FUJI TV SHOW EXPOSES ESP HOAX

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: STARGATE
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP96-00792R000400330010-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: November 4, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 25, 2003
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: October 19, 1984
• Content Type: IRR

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Source: "Shukan Asahi" issue dated 10 Feb 84
FUJI TV SHOW EXPOSES ESP HOAX
After a brief lull, the ESP craze has shown signs of a comeback. Recently, a
Fuji TV camera crew shooting a special documentary on ESP succeeded in recording
several questionable demonstrations.
The demonstrations involved two college students, highly regarded by TV
viewers. One is KIYOTA Masuaki, age 21, a third-year student at Senshu University,
whose repertoire includes twisting and bending spoons and psychic photography using
Polaroid film. "Sunday Mainichi," which has covered KIYOTA's career in great
detail since last fall, says he is adept at twisting spoons and "seeing through"
mirrors. The other is YAMASHITA Hiroto, age 19, a second-year student at Tokyo
Agricultural University, a clairvoyant who reads cards and figures while
blindfolded.
Fuji TV planned a two-hour documentary for airing during its Friday "Family
Wide Show" on 3 Feb. Shooting took place at a hotel in SHINJUKU, TOKYO, from 26
Dec for ten days. All the demonstrations were observed by a panel comprising
commentator TACHIBANA Takashi, SUZUKI Matsumi, director of the Japan Acoustic
Institute (Nippon Onkyo Kenkyujo) and OTANI Soji, professor of psychology at the
Defense Academy.
No matter how many times the TV crew tried, they were unable to record the much
publicized spoon twisting demonstration by KIYOTA in complete sequence. KIYOTA
would show the spoon to the panel but always after it has been twisted, never
before. It was speculated that KIYOTA twisted the spoon with his hands when nobody
was looking.
While the cameras were trying to record the spoon sequence, a strange thing
happened. The first person to notice that something was wrong was producer URUTA
Toshio. On 29 Dec, writer HATA Masanori observed that KIYOTA, grasping the handle
of the already deformed spoon in his left hand, rotated the spoon slowly as if he
were twisting it. Then, on the 30th, two hours after the demonstration started and
nothing happened, KIYOTA started pacing the floor. While the panel followed his
movements on the TV monitor, TACHIBANA saw KIYOTA bend the spoon with his hands.
On 6 Jan, KIYOTA appeared on Nippon Television's "Noon Wide Show." Fuji TV
cameras were set up in the studio, one facing the guest, another hidden in the
coordinator's booth. The hidden camera recorded a sequence where KIYOTA was seen
bending the spoon with his hands before he went on the show.
During the psychic photography demonstration, KIYOTA pulled another serious
blunder. Four cameras were used for this demonstration, an overhead stationary
camera, one set up in the exhaust duct, another on a shelf, and'the last set up
behind a see-through mirror. KIYOTA, finding himself alone, slipped a Polaroid
film into his pocket before retiring to the restroom. Five minutes later, he
emerged, transferred the film to a holder, then appeared to make a psychic
photograph. Flashing a V sign to the panel, he jested "Friday the 13th must be my
lucky day for I see my psychic powers have not deserted me."
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Producer URUTA speculates, "After he went to the restroom, a lady who was in
the area said she heard what sounded like somebody breaking open a wrapper.
Probably, that's when he developed the film."
YAMASHITA's demonstration was equally suspect. The blindfold he used was his
own, a black cloth filled with cotton padding. Blindfolded, he was able to read
cards and dice with total accuracy. Complex figures he was able to reproduce using
a pencil. However, during the demonstrations, the panel noted that his clairvoyant
powers were restricted to a narrow field of vision. As is shown in the diagram on
P 160, he was able to see clairvoyantly within a specific field located directly
below his blindfold. SUZUKI observes that his field of vision was about what one
would expect if a blindfolded person were looking out through a narrow opening.
CLAIRVOYANT SEES ONLY OBJECTS CLOSE AT HAND
Incidentally, YAMASHITA was unable to read objects placed behind a curtain made
of the same material as the blindfold. SUZUKI observes, "Even an opening as small
as 0.1mm under the blindfold could made a world of difference. You must remember
he has sharp features, including a prominent nose. We suggested sealing his eyes
completely, but he said the pressure on his eyes would restrict his psychic powers."
So it was not until the ninth day that YAMASHITA finally agreed to have his
eyes sealed completely. Needless to say, his clairvoyant powers deserted him at
that point. Magicians are able to read cards while blindfolded for the same reason.
When SUZUKI demonstrated this trick for YAMASHITA, the latter complained, "The
important difference here is I keep my eyes shut when blindfolded but you don't."
