We’ve talked a lot on Unseen Japan (okay, I’ve talked a lot) about Japan Diet member Sugita Mio and her cavalcade of hate and prejudice. But how did she become such a right-wing darling in the first place?
Sugita Mio was born in Kobe in Hyogo Prefecture in 1967. After graduating from Tottori University in 1990 with a degree in Forestry, she worked in governmental offices in Nishinomiya before making her political debut in 2010. After switching parties multiple times, she wound up with the country’s ruling party, the Liberal Democratic Party (自民党; jimintou, or LDP), in 2017. It was around this time that then-Prime Minister Abe Shinzo took a liking to her, thereby cementing her political career.
Now, Sugita is pretty much a fixture of the LDP. And as regular readers know, she’s no stranger to controversy. In 2018, she set off protests across Japan by calling LGBT people “unproductive”. And just recently, other politicians called her out for saying during a debate about protecting women from sexual assault that “women lie a lot” about the subject.
Some commentators have described these comments as “unpredictable” outbursts. But author Furuya Tsunehira begs to differ. Furuya, himself a former “right-wing-affiliated” writer who now speaks out against hate speech in Japan, chronicled Sugita’s rise to notoriety in a recent article – and says that her recent statements were completely predictable.
How Sugita Gets Elected
Furuya starts his analysis with a great discussion of how Sugita even holds a seat in Japan’s Diet. Like, who voted for her? And why do people keep voting for her despite all the controversy swirling around her?
The simple answer is: They don’t. At least, not directly.
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As I discussed in my article on the political party Reiwa Shinsengumi, certain seats in the Diet are decided by proportional representation. A party ranks its candidates in order of electoral preference. The party is awarded a block of Diet members based on a proportion of its national vote. As I discussed previously, this is how Reiwa won two seats in the Diet even though its party head, Yamamoto Taro, lost his direct election bid.
It’s possible for parties to stand up a candidate as both a proportional candidate as well as for direct election (重複立候補; chuufuku rikkouho). This is how Sugita keeps getting elected. In 2012, when she was still a member of the Innovation Party (維新の会), she lost direct election in Hyogo Prefecture – but was elected to the Diet for the first time as part of the proportional block. In 2017 Sugita Mio was ranked 17th in her block for proportional representation. However, most of the candidates before her were in single-member constituencies where they easily won election. So in 2017, Sugita Mio was re-elected to the Lower House of the Japanese Diet.
(Side note: As reporter Suda Daisuke noted recently, this is why it’s also almost impossible to get rid of Sugita now. The LDP brass continually put her at the top of the party’s porportional ledger. This means she’s a lock for re-election – whether anyone likes it or not.)
Fame as a Tract Writer
Ironically, says Furuya, it was Sugita’s time not being a politician that cemented her reputation in Japan’s right-wing.
Furuya focuses on the years between Sugita’s first election (2012) and her election in 2017. In 2014, the controversial politician lost her seat when she moved from the Innovation Party to the Next Generation Party (次世代の党; jisedai no tou). The Next Gen Party, which had has 19 elected members, slated a roster 48 candidates. A mere two won their elections. It was a humiliating loss – and one that left Sugita without a job.
So Sugita instead focused on writing for right-wing publisher Seirindou (青林堂). Seirindou published her first book, Restoring Feminine Purity: What Female Politicians Can Do in 2014.
This, says Furua, should be seen as Sugita’s turning point:
つまり杉田氏は、『維新』時代は知る人ぞ知る右派論客だったが、氏の界隈での本格的認知は、むしろ氏が代議士のバッジを外してからの2014年以降の下野期間における、出版社・青林堂を中心・媒介とした「露出」にこそ、その核心があるといえる。
In other words, In other words, Sugita was a well-known right-wing commentator during his time in the Innovation Party. But her full-fledged recognition in these circles is more likely to lie here in her exposure through her publisher Seirindo, during her time out of office after she lost her Diet position in 2014.
