The Tokyo District Court ordered an agriculture commune Wednesday to return about 240 million yen to a former follower who claimed she was brainwashed into donating the money.
The ruling ordered the Yamagishi Life Demonstration Community in Tsu, Mie Prefecture, and other Yamagishi entities affiliated with the parent Yamagishi Association to repay the money.
The Yamagishi Association, which was launched in the town of Iga, Mie Prefecture, in the 1950s, believes communal living based largely on agriculture is indispensable to producing a humane society.