Approved For Release 2000/08/11 : CIA-RDP96-00792ROO0400330017-0 Source: "Sbukan Asabl" Issue aated 10 teb 84 FUJ I TV SHOW EMStS 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 '4 several questionable demonstrations. N~ ~~Monstratr6u'ib lti~ol:-Qd' tiW-0-'e6*1i'e`g"e` 'sf%ideifs"; ltlgSly: tijai-dict by'TV viewers.-.6ne. is-KIYOTA Masuaki, age 2-1,.& third-year.studeuit. at Senshu. University,: whose repertoire includes twisting and bending spoons and psychic photography using Polaroid film. "Sunday Mainichi," which has covered KIY6TA's career in great detail since last fall, says he is adept at twisting spoons and "seeing through" airrors. The other Is YAMASHITA Hiroto, 'age. 19, a second-year student at Tokyo CIL, y 8~, id4ji fdh'*tLd,- I %frep wldl blindioiAed. 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 Dee for ten days. All the demonstrations were observed by a.pauel comprising commentator TACHIBANA Takashi, SUZUKI Matsumis director.of the Japan Acoustic Institute (Nippon Onkyo Kenkyujo) and OTANI So.ji, 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, nqtic-e. that..spi;ethIng. was wrong was producer URUJA Toshio. On 29 Dec, writer RATA Masanori observed that KIYOTA, grasping the handle of the already deformed spoon in his left hand, rotated the spoon slowly as if he arted and xg~e. twi.qing it....,The.n, on.the two hours after the.demonstratiou st' -.x~pthin'g`ha I _XIYOTA startied pacing the f loor. kl~iie.-the` panel.. f ollowed hi's "...ppenei sovements--on the V,i7 r-, 'TAeldiw saw i id ii, 1~is* 46~fids`.' tr 6'~ito" TA bind* e ipoon t Oiv..6.Jan, KIYOTA appea.re,d. -on- Nippon Television's "Noon Wide~Show." Fuji TV h!'' ""i '"n tber"'hfaen'' 'in .the wii~-re; TA was seen 0 coordinator's booth. The hidden camera recorded a sequence bending the spoon with his bands 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 Vsign to the panel, he Jested "Friday the 13th must be my lucky day for I see my psychic powers have not deserted me." Approved For Release 2000/08/11 : CIA-RDP96-00792ROO0400330017-0 Approved For Release 2000/08/11 : CIA-RDP96-00792ROO0400330017-0 Producer URUTA speculatess '*After he went to the restroom, a lady who war, in the area said she beard what sounded like somebody breaking open a wrapper. Probably, that's when be 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 be was able to reproduce using a pencil. However, during the demonstrations, the panel noted that his claixvg a t 'y .4; IV s on"'.' n 1~i dilijiim on s wn P .1§0, be was.able to -se4e clairvoyantly withis a . speciftc -f ield located directly. - below his-bliudfold*. , SUZUKI* bbdety6s that*his field of viiiou was about what one,. would expect if a blindfolded person were looking out through a narrow opening. CLAIELVOYANT SEES ONLY OBJECTS CLOSE AT HAND na' e -io"ieaa ~~jecis' pl.ace. 1~~fdeht'aikiy, !Akk§Hitk s u "6i d. behind a. curtain made. of --the same -mattrial' at. tbd 'blififf 914; `SUZ= Even au. opening as small ld.166AA mide a world .of difference. You must remember un, e r the. blindf o be 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 S)f the. pboot;ing, the panel confronted KITOTA,with a1-1 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, )q'~qTA.demqnstrated bow.he...bent. t4e. ~ppoonyllth.his.... `.'~anas.,'- "T6t - iequence. is...shown in'photos'at right'.'