A “fake councilor” in joker make-up wins the top position in the city council election! He revealed to this magazine how serious he is about his “dream of entering national politics.

New Ambitions of the “Joker Councilor

The “fake” councilor has turned into a surprisingly different councilor.

On January 26, a city council election was held in Toda City, Saitama Prefecture, and Yusuke Kawai, 43, known as the “Joker Councilor,” came out on top. He was not just the top-ranking councilor, but he received 4,419 votes, the most in the history of Toda City Council elections. Considering that the top vote-getters in past Toda City Council elections have been in the 2000-3000 range, this result shows the high expectations the city residents have for Mr. Kawai.

Kawai first entered politics in March 2009, when he was elected governor of Chiba Prefecture. Wearing flamboyant makeup reminiscent of the Joker, the villain in the movie “Batman,” he blurted out the outlandish policy of “turning Chiba Prefecture into Disneyland,” and was picked up as the “Joker of Japan” not only by the Japanese press, but also by the New York Post.

Later, in October 2010, he was elected as a member of the Soka City Council, and was given the position of councilor, but he abandoned that post and ran for the Tokyo gubernatorial election in July 2012. He ran for the Tokyo gubernatorial election in July 2012, wearing a bright yellow suit and hat with his face painted green, and touting policies such as “introducing polygamy” and “rebuilding the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building into a love hotel. He also put up a campaign poster that showed him almost completely naked and received a warning from the police to remove it.

On the day of the Toda City Council election, Kawai gave an interview to Friday Digital. He explained the reason for his decision to go into the election without his trademark joker makeup. (All statements in parentheses below are from Kawai.)

A politician has to stand out and be well known. Even if a politician is serious about his policies, there is no way he can be elected if he is unknown and has no backing. So I decided that it would be better to make everything from policies to entertainment, and that’s why I started Joker. Although I was not a big hit in the Tokyo gubernatorial election, I was recognized by many people who said, “What’s this guy?

I felt that my name recognition had increased, so I decided to start my own serious political activities. I decided to appeal for the foreigner issue, which was the policy I wanted to pursue most.

Kawai specifically put forward such policies as “opposing the policy of expanding immigration,” “deporting all illegal immigrants,” “abolishing the foreigner training and employment system that increases illegal immigration,” “abolishing welfare payments to foreigners,” “banning foreigners from acquiring land in Japan,” and “opposing the right to vote for foreigners.

His activities were truly muddled.

Making a speech on the street with no makeup and in formal attire

Mr. Kawai has put aside the flamboyant makeup he has worn in the past and took to the streets wearing no makeup, a blazer, and a necktie. Since last September, he has been giving speeches for three hours each, starting at 5:30 a.m. in the morning and 5:00 p.m. in the evening, not missing a single day, including Saturdays and Sundays. On more than one occasion, he was interrupted in his speeches by left-leaning activists. He is also a member of the Japan Conservative Party (headed by Tetsunobu Ishihama, a political organization separate from Naoki Momota’s Japan Conservative Party) and serves as its vice-president, as he wants to strongly emphasize his conservative views.

He said, “First of all, I targeted city council elections, where I could try to win, and decided to run for office in some municipality in southern Saitama Prefecture, where the number of foreign residents is increasing. Kawaguchi City and Warabi City, where the problem is becoming more serious, have city council elections still to come. For my part, I wanted to get elected as soon as possible and show results as a councilor, so I chose Toda City, which is the closest to the election,” he said.

The content of his speeches was also a complete change from the past. On the last day of the Toda City Council election (January 25), Kawai delivered the following speech.

The public safety in Japan is the highest in the world, a miracle of public safety. And national identity, identity, we will protect it. That is why I have always said that we are conservatives. Nothing should be done to destroy it in our time. We are at the crossroads of whether our security, national identity, and identity can be protected. I believe that this is precisely the time we are living in.

Six months ago, he was dressed in a bright yellow suit and hat, challenging the Tokyo gubernatorial election and saying, “I will introduce polygamy! He is a completely different person than he was six months ago, when he was dressed in a bright yellow suit and hat, challenging for the governorship of Tokyo and saying, “I will introduce polygamy! But he is not the same person,

“But the policies of my campaign for governor are also my true feelings. I’m just saying what I’m thinking in a funny way, and I’ve only said what I really think. What I didn’t calculate in the gubernatorial race was that I thought I would have a little more support from men. I thought, ‘Kawai is right. Thank you for saying that! Thank you for saying that! But the bashing was exactly the opposite of what I had imagined, and my feeling was, ‘The men have had their day, and everyone has gone over to the other side.

He looks back on the Tokyo gubernatorial election with a straight face.

How does Kawai intend to solve the problem of foreign residents?

There are many issues at the national level, but what we can do as a local government is to abolish the welfare system for foreigners. We cannot tolerate foreigners who try to take advantage of Japan’s welfare system by free-riding on it. Why should they be fed for free with Japanese taxpayers’ money?　Why are we paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to foreigners with the taxes we have paid from our hard work?　It is strange when the Japanese national pension is 68,000 yen.

This may be a matter of national politics, but the increase in the number of foreigners over the past two to three years is extraordinary, although they may be needed as a labor force. I believe that if we increase at such a pace, Japan may lose its identity in 10 or 20 years. I believe that we need to switch to a policy of increasing our economic strength by allowing Japanese people to show more of their abilities while avoiding further increase in the number of foreigners. I will get results in Toda City, and eventually I will run for national office.”

After all the vote count results were in, a staff member from the other camp approached Mr. Kawai as he was leaving the polling place set up in Toda City Hall late at night.

Over 4,000 votes is a terrible number. This is completely the public opinion.

Having thrown away the joker, will Mr. Kawai become “Japan’s Trump” in the future? We will keep an eye on his future activities.