Toru Goto is a name that refers to at least two distinct individuals documented in reliable sources: a Japanese Olympic swimmer and a Japanese human rights advocate and former Unification Church member.
1. Toru Goto (swimmer)
Toru Goto (後藤 暢, Gotō Tōru; born June 26, 1934) is a former freestyle swimmer from Japan. He represented Japan at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland, where he won a silver medal as a member of the men's 4 × 200 m freestyle relay team, alongside Yoshihiro Hamaguchi, Hiroshi Suzuki, and Teijiro Tanikawa. Goto was born in Fukuoka, Empire of Japan.
2. Toru Goto (human rights advocate)
Toru Goto (born November 2, 1963) is a Japanese adherent of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (formerly the Unification Church) who became a human rights advocate after being abducted and forcibly confined for over 12 years.
- Background: Goto was born in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. He graduated from Nihon University's College of Science and Engineering and joined the Unification Church in 1986 after being introduced by his older brother.
- Abduction and confinement: On September 11, 1995, at age 31, Goto was abducted in Tokyo by family members and associates, including a Christian pastor and a professional deprogrammer. He was held in apartments in Niigata and Tokyo for 12 years and 5 months (4,536 days) in an effort to force him to renounce his religious beliefs. During this period, he was subjected to isolation, psychological pressure, malnutrition, and multiple hunger strikes, with his weight dropping to approximately 39–50 kg.
- Release and recovery: He was released on February 10, 2008, after being ejected from the apartment. He was hospitalized for severe malnutrition and muscle atrophy.
- Legal proceedings: Goto filed a civil lawsuit in 2011. The Tokyo High Court ruled in his favor in November 2014, awarding 22 million yen in damages, and Japan's Supreme Court upheld the decision in 2015, affirming that the confinement violated his constitutional right to religious freedom.
- Advocacy: Goto became president of the Japan Victims' Association Against Religious Kidnapping & Forced Conversion, advocating against forced deprogramming and for religious freedom protections. In 2025, he published an autobiography titled Battle for Survival: 4,536 Days in Captivity.
