A Race for The Capital – Lessons On the Japanese Gubernatorial Elections

ANTALL JÓZSEF RESEARCH CENTRE

A RACE FOR THE CAPITAL – LESSONS ON THE JAPANESE GUBERNATORIAL ELECTIONS

EMESE SCHWARCZ

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ANTALL JÓZSEF RESEARCH CENTRE

AJRC-Analyses Series of the Antall József Knowledge Centre

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© Emese Schwarcz, 2020 © Antall József Knowledge Centre, 2020 ISSN 2416-1705

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A RACE FOR THE CAPITAL – LESSONS ON THE JAPANESE GUBERNATORIAL ELECTIONS EMESE SCHWARCZ

On 5 July, Japan held its due gubernatorial elections, and while the globally raging COVID-19 pandemic still has not subsided in the island country, attention was spared to the fight for the capital city. The incumbent governor, Koike Yuriko (68), had a number of challengers, but there were three of them who could be regarded as having any chance. Analysing the political background, the campaign promises, and the history of these candidates can provide a colourful account of contemporary Japanese politics on a local level. And while Governor Koike was successful in preserving her seat, her rivals will remain part of political discourse—more so than ever considering the fast approaching end of the Abe-leadership.

A CRASH COURSE ON KOIKE Koike Yuriko has been an iconic politician in the public scene long before the beginning of the current administration. Not only because of her being one of the painfully few females in Japanese politics, but also due to her distinct personality and active engagement with the voter base that have been setting her apart from other public figures. Much like the rest of the leading politicians, Koike can also be considered as part of a politician dynasty, as her businessman father (engaged in the oil trade) also won elections and seats in the past.

Thanks to her father’s profession, she received an international upbringing, which led her to pursue higher studies in Cairo, Egypt. First becoming an Arabic translator and journalist with a degree in sociology, Koike then switched her path in order to become a TV news anchor.1 Since starting her political career in 1992, Koike was a member of seven different parties,2 making her a unique politician in Japanese terms, where party loyalty is generally strong. Most of her time, as a career politician, was spent among the ranks of the everruling Liberal Democratic Party, with her mentor being none other than Koizumi Junichiro, an iconic post-war prime minister known for his hawkish attitude towards domestic and foreign affairs as well. The “Koizumi Guard” (a.k.a. those working under him during his prime ministership) was a melting pot of all the prominent LDP politicians of today: Fukuda Yasuo (Chief Cabinet Secretary, later becoming prime minister), Asō Tarō (Minister for Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications, later becoming prime minister and finance minister under PM Abe), Ishiba Shigeru (Director of the Japan Defense

10 things about Tokyo's new governor Yuriko Koike. The Straits Times. 1 August 2016. <https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/10-things-about-tokyos-naew-governor-yuriko-koike > Accessed: 6 July 2020.

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2 The seven parties, in chronological order: Japan New Party, New Frontier Party, Liberal Party, New Conservative Party, Liberal Democratic Party, and finally her stint at creating a main opposition party, the Tomin First no Kai and later the Party of Hope.

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Agency, later becoming PM Abe’s long-time rival), Motegi Toshimitsu (Minister of State, current Minister of Foreign Affairs), and last but not least current Prime Minister Abe Shinzō, serving as Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary. Koike served as a Minister of the Environment in PM Koizumi’s cabinet.3 And while she spent most of her political career working for the LDP, her ambitions got her into “trouble” with the party leadership when she announced her wish to run for the Tōkyō governorship in 2016. The reason for the party’s distaste for this decision was two-fold. First, it is no secret that most of the prestigious positions in the country’s administration are “gifted” to those standing in a long waitlist line.4 This is especially true for ministerial posts, but local posts are bound to be distributed in a similar fashion. Second, the dismal reality of gender (im)balance in Japanese politics. The country has been underperforming for decades: in 2018, Japan ranked as 164th out of 193 countries when it came to gender balance.5 The current cabinet contains 19 ministers, out of which there are only two females. But this phenomenon is not unique to just the high levels, generally women in politics do not fare well in Japan—which can serve as a reason why Koike’s ambition was met with disapproval and prohibition. Koike herself described the situation as not even having a “glass ceiling”, but an “iron plate” in Japan that hinders women in their careers.6 So what did Koike do? In an unprecedented chain of events, she resigned from the LDP and started her campaign first as an independent candidate, then as the leader of a newfound party, Tomin First No Kai (Tokyo Citizens First). And against all odds won . As the very first female governor of Tōkyō, she proved that women can succeed in politics, even without the guardianship of a party-giant.

