In the general election on Sunday, incumbent Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lawmaker Ryosei Tanaka retained his seat as the representative for Saitama Prefecture’s 15th ward with 73,973 votes (35.6%), ahead of Rentaro Takagi who garnered 60,356 (29.0%). It was the candidate that finished dead last, however, who got most of the headlines. Yusuke Kawai — known as the Japanese Joker, though he is also sometimes dressed as the titular character from The Mask — received just 16,157 votes (7.8%), more than 1,500 votes behind the Communist Party representative, Chizuko Moriya.
Yusuke Kawai’s Xenophobic Campaign
Kawai’s campaign focused on “protecting” the district from the small number of immigrants who live there. He said he wanted to rid the streets of foreigners, ironically while dressed as an American comic book character. Speaking to his online supporters from Warabi Station, he called on them to help him patrol the area. Anti-racist liberals turned up and demanded he stop with the hate speech. They also attempted to block him from getting his message across. Kawai claimed he was being harassed, but garnered little sympathy.
The Tokyo Gubernatorial Election
It’s the second time Kawai has run in a major election this year. The first was the Tokyo gubernatorial election, won by Yuriko Koike. The Japanese Joker placed outside the top 20, receiving just 2,035 votes. On the opening day of campaigning, he put up controversial posters of near-naked gyaru model Miu Sakurai “to promote the importance of freedom of expression.” After being warned by the police over a possible violation of Tokyo’s anti-nuisance ordinance, he took them down. He later filed an objection with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Election Administration Commission, seeking to nullify the election as he felt there was insufficient campaign board space for candidate posters.
