Photo/Illutration A campaign car carrying Tsubasa no To representative Ryosuke Nemoto, left, chases a campaign car of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan’s candidate and livestreams the action April 17 in Tokyo’s Koto Ward. (From Tsubasa no To’s YouTube page)

Tokyo police on June 7 rearrested three leaders of the political organization Tsubasa no To over tactics they used to obstruct the campaign activities of other candidates during a Lower House by-election held in April.

The suspects accused of further breaches of the Public Offices Election Law are group leader Atsuhiko Kurokawa, 45; Ryosuke Nemoto, 29, the organization’s secretary-general; and Hayato Sugita, 39, a senior official of the organization. Nemoto ran in the by-election in the Tokyo No. 15 district and was defeated.

Officials of the Metropolitan Police Department said the suspects chased the vehicle of a rival candidate through city streets, thereby “hindering traffic,” which is an offense under the law. It is said to be highly unusual for police to apply the provision.

According to police, the three conspired to follow the campaign vehicle of Natsumi Sakai, 37, who ran under the ticket of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and won the by-election.

Police said they chased the vehicle over a distance of 3 kilometers or so for about 20 minutes from around 6:30 p.m. on April 17 in the capital’s Koto Ward.

The three also gatecrashed Sakai’s stump speech, forcing her to cancel the engagement, which constituted election interference.

Police initially arrested the trio on May 17. They were accused of violating the Public Offices Election law after they allegedly obstructed a speech given by another candidate, 48-year-old Hirotada Ototake, on April 16, the day the by-election officially started.

During the by-election period, the three livestreamed around 40 “campaign car chases” on the group’s YouTube channel, which were viewed more than 2.5 million times.

In several cases, the three asked viewers, while live-broadcasting, for information via social media about the whereabouts of other candidates. They identified other candidates’ campaign vehicles and harassed the occupants.

By drawing attention to their activities via YouTube, police believe the trio used social media to obtain information about the by-election with the aim of harassing other candidates.

(This article was written by Tabito Fukutomi and Arata Mitsui.)

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