Winning the gubernatorial race however was only the first step, keeping up with the responsibilities became much harder now, that she considerably angered the ruling party, with the animosity becoming even more prominent in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. While trying to implement a lockdown and other drastic measures aimed to protect Tokyoites from the virus, the governor hit a wall time and time again, as the central government had other priorities, namely preserving economic activity as much as possible.

Her defiance towards PM Abe seemed to do her bidding—the people evaluated her crisis response effort by re-electing her once more.

But as the saying goes, not all that glitters is gold. Although the governor’s leadership style is one that makes her approachable and protective of Tokyoites (regular engagement with the people and regular press conferences, maintaining transparency about the spread of the pandemic, English language update videos targeting foreigners), her presumed personality cannot be dissociated from her policy stance in other questions—such as ethnic groups. When

3 Members of the Koizumi Cabinet. List of Ministers. Japan Kantei. <https://japan.kantei.go.jp/ koizumidaijin/030922/index_e.html >

Ian Neary: The State and Politics in Japan, 2nd Edition. Polity, Cambridge, 2019.

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Gender Imbalance: Japan’s Political Representation by Women Lowest in G20. Nippon.com. 8 March 2019. <https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h00409/gender-imbalance-japan%E2%80%99s-politicalrepresentation-by-women-lowest-in-g20.html > Accessed: 3 August 2020.

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Nancy Snow: Why Yuriko Koike is the new face of brand Japan. 12 July 2017. <mmentary/japancommentary/yuriko-koike-new-face-brand-japan/ > Accessed: 3 August 2020.

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discussing political orientations of the current ruling party, one cannot really gloss over the association called Nippon Kaigi. During her years spent in the LDP, she publicly aligned herself with this ultraconservative right-wing (in some cases far-right) group, that advocates mainly controversial policy goals: constitutional amendment for legal military forces; revision of history textbooks to push Japan’s victim narrative, and discrediting the Nanjing Massacre and the case of the comfort women, Imperial Japan’s forced prostitution web.7 Not to mention reversing the emancipation of women or reinstating the rule of the emperor. Most known ruling politicians are associated with this group one way or another, and Koike is no exception. And while she seemingly put her agenda aside upon being elected as a governor, some of her actions are a reminisce to those in power in the central government. A good example of that is her attitude towards Koreans living in Japan. The majority of these people arrived to Japan sometimes against their will, sometimes by their own decision during the WWII. Those brought against their will were victims of forced labour, and even after the end of the war and the American occupation, their legal position was unclear for a long time. After the division of the Korean Peninsula, resident Koreans were made to choose a nationality—either North or South Korean.

Receiving Japanese nationality was made unavailable for them, which is why their only option for legal equality was through assimilation. The descendants of these Koreans are making up a medium-sized ethnic group in modern Japan, and discrimination against them is still very much prevalent.8 On political platforms, it is still frowned upon to display negative views on Koreans, yet Governor Koike is not a stranger to that. Each year, it is customary to commemorate the slaughter of Korean residents living in Tōkyō in 1923, when—after the Great Kantō Earthquake— false rumours started to spread about Koreans allegedly poisoning wells, which led to acts of lynching. Koike however, failed to hold a speech on this occasion in 2017.9 When questioned, she simply stated holding “different views on the massacre,” referencing the far-right interpretation of the event claiming that (similarly to the Nanjing Massacre) far less people died than recorded.10 Unfortunately, this was not a one-time expression of opinion, as there are voices that recall her alleged connection to the anti-Korean ultranationalist alt-right group, Zaitokukai,11 which is infamous for its violent rallies and hate speech. Allegedly, Koike was a guest speaker at one of Zaitokukai’s public events, but when asked, she denied her participation.12 7 Yoshifumi Tawara: What is the Aim of Nippon Kaigi, the Ultra-Right Organization that Supports Japan’s Abe Administration? The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. 1 November 2017. <https://apjjf.org/2017/21/Tawara.html > Accessed: 3 August 2020.