If YAMASHITA is telling the truth, I can only say that ESP is beyond my
comprehension. TACHIBANA says, "Whether we can call this ESP is very questionable."
On 14 Jan, the last day of the shooting, the panel confronted KIYOTA with all
the evidence it had gathered. Overwhelmed, KIYOTA admitted the demonstrations were
fraudulent. His confession was recorded by a hidden camera and shown later to TV
viewers. In that sequence, KIYOTA demonstrated how he bent the spoon with his
hands. That sequence is shown in photos at right. First, he cradles the spoon in
his right hand, grasping the handle with his left hand. Placing his thumbs at the
narrowest part of the spoon, he bends it 1-2 times, twisting it by moving his hands
back and forth. This takes one second if done slowly, 0.5 seconds if done
quickly. A demonstration can last up to eight hours, so anybody who can divert the
attention of the audience for 0.5 seconds, can qualify as a psychic.
Panelist SUZUKI put on his own demonstration, adding, "Even a grandmother of 84
years can learn this trick. Once you become fairly good at it, the spoon bends
easily and you almost begin to wonder if you are not indeed psychic."
KIYOTA, after being exposed as a fraud, said, "The pressure to perform within a
limited time frame became so great I just had to use physical force. But I must
say this is the first time it has happened."
TACHIBANA is skeptical, "Since we caught them cheating this time, we have to
suspect this isn't the first time."
SUZUKI, who appeared on a Nippon Television show on ESP before, once measured
the 34.5 megahertz radio waves emitted by KIYOTA's brain. KIYOTA showed me a
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videotape of that program. SUZUKI says, "That's not unusual since we all give off
these emissions. On the show, KIYOTA made a fluorescent lamp glow with his brain
emissions. SUZUKI explains, "We boosted the emissions a million times just to
impress our TV audience."
Needless to say, the disgraced psychics offered a rebuttal. TV officials say
the Yamashita family has asked that all his scenes be cut from the show.
Producer URUTA says, "Now that KIYOTA's hoax has been uncovered, the Yamashita
family fears that viewers will identify him with KIYOTA and has asked us to
restructure the show."
KYOCERA PRESIDENT A STAUNCH SUPPORTER
YAMASHITA says, "I have no comment to make. If you think ESP is not on the
level, you are free to do so."
KIYOTA's father, Yoshinori, who operates a sushi shop in downtown TOKYO says,
"When our son confessed, we considered closing our shop and moving. But we have
decided to stick it out. We are told that NHK might do a program on Masuaki, if
he's lucky."
A well-known Liberal Democratic Party Diet member wondered what all the fuss
was about. It is rumored that Dentsu Inc, an advertising giant, is also interested.
YAMASHITA's father, Takemasa, is a director of Daiwa Securities Co, Inc and a
former manager of its Kyoto Branch. He has many friends in the Kansai financial
world who are familiar with his son's psychic powers. While the TV show was being
recorded, YAMASHITA put on clairvoyant demonstrations for executives of Daiwa
Securities and Sumitomo Bank.
Commenting on the recent TV show, Kyocera president INAMORI Kazuo says, "It is
nonsense to try to provide scientific evidence of ESP. These demonstrations are
influenced greatly by the spiritual atmosphere. If I had been in the audience,
perhaps things would have gone differently..."
KIYOTA has received invitations from colleges in the US and has conducted a
demonstration for NAKAYAMA Taro of the Prime Minister's Office. Both KIYOTA and
YAMASHITA experienced an awakening of their psychic powers after Yuri GELLER
visited JA ten years ago. After this magazine exposed GELLER's spoon trick and the
boom collapsed, KIYOTA continued to visit researchers at the Electric
Communications University and Defense Academy.
Some years back, this magazine published an interesting observation by YAMAMOTO
Shichihei, writer, "ESP is ESP because we are unable to believe in its existence.
These demonstrations should be conducted before an audience of skeptics.
Otherwise, they are meaningless."
Perhaps we can say the demonstrations failed because a skeptical TV crew
possessed super-psychic powers which nullified the psychic powers of KIYOTA and
YAMASHITA.
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KIYOTA confessed his ultimate dream was to appear in "Shukan Asahi" which has
been critical of the ESP boom. Still suffering from shock, he is undergoing
hypnotherapy.
Photo captions:
Page 158 Buoyant KIYOTA (left) and YAMASHITA at start of shooting
Page 159 KIYOTA demonstrates how he bent spoon with hands after hoax was exposed.
