<figure id="attachment_322940" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-322940" style="width: 2500px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="3556880f"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/07/e097e3dc1350aa775dffaa3f47c4e352.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-322940" class="wp-caption-text">Illustration drawn by Mr. Kanda</figcaption></figure>
<p> The other day on the program &#8220;Poka Poka,&#8221; on which I serve as MC, the guest, former Governor of Miyazaki Prefecture, Mr. Hideo Higashikokuhara, said something that surprised me.</p>
<p> He said that I was &#8220;on a certain political party&#8217;s list of candidates. And he said that I was &#8220;about the second on the list. What?　Me?　I can&#8217;t even read Kanji properly, and I don&#8217;t have a serious image. And yet, &#8220;I&#8217;m right in the middle of the list in terms of age, background, views, and activities.</p>
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<p> I had never been invited to enter politics before. But whatever the case may be, I am grateful to have been chosen. I was feeling good about it (I&#8217;m not so bad after all!) when I was asked during a commercial, &#8220;What would you do?　If he really asks me out,&#8221; a co-star asked in a whisper. What?　No, no, of course I would decline because it would be a nuisance to my husband&#8217;s business!&#8221; I answered impatiently, forgetting that we were talking about coddling. Then she asked, &#8220;Then what would you do if there were no such barriers?&#8221; He asked back. （What if there were no such barriers?　You ask so intrusively?) (What? !!! You ask so intrusively? &#8211;) &#8211; I racked my brain and tried my best to come up with a logical reason for refusing the offer. However, I got lost along the way and gave a terse response, &#8220;Well, I don&#8217;t think they&#8217;ll take it, do they?&#8221; I replied, &#8220;Well, I don&#8217;t think they&#8217;ll accept it,&#8221; in a rather terse manner.</p>
<p> If what Mr. Higashikokuhara said was true, I had to gather my thoughts in preparation for the &#8220;X-day. That night, I thought about why I could not come up with any rationale or reason for my &#8220;refusal.</p>
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<p> First, let&#8217;s look at my current situation. If I were to run for any office, my husband would have to take time off work during the entire election period. If a candidate&#8217;s relatives appear on TV or radio, they might recall me. It could lead to a vote. For fair and impartial election coverage, we must avoid that, and stations will refrain from having my husband on their programs. Thus, we arrive at &#8220;no thanks&#8221; because it would be inconvenient for my husband.</p>
<p> Then if I were single &#8230;&#8230; &#8220;Ah!&#8221; I suddenly remembered and a loud voice came out. I remembered that about a year ago, I received a line from a person who had sat with me at a blind date a long time ago. I had never contacted him since the blind date and had even forgotten he existed. I read only the opening line, &#8220;I would like to discuss something with you,&#8221; and when I searched for his name on the Internet, I found that he was a member of the Diet. (Oh, I remember him. I wondered if I had exchanged lines with this person. I&#8217;m already married, and it seems strange to ask for advice from a man I&#8217;m not close to. I mean, asking for advice after all this time, did he suddenly fall in love with me?　(It&#8217;s impossible, but just in case, so I&#8217;m sorry, but I&#8217;m going to delete the line without reading it. Now that I think about it, maybe that was a consultation about running for office!　X-Day became a reality, and I began to think about it more seriously.</p>
<h2> Is that what &#8220;I&#8221; am?</h2>
<p> Even if I were single and doing my current job, I am sure my days would be full. I didn&#8217;t want to be disrespectful to the people who had gone to the trouble of calling me, so I said, &#8220;No, thanks.</p>
<p> But wait a minute. If I am single and my current job no longer calls me, and my mother, who is a good friend of mine, has passed away,&#8230;&#8230; I would feel bored and depressed every day and wonder what the reason for my life is, and I would fall into a more and more negative spiral. If X-Day comes at such a time,&#8230;&#8230; &#8220;Thank you for making my life worth living!&#8221; I feel like it will be. This is it!　The reason why the path to the &#8220;no thanks&#8221; answer didn&#8217;t go smoothly at that time. If all barriers were removed, the answer would be the opposite.</p>
<p> So, what is there that you want to accomplish by putting yourself out there for the people?　(Hmmm&#8230;not &#8230;&#8230;). Is there anything that you just can&#8217;t help but think is wrong with politics?　(hmmm &#8211; &#8230;&#8230; not so much). This is no good. This is no good. I can&#8217;t attract an audience with my street speeches, and I can&#8217;t make a manifesto. No, no, no, it&#8217;s impossible. Besides, would the political parties that have me on their candidate lists appreciate me being single and out of work?　Aren&#8217;t they anticipating the votes of my husband&#8217;s fans?　I&#8217;m sure they are!　Oh no, no, no, that&#8217;s what you mean!　I can see your soul is in it, you know!</p>
<p> For some reason, I felt like I had lost my heart and got angry, so I started watching Netflix to forget about it.</p>
<figure id="attachment_321516" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-321516" style="width: 3004px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-321516 size-full" src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/07/695002d97b11ca3cd791054813aeec37.jpg" alt="" width="3004" height="3734" data-expapp-media-credit="PHOTO：下村一喜"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-321516" class="wp-caption-text"> © Kazuki Shimomura</figcaption></figure>
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<p> Born in 1980 in Kanagawa Prefecture. After graduating from Gakushuin University with a degree in mathematics, she joined NHK as an announcer in 2003, and left in 2012 to become a freelance announcer. Since then, she has been active mainly in variety shows, and currently makes regular appearances as the main MC of the daytime TV program &#8220;Poka Poka&#8221; (Fuji Television Network).</p>
<p> From the August 4, 2023 issue of FRIDAY</p>


 Aika Kanda

 Aika Kanda was told that she was on the list of candidates for a certain political party. She racked her brains and tried her best to come up with a logical reason for refusing, but for some reason, she could not come up with a reason for "refusing. Finally, she came up with the following answer...

Aika Kanda [Serial No.19] The Possibility of Me Becoming a Politician

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