8 I elaborated more on the discrimination against Korean nationals and the Japanese right-wing in general in Emese Schwarcz: A forming new political identity for Japan. AJRC Analyses. 1 August 2019. <https://ajtk.hu/ en/research/ajrc-analyses/a-forming-new-political-identity-for-japan >

Rob Fahey: Koike’s Korean Problem. Tokyo Review. 1 September 2017. <https://www.tokyoreview. net/2017/09/koike-korean-problem/ > Accessed: 4 August 2020.

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Fahey, 2017.

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Zaitokukai is an abbreviation of the group’s original name, that is Zainichi Tokken wo Yurusanai Shimin no Kai (在日特権を許さない市民の会), which roughly translates to “Citizen’s Association Against the Privilege of zainichi Koreans.” Ethnic Koreans living in minority in Japan are often called zainichi (“Japan resident”).

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Jake Adelstein: The Pride And (Anti-Korean) Prejudice Of Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike Is A Big Problem.

Forbes. 19 October 2017. <https://www.forbes.com/sites/adelsteinjake/2017/10/19/the-pride-and-antikorean-prejudice-of-tokyo-governor-yuriko-koike-is-a-big-problem/#62c95c7c774f > Accessed: 10 August 2020.

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There seems to be several different sides to the now re-elected Governor, and although her virus-management is deemed preferable for many, the gubernatorial race gave platform for multiple opposing voices to be heard. The loudest being Utsunomiya Kenji, who was able to bring home the silver medal with 13.76% of the total votes.

VOICE OF THE PEOPLE Utsunomiya Kenji (73), a lawyer and former chair of the Japan Federation of Bar Association (Nichibenren) has already run twice for the governor’s chair in 2012 and 2014. A socialist, with humble beginnings from Ehime Prefecture (Shikoku), Utsunomiya has been known for his social activism that was first visible during the previous financial crisis in 2008-2009, when he took part in establishing the infamous haken mura in Hibiya Park, Tōkyō. Haken mura, or tent village of the contract workers was an upsetting spectacle with the aim of drawing attention to those losing their jobs and simultaneously their company-provided homes. These workers were left without any help from the government that made such a risky employment scheme possible. The tent village was set up near the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare, to demand justice and solution for the mass of 3.5 million newly unemployed and homeless people.13 Utsunomiya Kenji was one of those activists in league with non-profit organisations, who tried to provide food and help to those in urgent need.

This is also one of the major reasons which he cites as why he is running for governorship: seeing (and experiencing) the social disparities first hand. Solving the problem of rising poverty, and helping the masses of single mothers without prospect became important points of his campaign.14 But considering the current situation with the ongoing pandemic, priority was given to goals, such as improving medical equipment, providing financial support to medical facilities and staff, and compensating SMEs for pandemic-related losses. Aside these three main emergency policies, eight further main objectives were set: making school lunch free, reducing tuition fees for University of Tokyo students, establishing housing support with special care to 3.11 Fukushima survivors, eliminating non-regular employee poverty, strengthening disaster countermeasures, reviewing road policy, and also reviewing Haneda Airport flight policies.15 Many of these policies and problems have been neglected for decades now, not only on local level, but also nationally. And this is why, although he ran independently, most of the major opposition parties rallied behind Utsunomiya—a rare sight indeed. There was an odd one out though, who did not endorse him: Reiwa Shinsengumi and its leader Yamamoto Tarō.

13 Jeff Kingston: Contemporary Japan: History, Politics, and Social Change since the 1980s. Wiley-Blackwell, 2nd edition, 2012.

"Tokyo Gubernatorial Candidate" Kenji Utsunomiya, June 15, 2020. The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan. <http://www.fccj.or.jp/news-and-views/club-news-multimedia/2212-tokyo-gubernatorial-candidate-kenjiutsunomiya-june-15-2020.html > Accessed: 11 August 2020.

