Update from Japan on Watchtower Growth, Kingdom Halls, etc.

January 15, 2000

Dear Randy,

I just got the latest issue of Free Minds today and read through it right away. I always find it interesting and useful for our work here in Japan with JWs. How long has it been since you came and spoke at our convention? I think it has been nearly eight years or so. Well, a lot has happened since then!

In the most recent Free Minds you referred to the zero growth rate in Japan, so I thought I’d give you some inside information on what’s been going on over here. Shortly after you were here, our coworker and host of the convention, William Wood, got a book published on the secular market entitled, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mind Control. It got immediate response, mostly as you may suspect, from Jehovah’s Witnesses themselves who were looking for a way out. About that same time a few of us began using exit-counseling methods together with families who were being torn apart by the Watchtower. It has been extremely successful. We have around an 85% success rate with counseling and have combined over 300 people disassociating from the WT as a result. The ripple effect of those people leaving has, in turn, accounted for who knows how many others leaving.

In addition to exit counseling, we have a constant stream of JWs and those studying with them calling us and coming to talk. You may have noticed that the number of unbaptized studies has also dropped by 50% here in Japan. That represents a loss of about 130,000 potential Witnesses for the organization here! (Think of the financial ramifications for the WT organization!)

Several years ago we also started a massive "Warning Tract" distribution. Many churches and individuals have helped out and we’ve been able to get out nearly 7 million flyers door-to-door. On top of that, recently many secular magazines and TV programs have picked up on the cultic nature of the Watchtower.

The Watchtower has started fighting back. Last year they took a Baptist pastor to court for supposedly violating a woman’s freedom when the husband brought her to talk to the pastor and tried to make her stay and listen. Now they are threatening to bring a lawsuit against me. It may be that their strategy is to tie us up in court and pull us down financially. Fortunately, many victims of the Watchtower have backed us up and the WT’s efforts have had more of a galvanizing effect.

The other WT move has been to appear more normal and less cultic. They now allow children to be involved in more school activities than before. They seem to be out going door-to-door less. They lowered the pioneering hours (70 per month regular and 50 per month for vacation pioneers). They are also going to universities looking for some well-known professors who will say they are not a cult (so far with no success). It is also reported that they are combining rented Kingdom Halls to save rent.

Thanks,

Jon Dugan

Address: 3-4-30-501, Nankadai, Kawachinagano, Osaka, Japan 586 0077

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