What is Soka Gakkai?

From the Japan Times:

Soka Gakkai keeps religious, political machine humming

Not a bad primer on the super-duper creepy Japanese "Buddhist" cult- especially considering that the Japan Times has run opinion pieces by Mister "Living Buddha" himself, Daisaku Ikeda.

Features SGI's political activities, Soka-run schools, leadership, finances, celebrity members, and this interesting tidbit about its media strategies:

What does the Seikyo Shimbun cover?
More than half of its contents are about activities of the group, including where Ikeda goes, who he meets and what other famous members do. Articles about and photos of Ikeda appear on every front page.
With its circulation of 5.5 million, it is Japan's third-largest daily, after the Yomiuri Shimbun's 10.02 million and the Asahi Shimbun's 8.04 million. It does not own printing equipment and thus pays major newspaper publishers for its press runs.
Critics say Soka Gakkai's aim is to be a customer of major newspapers to dissuade them from generating negative press. Newspaper publishers have many customers as advertisers, but Soka Gakkai is arguably the only one that helps them make effective use of their expensive presses.