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15 Utsunomiya Kenji Tōkyōto chiji-sen 2020 [Sōgō seisaku-shū]. Official website of Utsunomiya Kenji. 26 June 2020. <http://utsunomiyakenji.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/utsunomiyaKenji_policy2020-7.pdf > Accessed: 11 August 2020.

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FULL THROTTLE FOR THE DEFEAT Yamamoto Tarō (45) was a successful actor up until the 2011 Fukushima Triple Disaster, when he resigned from his agency and turned to anti-nuclear activism. A year later he stepped into the world of politics by running independently for a seat in the House of Representatives, with humble results, however ha was later elected to the House of Councillors. Yamamoto became popular with his media-savvy presence, expertise on social media, direct communication style, and grassroots campaigning. Many of the foreign observers categorised him as a left- wing populist for his policies and campaigning style.16 Yamamoto established several small parties during the 2010s, the current one being Reiwa Shinsengumi.17 He gained controversial reputation with his assertive behaviour when, during a social gathering, he handed a political letter to Emperor Akihito, thus going against the constitution that prohibits members of the Imperial Family to take part, or even comment on politics. His actions were not tolerated, but he still managed to become politically relevant with his leftist policies. In the 2019 House of Councillors elections, the Reiwa Shinsengumi managed to garner quite a success by winning two seats. During this campaign, Yamamoto did not put himself to the very first slot of the party list, but instead promoted Funago Yasuhiko, a disabled party member with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), a disease forcing him to use artificial respirator. The second place was given to Kimura Eiko, another disabled party member, suffering from cerebral palsy. With this move, Yamamoto made history by helping the first two severely disabled lawmakers to get elected. The electoral win was also a major win for those advocating social issues, such as the integration of disabled people seamlessly into society. The first weeks were loud from the accessibility-problems (both physically and to care workers) the two lawmakers were facing inside the building of the Diet.18 The Reiwa Shinsengumi promotes policies from a wide-spectrum of social issues (many of them being anti-establishment): abolishing the consumption tax, solving housing problems, decreasing (and eventually abolishing) education fees, increasing minimum wage, increasing the number of civil servants employed (most notably nurses, care workers, workers dealing with nuclear power plant accidents, government workers), introducing income compensation for food security, establishing a Disaster Prevention Agency with NPOs, effective infrastructure building, ban on nuclear plants, and further policies connected to the problematic Okinawan US military bases, child care, and domestic violence.19

Axel Klein: Is There Left Populism in Japan? The Case of Reiwa Shinsengumi. The Asia-Pacific Journal Japan Focus. 15 May 2020. <https://apjjf.org/2020/10/Klein.html > Accessed: 13 August 2020.

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The unusual party name Reiwa Shinsengumi is made up of two elements: Reiwa, which is the name of the current era in Japanese calendar; and Shinsengumi, which is the name of a Meiji Era elite police force that had a mission of keeping peace in those turbulent times. Yamamoto was famously casted in an NHK television drama depicting the fate of Shinsengumi.

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Tomohiro Osaki: Opposition lawmakers with severe disabilities make Upper House debut after steps taken toward creating barrier-free Diet. The Japan Times. 1 August 2019. <https://www.japantimes.co.jp/ news/2019/08/01/national/politics-diplomacy/opposition-lawmakers-severe-disabilities-make-upper-housedebut-steps-taken-toward-creating-barrier-free-diet/ > Accessed. 12 August 2020.

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Seisaku. Reiwa Shinsengumi Official Website. <https://reiwa-shinsengumi.com/policy/ > Accessed: 12 August 2020.

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As we can see, Reiwa Shinsengumi and Utsunomiya do not stand so far from each other policy-wise, yet Yamamoto decided not to endorse him, and rather run alone for the governor’s seat. His reasons remain unclear, but one should suspect that his disagreement with the parties backing Utsunomiya might be one of the main reasons. He himself was able to bag the support of the Democratic Party for the People. The emphases were definitely put on differing places in the case of both candidates. While Utsunomiya pushed for more assertive crisis countermeasures, Yamamoto called for the immediate cancellation of the Tokyo Olympic Games, and for a 100,000 yen cash handout in response to the pandemic. His efforts were not in vain, but he could only gather the support of 10.72% of the Tōkyō electorate.

