Is this a vibrant democracy in Japan, or has the circus come to town?
When voters in Tokyo cast their ballots for the governor of the world’s largest city on Sunday, they will be spoiled for choice.
Fifty-six candidates are running for office, a record. One calls himself “the Joker” and has proposed legalizing marijuana. He says polygamy can help the country’s declining birthrate. Another is a professional wrestler who hides his face from the camera and vows to use artificial intelligence to perform government tasks. There’s a 96-year-old inventor who says he’ll deploy gas-powered cars that emit zero carbon, and a 31-year-old entrepreneur who took her shirt off during a campaign video and promised “fun things.”
It may seem like democracy has run amok. But in fact, the race is a status quo, and the incumbent president is expected to win a third term.
The proliferation of candidates reflects a weariness of politics as usual. Many of them are unserious attention seekers, creating a farcical, circus-like atmosphere that makes real change increasingly out of reach.
“I wonder if this is democracy in action, or if it’s a kind of ‘up yours’ for democracy,” said Emma Dalton, a senior lecturer in Japanese studies at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia. Several candidates have criticized the incumbent president, Yuriko Koike, “in the most vulgar way,” Ms. Dalton said. “Because they know she’s going to win.”
The Tokyo election is emblematic of Japanese politics, where the Liberal Democratic Party has held national power for all but four years since 1955. The party, which backs Ms. Koike, has an iron grip on the Japanese parliament despite numerous scandals and widespread voter discontent that is reflected in polls but rarely at the ballot box.
Ms Koike, 71, has been dogged by questions about her university qualifications and has refused to comment on allegations she has links to a major property developer involved in several controversial projects. But just as the Liberal Democrats remain in power despite low approval ratings, she may benefit from a sense that there is no need to shake things up at a time of relative prosperity.
Despite rising inequality and poverty, “most middle-class citizens are satisfied with their lives in Tokyo,” said Jiro Yamaguchi, a political scientist at Hosei University in Tokyo.
Although Ms. Koike has not fully delivered on her promises to eliminate childcare waiting lists, ease congestion on commuter trains and abolish overtime for municipal workers, she has used a budget surplus to provide subsidies to families with children and free tuition at private high schools in the city.
Ms. Koike did not respond to an interview request. Mitsui Fudosan, the developer involved in the construction projects, said in an email that it had “no close relationship” with the governor and that “no special favors were given.”
At first, the race for Tokyo governor seemed to promise a referendum on the Liberal Democratic Party, when a serious challenger emerged to challenge Ms. Koike: Renho Saito, 56, a former leader of Japan’s main opposition party who resigned from her seat in parliament to run. But the fielding of so many candidates has distracted her from her campaign.
As the first woman to lead the opposition Democratic Party, Ms. Saito is well-known in Japan. She has sought to distinguish herself from Ms. Koike by emphasizing the need to raise wages for young workers and rein in government spending. But she has also criticized the national party for financial scandals that have little to do with the Tokyo governorship.
Focusing on the national party is “an easy stick,” says Kenneth McElwain, a political scientist at the University of Tokyo. The danger is that “it is a reason not to vote for Koike, but also a reason to vote for one of the 50 or so challengers.”
Other candidates have taken aim at the national government. Yusuke Kawai, who appeared in a campaign video on NHK, the public broadcaster, with stringy hair, a white face and red-smeared lips in a caricature of the Joker from the Batman franchise, criticized Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on his plans to raise taxes.
“Prime Minister, before you raise taxes, you should sell that Rolex on your wrist!” he screamed, giggling maniacally and writhing on a desk.
Under campaign rules, anyone who makes a deposit of about $19,000 may run for governor. Each candidate gets two six-minute talks at NHK and the right to post signs on one of the city’s 14,000 official election billboards.
Although the intention is to create equal opportunities for political participation, the system is being hijacked by people who want to reach a large audience with messages that may have little to do with politics.
During a campaign broadcast on NHK, Airi Uchino, the young entrepreneur, striped off a button-down shirt to reveal her cleavage in a cream-colored tube top. “I’m not just cute,” she purred, inviting potential voters to contact her on Line, Japan’s popular messaging app. “I’m sexy, right?”
Ms. Uchino is backed by the Party to Protect the People from NHK, a renegade group that backs nearly half of the candidates for governor. The group has allowed its candidates and some others to place campaign posters with pictures of cats or cartoon animals on official election billboards.
Some candidates have used the airtime to express general views, such as opposing social security for foreign workers in Japan or transgender rights.
The sheer number of candidates can dampen serious opposition. With all the paid advertising banned, said Jeffrey J. Hall, a politics professor at Kanda University of International Studies, “mainstream candidates can’t amplify their message so much that they drown out the voices of the less important candidates.”
The disruption is clear. In the polls, Ms. Saito appears to be battling for second place with Shinji Ishimaru, 41, a former mayor of a city in Hiroshima Prefecture who described himself as an “idol” to supporters at a rally last week.
Mr Ishimaru has not had much of a platform, but his popularity on TikTok and YouTube has helped him win support from younger voters.
Such candidates represent Japan’s brand of populism, said Koichi Nakano, a political scientist at Sophia University in Tokyo, adding that many of the “frivolous
“Candidates” don’t expect to win.
“This is a day when fame is business,” Mr. Nakano said. “Fame of any kind will lead to more business opportunities.”
As someone attempting to lead a serious challenge, Ms. Saito faces voters driven less by support for her than by their loss of interest in the current governor.
Yumi Matsushita, a university lecturer who attended one of Ms. Saito’s meetings in Chofu, said she did not like how Ms. Koike “disrespected” the voices of people of other ethnicities or LGBTQ people.
But her real objection to Ms. Koike was that “a third term is too long.”
As an incumbent, Ms. Koike has a major advantage: No previous occupant of the office has lost an election. She has also benefited from a largely compliant news media. While she has investigated rumors that she misrepresented her Cairo University graduation, she has not investigated allegations that she favored Mitsui Fudosan, the developer, in construction contracts.
One possible reason: Two of the country’s largest newspapers, the Yomiuri Shimbun and Asahi Shimbun, are investing in one of those construction projects.
River Davis and Hisako Ueno reported from Tokyo.