There’s a reason Furuya Tsunehira is intimately familiar with Sugita’s rise: He saw it happen first-hand. Tsuruya identified himself mostly as a right-wing voice for years. In the years before Sugita published her first book with Seirindou, he was Editor of one of the publisher’s magazines, Japanism (ジャパニズム).
Seirindou and Abe
Tsuruya argues that the visibility provided by Seirindou helped catapult Sugita online. In 2012, Sugita had around 20,000 or so Twitter followers. Not bad, but not outstanding for a politician in Japan. Starting in 2014, however, her numbers began to explode. Today, Sugita Mio has over 198,000 followers and is the 24th most followed Japanese politician on Twitter.
This, say Tsuruya, was the master plan of Serindou Publisher Kanie Mikihiko (蟹江幹彦). Kanie, says Tsuruya, also cultivated other right-wing female media darlings, including former idol turned neto-uyo Chiba Reiko and right0wing illustrator Hasumi Toshiko. (Yes, the Hasumi Toshiko who’s currently being sued for slander by Ito Shiori.)
What’s more, argues Tsuruya, Seirndou has a close relationship with former Prime Minister Abe Shinzou. Abe was featured in a series of interviews around the time Tsuruya served as Editor of Japanism. And public records show that Serindou has donated heavily to Abe’s political efforts. This, says Tsuruya, explains how Sugita came to Abe’s notice.
“Fully Predictable” Hate Speech
So what was Sugita writing in her Seirindou works when Abe took a shine to her? Tsuruya takes just a few choice quotes from the book Why I Fight The Left-Wing, which was published in 2017.
On the subject of married couples being able to choose separate surnames (an outdated law inherited from Europe that activists are trying to change):
結婚した夫婦がそれぞれ別の姓を名乗るという夫婦別姓制度。それは一見して、個人を尊重しているように思えます。しかしその実態はとんでもない、家族崩壊の根源だといえるのです。
At first glance, the issue of married couples choosing different surnames may seem like an issue of honoring personal choice. But, in reality, it can be described as an outrage and the root of the destruction of the family.
On LGBT rights:
どうして彼ら（LGBT）だけ特別視しなくてはいけないのでしょうか。それは「人権」を名目に「特権」を求めているのではないでしょうか。そもそも世界には自分が望んでもままならないものもあります。いえ、ままならないものの方が多いというのが普通なのです。それをひとつひとつ行政を動かしてなんとかさせようというのは、我がままというものではないでしょうか。そしてどうしてLGBTの人たちだけ、そういう我がままを認めなくてはならないのでしょうか。
Why do we have to give them [LGBT people] special rights? Aren’t they asking for special rights in the guise of “human rights”? There are things you can’t do in this world no matter how much you want to. In fact, there are so many things beyond our control. Isn’t it selfish to pick at these things one by one and urge the government to take some sort of action? Why do we have to cater specifically to LGBT people’s selfishness?
And finally, on women’s equality:
そもそも日本には、「男子、厨房に入らず」という言葉があります。女性が専有する場所に男性が入ってはいけないという戒めです。反対に、女性も男性の専有領域を侵すべきではありません。そうしたところに女性が進出して持ち上げられても、それは「人寄せパンダ」として利用されている場合が多いのです。「家庭崩壊」、「日本崩壊」に繋がる「女性活躍」に騙されてはいけません。
Originally, in Japan, we had this expression – “Men don’t enter the kitchen.” It was an admonishment to men not to enter women’s spaces. Conversely, there are spaces that are the preserve of men that women should never intrude upon. There are many instances in which women are used and elevated in power in order to draw people’s attention. Make no mistake – “women’s advancement” goes hand in hand with the destruction of the family and the destruction of Japan.
Sugita Mio’s statements, in other words, are right in line with her pronouncements about LGBT people and women that have recently gained headlines. Neither is her rise in power within the LDP. Both Sugita and Japan’s right-wing power brokers have worked hard to position her as an opponent of women’s rights and LGBT rights for years.
And the LDP is happy to have her.
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