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Japan has seen its fair share of joke candidates running for election just to promote themselves. Last year’s Chiba gubernatorial election saw a few oddball candidates, including one in clown makeup wanting to turn Chiba into Disneyland. A joke political party seeking to take down the national broadcast network NHK even got enough votes to secure a seat in the Upper House.
This year, one Miyazaki gubernatorial candidate is making a name for himself by running under the rather unconventional name Super Crazy-kun (スーパークレイジー君). But is he actually trying to make changes for the better? Or is he just another joke candidate looking for attention?
From Miyazaki to Tokyo
As befits his unconventional image, Nishimoto has a rather unconventional background as a politician. His parents had yakuza ties and he ran with a bōsōzoku biker gang from an early age. He was also arrested eight times and spent a total of five years in juvenile detention [1].
At eighteen, he moved to Tokyo from Miyazaki Prefecture and worked at a club and a caregiving facility before getting into the restaurant business. He began making music under his stage name Super Crazy-kun, releasing his first single てんてんむし (tentenmushi) in 2019.
From Musician to Politician
In what he later admitted was a “light-hearted” move, he submitted his candidacy for the 2020 Tokyo gubernatorial election as Super Crazy-kun. However, the Tokyo election administration committee wasn’t super crazy about his name and rejected his candidacy. Undeterred, he simply called his political party Super Crazy-kun and ran under his real name.
In his broadcast announcing his policies, he pledged to ease restrictions on amusement business laws, reduce the number of children on childcare waiting lists, and stop the culling of pets [2]. How exactly he planned to do this wasn’t clear. Which, to be fair, is par for the course for a lot of politicians.
He drummed up support on the streets dancing to his own music bedecked in a long white biker gang tokkoufuku (特攻服). While Koike Yuriko unsurprisingly won the election with over 3 million votes, Nishimoto still managed to secure 11,887.
He next set his sights on a seat on the Toda City council. This time, he successfully submitted his candidacy under Super Crazy-kun. While certainly unconventional, the election committee made an exception since he was well-known online by that name.
This time his political goals of fixing education disparity and supporting small businesses hit hard by the pandemic were more in line with other politicians, if still vague in execution. His outlandish antics charmed kids, and most importantly their parents, whose votes ultimately helped him win a seat.
However, victory was short-lived. Questions soon arose about his residency status in the election district. By law, a candidate must reside in an election district for more than three months to qualify for office. When Nishimoto failed to prove he actually lived there, his election was invalidated. Despite appeals and a lawsuit, he never regained his seat.
Still a Spectacle – or Actually Serious?
Once again undeterred, Nishimoto intended to run for a seat in the House of Councillors. He chose not to, and for good reason. “As I became more involved in politics, I felt I lacked an overwhelming amount of political knowledge,” he said [4]. He moved back to Miyazaki prefecture to regroup and enrolled in courses on politics, economics, and society at Nihon University.
Now his next foray into politics is the Miyazaki gubernatorial election with the main goal of encouraging younger generations to care about politics.
“I decided to run for the Miyazaki gubernatorial election with the hope of changing such indifference among young people, even if only a little, and get them to focus on politics” [4]. His campaign goals also focus on that demographic, pledging free medical care for children 18 and under, financial aid for cram schools, and free school lunches.
Will he be taken seriously if he’s elected? Or will his stage name and checkered past be used to discredit him? It does seem he’s putting more work into his policies than his blonde-haired biker gang persona. And maybe someone who’s super crazy about increasing the kids’ interest in politics is just what Japan needs right now.
What to read next
The Odd Candidates of the Chiba Gubernatorial Election
Sources
[1] 都知事選で注目のスーパークレイジー君を直撃「少年院に5年」の意外な素顔. biz Spa!
[2] 6月26日 西本誠候補 東京都知事選挙 政見放送 文字起こし. instyle.
[3] 金髪に特攻服「スーパークレイジー君」 異色の市議誕生 埼玉・戸田. The Sankei News.
[4] 「宮崎には若い人が少ない」スーパークレイジー君が告白、“県知事選出馬”の舞台裏. biz Spa!
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