Yamamoto was not the only candidate to oppose Koike without standing behind Utsunomiya Kenji. Ono Taisuke (46), vice governor of Kumamoto Prefecture recently quit and announced his participation as an independent candidate in the election, backed by the Japan Innovation Party. Having worked at a foreign consulting firm, Ono then served as a vice governor for 8 years. As someone who was born in Tōkyō, but lived and served long enough in a different prefecture, Ono has both metropolitan and regional insight. During the campaign, he refused to criticize Koike, which was like a breath of fresh air in the sea of all the campaigning tactics. His policy goals were to review and expand Koike’s pandemic countermeasure strategy; to establish a financial safety net; to renegotiate the Olympics timeline with the International Olympic Committee and postpone the games further to 2024; to introduce teleworking in the long-run, while developing childcare-friendly work schemes; to prioritise child rearing support by subsidising infertility treatments, expanding the maternal discount system; and to fully legalise gay marriage.20 Even with the backing of the moderately popular Japan Innovation Party however, Ono could only garner 9,99% support.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS Similarly to other democracies, this gubernatorial race also showcased candidates that seemed to take the elections as a joke—to put it lightly. Tachibana Takashi (52), who is a frequent competitor in electoral races, with mostly little to no support, was one of them. His party literally translates, as The Party to Protect the People from NHK (yes, the television and radio broadcasting corporation), 21 and his only goal—as always—is to crush the NHK with its aggressive and intimidating bill collecting mechanism. Then there was a female candidate with promotional posters depicting her in a flimsy bra made from the infamous “Abenomasks”—reusable face masks sent by the government during the first wave of the pandemic. Another candidate used his government-mandated screen time on NHK to—rather than citing his campaign proposal—display questionable behaviour in a seemingly soiled adult diaper. A man named Hiratsuka Masayuki (38) campaigned with the catch phrase “Corona is just a regular cold”, and even organised a “cluster party” not long after the elections, that was basically a mask-less raid on Tōkyō’s busiest railway 20 Ikuta Aya: Tochiji-sen, dare ni tōhyō sureba ii? Shuyō kōho-sha 5-ri no kōyaku wo hikaku shite miruto. ...

Rikkōhosha ichiran mo keisai. Huffington Post. 3 June 2020. <https://www.huffingtonpost.jp/entry/tokyoelection-2020_jp_5ef9378bc5b6acab28437435 > Accessed: 13 August 2020.

NHK kara Kokumin wo Mamoru Tō

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line, the Yamanote, in rush hour.22 The goal of the raid was to start a pandemic cluster.

Most worryingly though, Sakurai Makoto (48), ex-leader and founder of the racist far-right group Zaitokukai, also run for the governor’s seat, and gained a worrying number of votes (178,784), making up 2.92% of the total votes cast.

TO CONCLUDE The seemingly politically distant and diverse candidates—not counting the ones discussed in the previous section—have one stark common denominator among them: the opposition to the central government and the Abe Administration. The fact that the LDP did not run its own candidate, but endorsed the winning Koike instead does not mean that the LDP has Tōkyō in its hands. The future is already blurry with Prime Minister Abe ending his tenure soon, but this year’s gubernatorial race also emphasised the need for Koike to diversify her portfolio, and to start taking contemporary social issues seriously, and not just for the economic benefit of all. Of course, the end of the COVID-19 pandemic is not anywhere near in sight, and as Tōkyō is the biggest cluster for the infected, the governor has to maintain a close engagement with the central government to find a solution for pushing the numbers down. As to what will become of the other candidates: a next House of Councillors election is scheduled to October next year—if not before.

22 Julian Ryall: Japan has anti-mask protesters too, led by a coronavirus-denying political hopeful. South China Morning Post. 11 August 2020. <https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3096902/ japan-has-anti-mask-protesters-too-led-coronavirus > Accessed: 17 August 2020.

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