Shinji Ishimaru, the former mayor of Akitakata in Hiroshima Prefecture, surprised everyone when he finished second in the Tokyo gubernatorial election in July. 

Now, Ishimaru's name recognition has spread beyond the 1,658,363 votes he garnered, thanks to the combative attitude he displayed during media livestream reports on the preliminary election results. 

The former mayor is no stranger to the power of social media, gaining support through the medium in his bid for Tokyo governor. 

However, he was ridiculed by people who viewed his unique interaction with reporters and commentators during live media programs at night on July 7 when votes were being counted.

The notoriety turned Ishimaru into an overnight internet object of ridicule.

Why did his manner of answering the questions go viral to such a degree? How much did it affect public opinion?

Tomohisa Hirai, an associate professor at Nihon University and author of a book on the sociology of internet culture, offered some thoughts on the matter in a recent interview with The Asahi Shimbun.

Ishimaru's way of interacting is called "Ishimaru Koubun" or Ishimaru’s way of interacting. 

In the livestream, Ishimaru questioned a commentator who had asked him a question. He didn't answer questions posed by the reporters and commentators during the livestreaming program and continued to question them instead.

Ishimaru sometimes rejected answering the reporter's questions, calling them "weird." 

The scene became a hot discussion topic on social media, and was compared to a troublesome customer who was dealt with by a waiter at a restaurant. Instantly, Ishimaru became an internet meme as the video started trending. 

Excerpts from the interview follow:

Question: Why did the Ishimaru Koubun video go viral to such a large degree?

Hirai: Comedian Ryo Fukawa posted on X, formerly Twitter, “I’m worried if Ishimaru can even order at a Subway (sandwich store)” following the livestreaming program.

The comedian's post made the incident widely ridiculed, which even became an internet meme.

The most scrutinized scene in the livestreaming program was when Ishimaru and a commentator were discussing the definition of "seijiya," an insulting term describing a politician only working for personal gain. 

The discussion went nowhere because Ishimaru kept repeating the same thing, as he went around in circles and evaded questions.

Typically, on social media, only a portion of a long video goes viral. 

In this instance, the entire Ishimaru Koubun was posted in a manner ridiculing Ishimaru.

Ironically, however, before Ishimaru Koubun went viral, the livestreaming interview brought praise to Ishimaru, capturing the scene where he argued with city assembly members and reporters.

So, we saw two sides of the coin, both fans and haters, resulting in positive and negative publicity for Ishimaru.  

Q: Before and during the election campaign period, the media reported that Ishimaru often incited conflicts, and he exhibited an authoritative manner concerning politics.

But it didn’t affect public opinion and Ishimaru instead broadened his support during the election.

However, his luck seemingly changed through the Ishimaru Koubun incident. 

A: Ishimaru had positioned himself as a rebel against the long-existing power structure, making politicians and the media look bad.

He attracted mainly young people who were not interested in politics.

Those young people won't listen to the mainstream media, even though it cautioned voters to remain cautious about Ishimaru’s way of doing politics.

Ishimaru Koubun was first mocked by people who were critical of him.

But as it spread as an internet meme, it became a humorous story of a less political nature. Thus, it became known to a wide range of people regardless of their thinking or political stances.

Q: With the Ishimaru Koubun becoming a hot topic, "Shinjiro Koubun," which mocks the way of speaking of former environment minister Shinjiro Koizumi, garnered attention again.

Koizumi is consistently listed as a potential prime minister in the polls, but after the spread of the Shinjiro Koubun, his support rate did not continue growing. 

A: Koizumi’s friendly demeanor as well as Shinjiro Koubun, or his way of talking to the public, resulted in frequent mocking.

We can see both sides of the same coin on the internet here, too.

Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, Shinjiro’s father, used to utilize catchy words and slogans such as “break up the Liberal Democratic Party” or “opponents.”

The situation over politics and wording has dramatically changed in the past 20 years, from one-phrase politics broadcast on TV to internet memes mocked and diffused through the internet.

There have been many politicians and candidates who became hot topics on the internet. However, they didn’t attract attention in the real world.

This time, however, Ishimaru won many votes by broadening his support through the internet, without organizational votes in the election.

He is neither a "hereditary candidate" nor a TV personality, but still managed to gain many votes, which can be one of the forms of grassroot democracy.

Meanwhile, many online content pieces that capture attention are also quite aggressive.

Problems arising from the aggressiveness became visible in the Ishimaru Koubun.

I believe that majority opinions on the internet and politics in the real world have come to a turning point, since pros and cons were revealed by the Ishimaru Koubun.

Q: Is it possible to point out problems not through mockery as what happened to Ishimaru Koubun? I hope there will be critical voices raised in a positive manner and constructive discussions.

A: Supporters of Ishimaru have a strong sense of distrust in current politicians and the mass media, regardless of which political party those politicians belong to.

They believe that politicians in the ruling camp would end up making final decisions over whatever issues even after holding discussions.

So, people such as Ishimaru’s supporters don’t even try to join in the discussions.

They believe that presenting a sense of justice of liberalism will have the opposite impact from what they intend.

So, they prefer humorous stories on the internet rather than having direct discussions because the stories on the internet would not deepen the division between them and the existing powers. This also keeps a slight connection between them and the powers.

Assertions of neoliberalism, which runs counter to the powers in place, have spread well so far when they were delivered through the internet.

I believe this trend will continue in the future, too.

But people started to feel a sense of crisis to similar stories with the Ishimaru Koubun, which hold “some dangerous aspects such as power harassment.”

I believe the way that people think about the majority opinion on the internet has started to change.