1) Stroking the spoon
2) Bending the spoon with both hands
3) Restoring the spoon to its original shape
4) End of demonstration
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Sketch of photo of YAMASHITA wearing aluminum foil crown during clairvoyant
demonstration
Cannot read cards placed here
~.~ Can read cards placed here through gap in blinatota
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Japan Psychotronics Institute Newsletter
Subject: Psychic Energy and Psychic Allergy
By: MISUMI Yukinori (STC 0005/6037/5887/1795), Chief, Kanto Branch
The truth of the phony program on "psychic power" broadcast by Fuji TV. The Fuji
TV Friday "Family Wide Show" on 3 Feb featured a special two-hour documentary on
psychic power. The synopsis on this program in the TV schedule read "Much
publicized "spoon bending" and Nen-photography" a fraud. Camera catches the
decisive moment. Trickery fully exposed." The circumstances of how this Fuji TV
program was produced were introduced in the Weekly Asahi (Shukan Asahi) of 10 Feb
84 as follows:
Shooting for this documentary on psychic power took place at a hotel in
SHINJUKU from 26 Dec 83 and lasted 10 days. The demonstration was witnessed from
the beginning to the end by TACHIBANA Takashi, the commentator; SUZUKI Matsumi,
director of the Japan Acoustic Institute, and OTANI Soji, professor of psychology
at the Defense Academy.
Blocking of psychic power.
Neither SUZUKI Matsumi nor TACHIBANA Takashi is a specialist in psychic power
and can be said to have practically no basic knowledge of the studies made in this
field. I would like to make that point clear and prove that what they demanded of
KIYOTA and YAMASHITA during this demonstration was sheer murder. According to the
article in the "Weekly Asahi," "A person can qualify as a psychic if he can divert
the attention of his audience for five seconds during an eight-hour
demonstration." Eight hours -- that is asking too much. A person can sustain
concentration of mind for at most 10 to 20 minutes. Records of demonstrations
conducted during the past 10 years by specialists in ESP show each demonstration
lasted less than one hour. The subject was then allowed one week's rest to recover
his psychic powers before the next session.
To film this program, Fuji TV confined KIYOTA and YAMASHITA in a hotel for ten
successive days and demanded spoon bending demonstrations and such for eight
continuous hours a day. This would definitely block the emergence of psychic
power. Anybody with even a basic knowledge of psychology should know that there is
such a thing as "declining phenomenon" and would not plan such an outrageous
program. This proves that Director URUTA and SUZUKI Matsumi are completely
ignorant in this field. I know the conditions faced by KIYOTA and YAMASHITA during
and after the demonstrations and I am furious over the fact that their health was
endangered. Psychic power will not emerge under such conditions. Let me say here
that it is very dangerous for someone without any knowledge of how to manage the
health of people with psychic power to conduct such experiments.
Since I watched KIYOTA and YAMASHITA grow up, I realize that there is a
difference between the two in the way their psychic power emerges. What I say
here, therefore, may not apply equally to both of them. I would like, however, to
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present my views for those with psychic power who may emerge in the future. These
two people possessed psychic power from when they were small. They, however, had
no discipline in their life as possessors of psychic power. They did not have any
instructors or leaders to provide them with the necessary discipline or guidance
which they need when they grow up and become members of society. Those people with
whom they were in contact for several years for experimentation are not instructors
in discipline. If KIYOTA and YAMASHITA had some knowledge of discipline, they
would not have agreed to the unreasonable demands made by Fuji TV or consented to
participate in such a hoax demonstration.
If a concealed TV camera had been set up, KIYOTA's extrasensory perception
would have sensed it and would have subconsciously interfered with his
concentration of mind. It was unfortunate that the recording crew did not realize
this.
Following is a repeat of what was shown on TV:
The director, after accusing KIYOTA of being a fraud, asked "Do you now have the
power of a psychic?" KIYOTA answered "Yes." "If so, would you bend this?" (TV
opaque projector (TELOP) used here). At this point, KIYOTA was in spiritless
condition. There was nobody present to protect his state of mind or health. He
was under mental torture at this time. The director further said "If you actually
have the power, I would like to get photographic proof of it in one take." (TELOP
used) KIYOTA did not know how to escape from this torture of mind. This shows
that Director URUTA knows nothing about the process of recovery of psychic energy.
Why didn't KIYOTA demand that the demonstration be discontinued until he recovered
his psychic power? He should have asked the TV crew to allow him to have an
assistant at all times who would help him during moments of "declining phenomenon"
or when he experienced psychological difficulties. KIYOTA and YAMASHITA are now in
need of an instructor who can look into the bottom of their souls and provide them
with discipline. Even after they recover their psychic power, they should not
accept any further offers to appear on TV unless the producer understands the
discipline involved. I consider Director URUTA and SUZUKI Matsumi as patients of
"psychic allergy."
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