Masanori Kin ran for a seat in the Tokyo metropolitan assembly on a policy of eliminating discrimination and promoting equality in the capital.

But the first-time candidate himself became a direct target of bigotry and veiled threats immediately after he announced his candidacy in Suginami Ward.

Kin and another candidate in the June 22 assembly election spent much of their campaigns fending off vicious attacks related to their non-Japanese ethnicity and worrying about the safety of their supporters.

‘STOP THE HATE’

“My goal is to create a Tokyo where there is no discrimination or inequality, and to combat ‘election hate,’ which is the use of hate speech to gain votes,” Kin, 70, a third-generation Korean resident in Japan who acquired Japanese nationality in 2023, said in the campaign.

The difficulty of obtaining this goal was evident from the beginning.

In early June, after announcing his candidacy, a passer-by raised doubts about Kin’s qualifications to run, asking him, “Aren’t you Korean?”

Outside his campaign office, someone shouted “Zainichi,” a term for Korean residents in Japan.

As a result, his campaign staff would lock the office door if any staff member was working there alone.

Tensions further escalated four days before the official campaign period.

During a news conference in Tokyo, Yusuke Kawai, an assembly member in Toda, Saitama Prefecture, singled out Kin for criticism.

“There’s a liberal candidate who should be called a traitor to Japan. Suginami’s election will become pretty messy,” Kawai said.

The news conference was organized by another potential assembly election candidate in Suginami Ward.

According to Kin, the number of hateful posts directed toward him on social media increased after that news conference.

He was told, “Go back to your country” and “We don’t need Zainichi.”

Kawai continued supporting the other candidate during the campaign, often by insulting Kin.

“Foreigners should be cut off from public assistance programs,” Kawai said in speeches at rallies. “Go back to your homeland.”

Fed up with Kawai’s attacks on Kin, protesters on June 15 gathered in front of Koenji Station, where Kawai was scheduled to give a speech on behalf of his preferred candidate.

They shouted, “Stop the hate.”

Members of the candidate’s camp accused the protesters of election campaign obstruction, and the confrontation erupted into a chaotic shouting match involving dozens of people.

Kin and his campaign office on June 18 issued a statement protesting hate speech, saying harassment and discriminatory words and behaviors were threatening their election campaign efforts.

It called such actions “an obstruction of fair elections and an attack on democracy.”

However, hateful posts, like “All Zainichi are mandated for deportation,” continued to circulate on social media.

When asked to comment on Kin’s statement, Kawai told reporters: “He resents my policy of putting Japanese people first, and he disrupted my speech by flipping me the middle finger. People who put foreign countries first should not become Japanese politicians.”

Kin lost the election.

“It is unforgivable to fuel public anxiety and win votes by spouting baseless claims that naturalized citizens are taking over the country,” he said.

RALLY CANCELED OVER SAFETY FEARS

Ai Yoshinaga, 50, who is originally from China and gained Japanese nationality in 2003, ran for the Tokyo metropolitan assembly election from Meguro Ward.

Despite her campaign pledge to “promote policies for foreign residents that also protect Japanese citizens,” she was labeled “an enemy of the Japanese” in social media posts.

Images of her election posters covered in graffiti with anti-Chinese messages also appeared on social media.

The viciousness of the messages heightened, and Yoshinaga feared for the safety of her supporters. She even canceled a campaign rally despite having reserved the venue.

Yoshinaga failed to win the assembly seat.

“In the past, xenophobic groups would broadly use elections as a platform for hate speech. This time, however, there’s a noticeable trend of attacks directly targeting candidates with diverse roots,” said Takahiro Akedo, an associate professor at Osaka Metropolitan University who has expertise on hate speech and multicultural societies.

“I believe there is a certain number of people who normally understand that discrimination is wrong but suddenly display prejudice when foreigners or those with foreign roots make political claims,” he continued. “It’s necessary to reinforce the principle that discrimination has no place in elections.”