The leader of a minor political party whose tirades against ethnic Koreans led in part to “hate speech” legislation used election law stipulations to blare insults toward the Chinese Embassy.

Makoto Sakurai, 49, ran in the Tokyo No. 15 district in the Oct. 31 Lower House election, while his Japan First Party fielded four candidates for proportional representation seats in the Tokyo block.

On the last day of the campaign on Oct. 30, Sakurai, clutching a microphone and using a derogatory word for China, raised his voice and said: “This is the Shina Embassy, the nest of evil people. Shina Chukyo (the Chinese Communist Party) spread the Wuhan pneumonia across Japan and 18,000 Japanese people died.”

Using loudspeakers outside an embassy is normally prohibited, but the periods for election campaigns are treated as an exception.

Around 200 of Sakurai’s supporters gathered in front of the embassy in the Roppongi district and waved Japanese flags while Sakurai spouted his anti-China feelings.

While urging more aggressive government spending, he also pushed his long-established exclusionist policies.

Sakurai once led a group called Zainichi Tokken o Yurusanai Shimin no Kai (Group of citizens who do not tolerate privileges for ethnic Korean residents in Japan).

His public speeches included such phrases as, “Burn all South Koreans in Japan.”

A counter-protest movement grew against Sakurai and the group, and new legislation to address hate speech took effect in 2016.

Although the legislation doesn’t include a penalty for hate speech, it has become more difficult to make obvious expressions of hatred in public.

Some local governments, for example, deny the use of public land to protest groups known for their provocative actions.

However, the Public Offices Election Law guarantees freedom of election speeches.

The Oct. 31 election was not the first time Sakurai has uttered discriminatory comments on the campaign trail.

He verbally attacked ethnic Koreans in Japan when he ran in the 2016 Tokyo gubernatorial election. In the next election to choose the capital’s governor in 2020, he argued for the immediate suspension of welfare benefits paid to foreigners.

“Sakurai has spread discrimination under the shield of election campaigns,” said Takahiro Akedo, assistant professor of communications and media studies at Rikkyo University and an expert on hate speech.

Akedo regards the speech outside the Chinese Embassy as typical behavior of Sakurai.

A law on maintenance of tranquility and a Tokyo metropolitan government ordinance on noise pollution prohibit giving speeches via loudspeaker in front of an embassy.

Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police Department also regulates the holding of large gatherings.

But the rules change for election campaigns.

“During elections, we can’t demand that loud speeches be stopped,” a senior MPD officer said.

Sakurai appeared quite pleased with his speech outside the Chinese Embassy.

“Never has such a huge crowd gathered outside the embassy,” he said on Oct. 30.

Sakurai and the four other party candidates failed to win seats in the election.

However, Sakurai won 9,449 votes in the Tokyo No. 15 district in Koto Ward, exceeding the 6,613 ballots that went his way in the ward in last year’s Tokyo governor election.

Kensuke Kajiwara, associate professor of constitutional law at Kyushu University, explained the reasoning behind the exception, “An election is a pillar of democracy, and freedom of speech should be guaranteed for candidates as much as possible.”

He also said there is a way to counter people who take advantage of the exception.

“We have no choice but to counterattack via expressing our views in words, not via regulation by the state. People can make logical arguments against discrimination, for example,” Kajiwara said.

In fact, several citizens showed up at the Chinese Embassy on Oct. 30 and, surrounded by Sakurai’s supporters, raised placards that said, “No discrimination even during an election.”

One of them, a 50-year-old company employee, said, “I will continue protesting to try to make sure no more people will support (Sakurai).”

Kazuhiro Nakamura, secretary-general of the Japan First Party, said: “We just did a normal election campaign, not using anything as a shield. We maintain that Japanese people should come first, and we don’t exclude or discriminate against foreigners.”

(This article was written by Yasukazu Akada and Shingo Tsuru.)