We want to thank the reader who sent in this report. We’re always curious about the state of Scientology leader David Miscavige’s “Ideal Orgs,” his ongoing project that began in 2003 to replace every normal “org” in large cities around the world with gleaming new facilities.
We’ve heard from former church officials that each of these projects require about $20 to $25 million to complete, from the purchase and rehabilitation of buildings to all of the fancy stuff inside, including all the displays that are designed to introduce newcomers to Scientology.
Miscavige promises his followers that when an Ideal Org opens up, it creates a major rush of interest in Scientology that produces “unprecedented expansion.” But instead, when we check back in with these places years later, they seem mostly empty.
If there’s one place that an Ideal Org should be booming, however, it’s in the biggest city in the world, right? Here’s the report we received…
I’m in Tokyo for some work (first time in 20 years) and had a dinner appointment that seemed a five-minute walk from what is now the Tokyo Ideal Org, so I thought I’d walk over beforehand and have a look (from the outside only, now being a long-declared SP).
It’s a large building about a half mile from Shinjuku Station — the busiest in the world at 3.5 million people passing through each day. Here are my observations:
I was hanging out on the sidewalk on a Monday from 5:45 - 6:15 pm which is either when Day courses end or Foundation courses begin. (I can no longer remember which since it’s been so long.)
It’s on a fairly large avenue with lots of vehicle traffic but not much foot traffic.
During this time there were a handful of people coming and going, perhaps 15 to 20 — some staff, some public.
As you can see from the photos there’s a fairly large lobby with few people. There were a couple of young kids playing on a phone in the video area perhaps waiting for a parent to get off course.
There were no staff hanging out front smoking cigarettes which is what I remember when I was “in” at my local org in the U.S.
I didn’t see any body routers out front or down the street at a busier avenue looking to bring in “fresh meat.”
Back in the early 1990s when I was “in” and in Tokyo was when I went into the previous org in a different part of the city. I remember that being a fairly large building, too. Don’t know why they didn’t keep it except that it probably didn’t fit Davey’s Idle Org blueprint. At that time I went there to see the Orientation movie.
This new Org looks like the usual situation as described at all the other Idle Orgs.
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Thank you tipster. Your report reaffirms what I’ve suspected. Japan has cooled off to Scientology. I think this is the case almost everywhere. I visited the San Francisco org not to long ago and I went inside and talked with the receptionist. It was the early afternoon and there was no one there except an older couple watching an intro video. The org was located on a street with light foot traffic. I didn’t see anyone go in or out of the building when I was there. I was with my cinematographer, we shot some video.
I remember years ago when the San Francisco org was the bustling center of Scientology in the Bay Area. It was humming. No more.
Thank you unknown correspondent, $cientology is just as busy as a W T Grants or K Mart in Tokyo. A nearby pachinko parlor has more traffic in an hour than the Clampire's Idle mOrg has in a month.