Photo/Illutration Yoshikazu Higashitani, bottom right, joins a news conference online from Dubai and celebrates his win with other members of the anti-NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corp.) party on July 11. (Takayuki Kakuno)

While many lawmakers in Japan rely on inherited political support networks for their electoral success, a group of fresh yet familiar faces used their star status to clinch victory on July 10.

Japanese voters have long elected people who have no political experience but boast strong name recognition, and the controversial proportional representation constituency has been used as the first step up the political ladder for many entertainers, athletes and other curiosities with political ambitions.

Suidobashi-Hakase, 59, a comic and a member of the “manzai” duo called Asakusa Kid, ran as a Reiwa Shinsengumi candidate in the Upper House election under the proportional representation system and won his first seat.

He campaigned on eradicating SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) laws, which opponents say are intended to squelch critics through the courts and drain them of their funds until they can no longer put up a fight.

“I don’t like ‘celebrity politicians’ who do not work,” he said. “I will surely fulfill my campaign promises.”

He said he will continue to work as a comedian, too.

Yoshikazu Higashitani, 50, a YouTuber, ran as a candidate for the anti-NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corp.) party under the proportional representation system and was elected for the first time.

Higashitani is known for revealing the secrets of celebrities and entertainers on his own YouTube channel, thanks to his network in showbusiness and the restaurant industry.

The populist party he ran for, which frequently changes its name to gain publicity, opposes the viewing fees collected by the public broadcaster.

Higashitani joined the party’s news conference online from Dubai and said, “This win is not the end but a start.”

And the gossip vlogger had an ominous message for entrepreneurs and entertainers: “Brace yourselves.”

The populist Sanseito party, known for heavily criticizing the political status quo and the main parties, ran candidates the first time in national elections in all 45 districts, in addition to fielding five candidates in the proportional representation system, and won a seat.

Its new representative in the Upper House is Sohei Kamiya, 44, the party’s secretary-general, who co-established it in 2020.

Kamiya is a former city assembly member for Suita, Osaka Prefecture.

His party focused on using YouTube to get its message out, taking aim at the central government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The party bills itself as “the first anti-global political party in Japan,” pledging to protect Japan from multi-national companies.

And then there is Akemi Matsuno, 54, who ran as a Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party) candidate in the proportional representation system.

Matsuno is a former track-and-field star who competed in the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

She first won a Kumamoto city assembly seat in 2010 and later became a Kumamoto prefectural assembly member in 2015.

“Each one of you pushed me to the stage of national politics,” she told her supporters in Kumamoto.

“Running is the only thing I can do, so I decided to run throughout the 18-day election race. Through running, I met many people and I came to think that I want to work at the Diet for these people.”

All the other lawmakers from Kumamoto Prefecture are members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, she said.

“I want to become a spokesperson for you, to tell the LDP: You’re wrong.”

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