Photo/Illutration A candidate for the Tokyo gubernatorial election puts up a poster using a clear file on the side of a billboard in Shinjuku Ward on June 20. (Koichiro Yoshida)

In the 1953 Upper House election, one candidate gamed the system by turning the campaign into an advertising blitz for the confectionery store he owned.

Instead of explaining his policies on his “senkyo koho” campaign bulletin, he promoted his “manju” (buns filled with sweet bean paste).

And in his campaign broadcast, he introduced himself as “amato” (having a sweet tooth), making a frivolous pun on the Japanese word “to” (political party).

This outraged a young reporter who went on a tirade in his magazine article: “If any candidate like him is ever allowed to go uncensored, many other lowlifes will follow suit.”

The reporter was Tsuneo Watanabe of The Yomiuri Shimbun.

I can certainly relate to his ire. Still, I find this episode somewhat charming or even idyllic, if you will—at least, compared to what I have just seen on candidate billboards for the upcoming Tokyo gubernatorial election.

Simply put, they are appalling.

Of the total 56 candidates, 24, or nearly half, have put up posters of almost identical designs—some of a dog, others of the face of a woman urging people to visit a video-sharing site that has nothing to do with metropolitan politics, and so on.

Reportedly, some of these were advertisements for sex businesses and received warnings from authorities.

All those questionable posters occupied billboard slots designated for candidates affiliated with an anti-Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) party called “NHK kara Kokumin wo Mamoru To” (literally, Party to protect citizens from NHK).

The party secured poster spaces by fielding 24 candidates and then effectively sold those slots to businesses, which, the party claims, is not illegal under the Public Offices Election Law. Even so, the party’s appalling lack of common sense is indefensible. In fact, the party’s decision to field so many candidates for just one office was already preposterous at best.

Campaigning should be as free as possible. But allowing any conduct that is tantamount to making a mockery of the election system itself will only diminish the credibility of elections and something must be done to stop that.

Sixteen years after the confectionery store owner sought an Upper House seat in 1953, advertising products during campaign broadcasts was finally banned by law.

But what has just happened in Tokyo needs to be addressed urgently if we don’t want more “lowlifes” following suit.

—The Asahi Shimbun, June 25

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.