It’s a rough time to be a member of Japan’s political opposition. In the recent Upper House elections, Prime Minister Abe Shinzou’s Liberal Democratic Party (自民党; jimintou) and allies managed to capture a majority. Abe even came within six seats of having the two-thirds majority to change the Japanese Constitution, which would allow Japan to arm for war for the first time since World War II.
But two other interesting, contrasting stories unfolded in this election. One signals the emergence of a promising new political party and personality fighting for greater inclusion in Japanese society. The other, by contrast, is a dangerous joke perpetrated at taxpayer’s expense.
But let’s start with the ray of light, shall we?
The Knight: Yamamoto Tarou (山本太郎) and Reiwa Shinsengumi (れいわ新選組)
By far the biggest news of the Upper House election was the emergence of Reiwa Shinsengumi. Led by former actor and current Upper House representative Yamamoto Tarou, the party’s name is a conjunction of the current Japanese imperial era name, Reiwa, and Shinsengumi. “Shinsengumi” designates the special police force that operated during the end of the Shogunate that actively suppressed anti-Shogunate activities. However, it’s also the name of a Taika (period)TV drama on the subject that starred…you guessed it, Yamamoto Tarou!
According to Yamamoto and the party, the party’s name is meant to reflect the opportunity to choose a new path in the new era. And while that’s literally what the characters in “Shinsengumi” mean, Yamamoto received a lot of blowback for the name online, where people lambasted it as “tacky.”
However, if the name created questions around how serious Yamamoto was, his subsequent actions put those fears to rest. The party has an extensive web site listing its liberal policies, which include abolishing the consumption tax, lowering rents, canceling student debt, and, in a hat tip to a similar movement in the US, raising the minimum wage to 1,500 yen (around USD $15).
What drew the most attention, though, was Reiwa’s candidate roster. As I mentioned in a recent article on handicapped access in Japan, the party stood two disabled candidates in the election: Funago Yasuhiko (舩後靖彦), who has ALS (Lou Gherig’s Syndrome), and Kimura Eiko (木村英子), who lost use of both of her legs and her left arm as a child.
But it was how Yamamoto and the party supported the candidates that drew significant attention.
Most candidates in Japan stand for election to represent a particular political district that aligns with a prefecture or ward in Japan. But part of the Upper House election system involves a special, nation-wide vote called “proportional representation,” or the “nationwide ward” (全国区; zenkokku). In this vote, eligible Japanese voters cast votes for political parties, and, based on an apportionment algorithm, each party wins a certain number of seats in the nationwide vote. Each party stack-ranks its candidates in a set order prior to an election, and the winners of the zenkokku are selected based on that ranking. In other words, if a party has 25 candidates, and it wins 24 nationwide seats, the first 24 candidates in the stack rank are elected.
Yamamoto also stood as a candidate in the zenkokku alongside Funago, Kimura, and others. However, he put his name below the other two. In other words, he prioritized the election of the party’s disabled candidates above his own.
The result was a victory – of sorts – for Reiwa. Yamamoto didn’t win a seat in the Upper House, which is something of an embarrassment for a party head. However, the party won two seats in the zenkokku, which means both Funago and Kimura will become representatives. Funago will make history as the first person with ALS to serve as a national representative. The wins helped boost the party’s financial fortunes: Yamamoto says that the party has passed USD $2M in donations, and plans to stand up 10 candidates in the next election.
While Reiwa was criticized for some missteps during this campaign cycle, its wins and subsequent financial windfall are impressive for a party that was only founded three months ago. Yamamoto’s success is a breath of fresh air in a political system marked by a single dominant political party and an often feeble opposition. That Reiwa achieved its success by prioritizing marginalized candidates makes its achievement all the more impressive. This is a party that deserves watching in the years to come.
Next: The Fool: A Joke Political Party in Japan Wins a Seat (and Taxpayer Funds)
