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politics

Joker in the running for Chiba gubernatorial election

16 Comments
By SoraNews24

The race for governor of Chiba Prefecture is heating up as the March 21 election day draws near. With incumbent Governor Kensaku Morita set to retire, the field has become wide open and eight candidates have entered the fray. Here are a few of them.

Screen Shot 2021-03-06 at 11.21.44.png

Those who follow politics closely might remember the masked man as Teruki Goto, the Basic Income Party candidate who once appeared on TV in a poop-stained diaper while campaigning for Tokyo governor. However, you’d be forgiven for not noticing right away, because it’s rather hard to not stare at the candidate next to him, Yusuke Kawai.

Kawai is the head of an event planning and temporary employment agency who also happens to be dressed like a clown recently. Given his tendency for purple suits, one might say he closely resembles a certain comic book supervillain, but to stay safe of copyright issues, let’s just say he’s “a joker” not the Joker.

In the following press conference, Kawai announces his candidacy with the Party to Make All of Chiba a Land of Dreams and Magic, and lays out his platform.

So, just what is Kawai’s agenda? Well, a big chunk of it appears to be annoying his rival candidate Masayuki Hiratsuka. Hiratsuka is a former Protect the Nation from NHK member and current head of the People’s Sovereignty Party, known for their anti-mask stance and slogans such as “COVID-19 is just a cold,” and “Vaccines are dangerous.”

▼ Kawai practicing confronting Hiratsuka with his friend

▼ The real thing at one of Hiratsuka’s rallies

Although it’s unfortunate Takashi Tachibana and his Crush NHK and Judge Hiroshi Oshima Party hasn’t entered the race like he promised, there still seems to be a lot of competition in this election. Political enthusiasts online too expressed their excitement.

“Wow…look at that lineup.”

“Elections seem to be becoming literal circuses really quickly.”

“Well, I guess that’s the end of Chiba then.”

“I love how Goto is wearing a mask in the picture next to that anti-mask guy!”

“So we got the anti-mask guy, anti-pants guy, and The Joker…huh.”

Also, some online pundits pointed out how, due to election rules, if a candidate gets at least a tenth of the vote then their registration fee is fully refunded. This rule is said to sometimes entice certain people to use elections as vehicles for self-promotion rather than a genuine interest in civil service, because they have no realistic chance of winning.

However, this election is rather different. Chiba is still in a state of emergency and there will also be a mayoral election in Chiba City on the same day it is supposed to end. This presents a problem, because in Japan, rather than TV or radio, campaigning is almost entirely done on the street, where candidates encourage pedestrians to gather around and listen to their speeches.

▼ This news report shows how the more traditional candidates are campaigning, along with yet another startling image of Kawai.

This is a huge dilemma for conventional candidates who have to be careful with their appearances in increasingly limited physical space so as not to appear insensitive to the epidemic. On the other hand, so-called fringe candidates like Kawai, Goto and Hiratsuka have a much stronger online presence which might become a considerable advantage in these unconventional times.

Source: Asahi Shimbun, My Game News Flash

Read more stories from SoraNews24.

-- Meet the man behind the mask! We head to Chiba for an exclusive interview with Chibatman 

-- Japan elects its first openly transgender man to public office

-- Super Crazy Kun wins seat in Toda City Council election

© SoraNews24

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

16 Comments
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pity he looks so creepy as his anti mask , non-brainwashed stance might just resonate with the youth

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

Not that I can vote anyway as a permanent resident, just pay these people's Salerys. And they have little if any impact on my life, other than tax. The choice between a man in makeup, another wearing a mask for his campaign photo (why?), another running on a anti mask platform? And that grumpy old man I can imagine yelling at convenience staff. Going to go for the joker at least he is amusing. Several people sent me photos of these posters I like the dark joker one. Politians in Japan are a set apart.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Those who follow politics closely might remember the masked man as Teruki Goto, the Basic Income Party candidate who once appeared on TV in a poop-stained diaper while campaigning for Tokyo governor. However, you’d be forgiven for not noticing right away, because it’s rather hard to not stare at the candidate next to him, Yusuke Kawai.

Unfortunately this Joker will not speak to social inequality and exploitation like the one in the recent movie.

If I were more conspiratorily minded, I would say these literal clowns were paid actors hired to run by the establishment party to discredit sound ideas, like a Universal Basic Income, among the Japanese public.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Two words: “Ass Clown”.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

i respect him for trying to change thinks... do whatever it takes to make a change for the good.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Joker in the running for Chiba gubernatorial election

Isn't that a mandatory qualification?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Just a gimmick. Japan has a one party political system.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

pity he looks so creepy as his anti mask , non-brainwashed stance might just resonate with the youth

Did you not read the article ? He's not anti-mask at all. He's fighting Masayuki Hiratsuka, who is an "anti-mask, corona is just the flu" moron.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Well none of them have a vision for the future happiness of Chiba residents, just personal vents and a drive to get a salery. Would be nice to have an option that warted to work for residents....that would probably be confusing for voters and would be regrettable requiring an effort to get voters understanding.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Hm, a nonconformist here? I know where he's comming from. That's doomed to fail. I can already hear older people and oyajis saying 頭おかしいじゃん and similar.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

“Elections seem to be becoming literal circuses really quickly.”

The Gikai is full of literal jokers already, all that is missing are the clownish clothes.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I have to agree with many of the other posters here...there are already too many jokers in politics to begin with, so what else is new?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Might as well. He's running against three other clowns anyway. He just has more pizzaz than the others.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The Japanese government is already full of jokers. No big deal about this.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

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