. First, be cradles the spoon in ~d' gra''a-AU'. e';wifh-h~s-1e': t hadd. Placling at he tp ~qg narro )f.the spq h hatidt rpt part 4 uA-ind for"th.' This takes one second if done slowly, 0.5 seconds. doike k1l - ~ ~ I i E* , " f * i 4]p 4_zi&4~r~eion con. JLas. ..V yb9dy,.yhP..F~An Ay4i~t,tbe p, qu c attentlp~R. 9f 94~ rAA-,qualify as. -a psycbici 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." TACHIBLNA is skeptical, "Since we caulght 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 me,-ahertz radio waves emitted -by KIYOTA's brain. KIYOTA showed me a - 0 Approved For Release 2000/08/11 : CIA-RDP96:PO '792R000400330017-0 Approved For Release 2000/08/11 CIA-RDP96-00792ROO0400330017-0 videotape of that program' * SUZUKI says, "That's not unusual since we all give off these emissions." On the show, KIYOTA nade a fluorescent lamp glow with his brain emissions. SUZUKI explains, "We boosted the imissions 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. f .,.. . . , . li~ A.., _ - ", , , ". ~ % P`rbduceFURU7tA:`S'8*ys' `Wow t t 0 4:'s hoak has Vq'ej'tkpqoyqro;d, tbe-Yama hita. -family* -f ears - that- v1*%rerif'Vi1-1* 1d6nfi1*'-bYi-wi-t1i Yu-Y6Tk-an'd has 'ask*d'us e Xestructu.re the show." KYOCERA PRESIDENT A STAUNCH SUPPORTER TAMASHITA'is'aya- ye, no. comzeA tbe. w4 XIYOTA's father. Yoshinori, who operates a sushi-sbop in downtown TOKYO-says, "When our * son confessed, we considered closing our shop and moving. But wt have' decided to stick it out. We. are told that NHK might do a program on Masuaki, if he's lucky." I 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. Commentin op the recent TV :show, Kyocera president IN&IMORI - Kaz(to -says; "It -is non.sen4e to -try to provide scientific evidence-of ESP.- These demolistrafions are influenced greatly by the spiritual atmosphere. If I had been in the audience, perhaps. th.i.ngs would have gq~ie d.if f ereu.tly. 4 r -jcai' -~,ihe- US and'. has%-~c4pndti ie -itI eg., In,' KfYOtk* i~i fjd6ived*:4~1 om et d 116r' NAKAYAMA Taro --,of `tlii~` Friiii K1n1ster!.s`df. `di"746iif" ' "i . 4 1.. ih)ftYdTk. a'nd e 3o -YA!4ASHI.TA i0erielicied a'n'a-'w~~a-kei23.ng.of,.t~ii.i, psy~14r,.powgrp .4f ter. Yuri-GEUER, teii?V q_ '_Y-- 4.coutinu -'zo,visit r U 6i" 'appipa' 'jft ed -es"rchers-,zt.'-tbe-~-Eledfrii~, coil Communications University and Defense Academy. Some years back, this magazine published an interesting observation by YA,%VV40TO 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 YA.KASHITA. Approved For Release 2000/08/11 : CIA-RDP9S-Q.0792ROO0400330017-0 Appgen*XOF_iW%%%*4tCQMWgilral&PdXiWO'WR2WWAWOi'M7-%hukan Asabi- which has been critical of the ESP boom- Still suffering from shock, he Is undergoing bypnotherapy. Photo captious: Page 158 Buoyant KIYOTA (left) and YAH&SHITA at start of shooting Page 159 KIYOTA demonstrates how be.~VAX. qpoo1%. boair -was -exposed, .1) .,Strokiug. the Bending the spooft with both hands 3) Restoring the spoon to its orig~ual shape "4)'' 1~d oi'd eimi"66'st' 'i rat on 4'*" v+ ~Ir I I Approved For Release 2000/08/11 CIA-RDP9-6-b(Y792ROO0400330017-0 Sketch of photo of YAMASHITA wearing aluminum f oil crown durlmS clair-MYSUt 14. k9a*fbWelease 2000/08/11 CIA-RDP96-00792ROO0400330017-0 BLIND FOLD gh 40. ca:rds pjl~ced. her tbrough gap.,ift bi Ju4 old e Cannot read cards*placed here Curtain of same material as blindfold C a~fln,ceme s n.t re cards 91 jp .. .. 5 Approved For Release 2000/08/11 CIA-RDP96-00792ROO0400330017-0 Approved For Release 2000/08/11 : CIA-RD M a T.(z- ~ ~Ia \RX: V w r0" wd~ 'W" . ......... P P I wqp P 4r CO si F. 1 cn t)T :i . 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