Two in their twenties missing after an "awakening retreat"; mountain house found empty
Two people in their twenties who attended a retreat advertised as "awakening permeation sensitivity" have been out of contact with their families, it emerged on Sept. 1. The retreat was run by a self-development group calling itself the Society of the Returning Shore, in a rented house in the mountains west of the metropolitan area; when police checked the site in late August, the building was empty. The group's representative cannot be reached. Police are searching for the two as missing persons and examining the organization, with possible violations of the Specified Commercial Transactions Act in view.
According to family members, the two joined a ten-day program the group called its "final course," beginning in mid-August. The fee was 680,000 yen. Participants gathered at a private railway station in the city and were driven from there to the rented mountain house in vehicles the group provided.
The last message families received was on Aug. 18: a short note saying reception was poor and there would be no replies for a while. When the two did not return after the program's scheduled end, their families filed reports with police on the 26th and 28th. Police checked the site in late August and found the building empty. The landlord said the lease had expired at the end of August and the house had been cleaned and vacated. What remained were windows with every storm shutter removed, and small candle holders set on the tatami — one for each window.
One of the two had consulted the municipal consumer affairs center in late July about cancelling. The record notes that 400,000 yen had already been paid for beginner and intermediate levels, and that the final course's 680,000 yen felt expensive. The center explained how to send written notice of cancellation. There was no follow-up consultation. The family was told instead: "I'll do the last one. If I quit now, everything I've already paid is wasted." On the shoe cabinet in the entryway, a mother found a note left behind: "The next time we meet, I will be one of the ones who can see."
The other missing person's brother, 31, said his sister began watching videos by people who claim to see after changing jobs last year. "I did try to stop her. I was just bad at it. All I could say was that it was a lie."
The Society of the Returning Shore has recruited members through videos and seminars for several years. People familiar with it describe a tiered structure — free videos leading to beginner and intermediate courses and then to residential programs, with fees rising at each step. At least four residential sessions are believed to have been held this year.
Asked about the phrase in the group's name, the TDA restated its standing position that the conditions under which permeation sensitivity appears are unexplained and that no "development method" has any scientific basis, then added: "The concept of 'returning to the shore' that this group asserts corresponds to nothing in this agency's observational record." On Aug. 29 the Consumer Affairs Agency issued its first business suspension order against a seller of sensitivity-development materials. Related consultations at the municipal consumer affairs center are running at more than three times last year's pace.
A man in his thirties who left after the intermediate course spoke to this paper. "The retreat comes up suddenly, in the last intermediate session. They tell you that from here on, it can't be handed over in writing. It's the idea that something can't be handed over that does the work." He had decided to sign up for the final course but withdrew when he could not raise the money. "Looking back, I was lucky that the reason was money. I didn't reason my way out of it." Sessions, he said, included a period in which members recounted experiences of seeing, under a rule that no other member would contradict what was said. "Once you decide nobody contradicts, the stories only ever get bigger."
A lawyer experienced in consumer cases notes that residential courses often fall short on written contracts and cancellation disclosure, and that a high fee may still be recoverable where the contractual form was never properly established. Where the operator cannot be reached, however, identifying whom to claim against becomes the obstacle.
The group published a single telephone number and an inquiry form as contact points; neither has responded since late August. The address registered as its office turned out to be that of a mail-forwarding business. Several different spellings of the representative's name have been found.
"They were quiet tenants," said the landlord, 72. "No dealings with the neighbors, but not a single complaint either. They did ask whether they could take the storm shutters off. I didn't ask why. It was summer — I assumed they wanted the air through."
Police are investigating, including whether any crime has occurred, and are appealing for information on the two. They are also working to confirm the whereabouts of other members who attended the retreats.