded guilty to a federal felony for accepting a load of pollock that exceeded the boat's 300,000-pound trip limit. The firm was fined $150,000 and put on probation for five years under a plea agreement with prosecutors.
The company also has been cited for sanitation lapses by the Food and Drug Administration. Last year, after repeated FDA inspections found "gross unsanitary conditions" at True World's suburban Detroit plant, the facility manager tried to bar inspectors from production areas and refused to provide records, according to an FDA report. The plant manager told the inspectors that his True World supervisor was "a great man, that he was a part of a new religion, and that if we took advantage of him, then `God help you!'."
Later, according to that FDA report, an employee wearing a ski mask approached one female inspector, put his thumb and forefinger in the shape of a gun, pointed at her and said: "You're out of uniform. Pow!"
Saying they had been "hindered, intimidated and threatened," the FDA inspectors took the unusual step of securing a court order compelling True World to let them inspect the facility. Yashiro, chief executive of True World Foods, said in a written statement that the "isolated instance ..... arose from a miscommunication." The plant is now closed; Yashiro said its operations were consolidated into the Elk Grove Village plant in January, adding: "We maintain the highest standards of food safety."
THE OCEAN KING'S VISION
In the late 1970s, Moon laid out a plan to build seafood operations in all 50 states as part of what he called "the oceanic providence."
This dream of harvesting the sea would help fund the church, feed the world and save the American fishing industry, Moon said.
He even suggested that the church's mass weddings could play a role in the business plan by making American citizens out of Japanese members of the movement. This would help them avoid fishing restrictions applied to foreigners.
"A few years ago the American government set up a 200-mile limit for offshore fishing by foreign boats," Moon said in the 1980 "Way of Tuna" sermon. But by marrying Japanese members to Americans, "we are not foreigners; therefore Japanese brothers, particularly those matched to Americans, are becoming ..... leaders for fishing and distribution" of his movement's businesses.
Sushi's popularity had flowered enough by 1986 for Moon to gloat that Americans who once thought Japanese were "just like animals, eating raw fish," were now "paying a great deal of money, eating at expensive sushi restaurants." He recommended that his flock open "1,000 restaurants" in America.
In fashioning a chain of businesses that would stretch from the ocean to restaurant tables across America, Moon and his followers created a structure uniquely able to capitalize on the nation's growing appetite for sushi and fresh fish.
Some of the business start-up funds came from the Unification Church. In a seven-month period from October 1976 to May 1977, Moon signed some of the nearly $1 million in checks used to establish the fishing business, according to a 1978 congressional report on allegations of improprieties by Moon's church.
After acquiring an ailing boatmaking operation, Master Marine, Moon and his followers turned their attention to establishing the next link in the network. Church members who saw fishing as their calling took to the seas, many powered by Master Marine boats. Moon's Ocean Church would bring together members and potential converts for 40-day tuna fishing trips every summer in 80 boats he bought for his followers.
Many of the tournaments took place off the coast of Gloucester, Mass., by no coincidence one of the first homes to a church-affiliated seafood processing plant. Moon proudly declared in his "Way of Tuna" speech that "Gloucester is almost a Moonie town now!" (The church has since rejected the term Moonies as derogatory.)
FROM ANGER TO ACCEPTANCE
Sometimes working surreptitiously, Moon affiliates and followers bought large chunks of the key fishing towns--in each case initially sparking anger and suspicion from longtime residents.
The church and its members created an uproar when they bought a villa that had been a retirement home run by Roman Catholic nuns. Moon was hanged in effigy in the local harbor.
Eventually, such resistance withered away. In Bayou La Batre, Ala., Russell Steiner was among community leaders who clashed with the newcomers. But like many in the town, Steiner has mellowed considerably since the church's arrival. "They have been very active in the community and are very nice people, actually," he said.
The Alabama shrimp business is among the largest in the Gulf of Mexico, and the nearby boat-building plant has not only built more than 300 boats, but also done repairs on the U.S. Coast Guard and Navy ships, according to federal documents.
And the fish businesses have thrived. Company officials say the wholesale distribution arm, True World Foods, had revenue of $250 million last year.
According to True World Foods, its fleet of 230 refrigerated trucks delivers raw fish to 7,000 sushi and fine-dining restaurants nationwide. Dozens of those trucks leave each day from the Elk Grove Village warehouse, one of 22 distribution facilities around the country.
True World Foods' Alaska plant processes more than 20 million pounds of salmon, cod and pollock each year, the company says. Its International Lobster operation in Gloucester ships monkfish and lobster around the world from a 25,000-square-foot cold storage facility that is among the largest on the East Coast.
And it is again in an expansionist mood. True World recently opened up shop in England and established offices in Japan and Korea, setting its sights on the world's biggest market for sushi.
AN EMPIRE'S CHICAGO ROOTS
When Takeshi Yashiro arrived in Chicago in 1980 to help set up one of the earliest outposts of the fishing empire, the area had just a handful of sushi joints. That number has ballooned to more than 200 restaurants statewide, and Yashiro's fish house has flourished.
The son of an Episcopalian Japanese minister, he immigrated to the U.S. and joined the church as a student in San Francisco. On July 1, 1982, Moon blessed Yashiro and his bride along with more than 2,000 other couples in one of his mass wedding ceremonies, in New York City's Madison Square Garden.
The Rainbow Fish House that Yashiro and fellow church members founded on Chicago's Northwest Side has become not only the city's dominant sushi supplier but also the nation's. The fish house became True World Foods, which buys so much tuna from around the world that it has seven people in Chicago solely dedicated to sourcing and pricing the best grades.
One of True World's advantages is that its sales force speaks Chinese, Korean and Japanese, making it easy for first-generation ethnic restaurant owners to do business with them.
"It's kind of tough to compete in this industry with a company that is so global, has a major presence in almost every market and that is driven by religious fervor," said Bill Dugan, who has been in the fish business for almost 30 years and owns the Fish Guy Market on Elston Avenue, near the original Rainbow shop. "We should all be so blessed."
But not all of True World's employees are church members. Tuna buyer Eddie Lin recently left True World for Fortune Fish Co., a local rival. Lin said his former workplace was not overtly religious, but he added that as a non-church member he felt his ability to advance was limited. "You can feel the difference between the way they see members and non-members," Lin said.
FAITH-BASED BUSINESS CULTURE
While disputing such assertions, Yashiro noted that new employees "have to know that the founder is the founder of the Unification Church.
It's a very clear distinction between joining the church or not joining the church. There's no discrimination, but I think our culture is definitely based on our faith."
It's that faith that makes some uneasy. Wang Kim, a Chicago-area youth ministry director and Moon critic, was certain he could find local Korean Christian sushi restaurateurs who didn't use True World because they might consider his views heretical. As Kim said, Moon "says that he is the Messiah, and we hate that."
But Kim called back empty-handed. "I checked with several of my friends,'' he said, "and they know it is from Moon but they have to use [them because] they have to give quality to their customers."
The sheer success of the venture has left lingering questions even in the minds of Moon's dedicated followers. Yashiro, the Chicago pioneer who now heads True World Foods, remembers dedicating his career and life 26 years ago to achieving Moon's dream, which included solving world hunger.
But that part of Moon's grand vision has yet to materialize. "I was wondering if we are really here to solve the world's hunger," Yashiro said. "Every day I ..... pray on it."
He still hopes True World Foods eventually will help end hunger. But until then, he said, his role will be to grow the business and make money.