In the tragi-comic era of Donald Trump, Alex Jones and 'QAnon,' the reality-inverting 'totalitarian' information/mind control technique known as, the 'Big Lie,' has suddenly attracted the attention of a new generation of critical commentators. That is to say, the spreading of a falsehood which is so colossal and outrageous that the average person cannot even begin to conceive that anyone would have the audacity to invent it. Yet, it has been known for a long time that, when even the most-crazy of 'Big Lies' gets repeated enough times, eventually many people will come to accept it as the truth. The actual truth then becomes a threat to the self-esteem of those who have fallen for the 'Big Lie,' and in this way, the actual truth itself can become mistaken for a lie. Consequently, the 'Big Lie' can be described as a form of sustainable criminal deception, because it can also prevent victims from facing reality and complaining.
Amway Japan ordered to halt transactions for six months over illegal soliciting | The Japan Times
Bearing the 'Big Lie' in mind, Japanese trade regulators have suddenly shut down 'Amway.' The issuing of all new recruitment contracts, and all transactions, have been banned for 6 months (to start with), but only on the limited grounds that 'Amway' has been behind 'illegal soliciting.' In simple terms, Japanese regulators have taken this action because they have received complaints from a significant number of people who realise that they were deceived into signing up for 'Amway.'
'Amway' was first registered in Japan as long ago as the late 1970s (some sources say 1977 whilst others say 1979) and the hidden criminal function of this reality-inverting corporate front has evidently not yet been officially recognised. That said, more than 20 years ago, I encountered a group of Japanese lawyers attending a conference on cults in Paris. They were very interested to speak with me about the cultic aspect of 'Amway,' but I never heard a word from them after the event. At that time, I was informed that around 1% of the entire Japanese population* were claimed as current contractors of 'Amway.' This was a significantly higher % than anywhere else in the world.
(*The entire population of Japan has been approximately 125 millions during the last several decades).
JAPANESE DISTRIBUTORS BOOST AMWAY – Chicago Tribune
Thus, in the mid-1990s, 'Amway' was claiming more than 1.2 millions Japanese 'Distributors.' This means that, even at an annual churn rate of only 50%, 'Amway' was eating and spitting out around 0.5% of the entire Japanese population annually. That is significantly more than 1% of the adult population and over 10% per decade. Indeed, the Japanese chapter of the Big 'Amway' Lie has been particularly colossal and outrageous. Imagine if there were more than a million McDonalds restaurant franchises in Japan, but these were all secretly operating at a net-loss and being quietly closed (and replaced) annually at a rate in excess of 50%. Imagine also if not one of the human links in a never-ending chain of would-be business owners had been told that the overall net-loss churn rate for participation was effectively 100% (by design). Yet this demonstrably-fake 'Business/income opportunity' is the 'Big Lie' that the 'Amway' bosses have been peddling, and getting away with peddling, in Japan for decades - and right under the noses of Japanese journalists, regulators, law enforcement agents, legislators, etc.
In the UK, with a population of around 68 millions (just over half that of Japan), 'Amway' has never had more than around 100 000 claimed contractors. Interestingly, in 2007 British 'Amway' recruitment was also suspended when the UK company faced limited civil investigation (and possible closure) as the front for a pyramid scheme. The investigation discovered that at least one million contracts had been issued in the UK 1973-2006. As a result of the suspension of all new recruitment, the number of claimed 'Amway' contractors quickly collapsed to under 20 000 in Britain at that time.
Subsequently, the 'Amway UK Ltd.' mysteriously survived the regulators' somewhat timid attempts to close it definitively.
It is to be hoped that the same mistakes will not be made in Japan.
David Brear (copyright 2022)
