Yoshikazu Higashitani of the YouTube channel, GaasSyy_ch, announces his intention to run for the House of Councillors this summer.Mr. Yoshikazu Azumaya of the expose-style YouTube channel GaasSyy_ch, has announced that he will run for the House of Councillors in the summer. He plans to run for the national proportional seat of the NHK Party, which is headed by Takashi Tachibana.  On May 30, Higashitani distributed live on his YouTube channel and held a press conference with Tachibana remotely. On that day, Mr. Azumaya was dressed in his formal attire, wearing a shirt and tie, and date glasses. First, to declare his determination, he shared his reasons for running for office.  Mr. Tachibana and I discussed the main reason was money. That there would be much money upon winning the elections which I can use for all repayments. Higashitani says he needs the money to repay the huge debt he incurred from illegal gambling and the fraud scandal that ensued. He has been able to get Tokyo Cosmetic Surgery’s Chief Director Aso to take over his debts for the time being. The second reason is the privilege of non-arrest. According to Azumaya, he and the victim of the fraud agreed on a settlement, but due to pressure from someone, the police approached the victim to stop settling and file a damage report.   Since Mr. Azumaya cannot return to Japan because of this, he wants to become a member of the National Diet to gain the right of non-arrest. If he can return to Japan, he would like to meet the victims in person and apologize to their mothers for causing them trouble. Higashitani has exposed a number of celebrities and the arrogance of those involved in entertainment agencies. He claims that the media does not report his exposés because of their close relationships with big politicians.   He seems to have a sense of crisis in the Japanese entertainment industry. There are some great talents in Japan, and he has a dream that the government will support and nurture world-class talents and artists. He is very motivated, saying, “We need to destroy the current entertainment industry so that we can turn it into clean water.”  A factor in his popularity might be his honesty about his two reasons for running. There are a lot of people who become politicians out of self-interest without any ambition. At the press conference, some reporters were very inquisitive about the privilege of not being arrested, etc. But Azumaya’s response was only, “The questions are not interesting.”  But Higashitani said, “The questions are not interesting. You should be different from the others.” (sports newspaper reporter). Although Azumaya currently resides in the Middle East, unlike in local elections, he is running as a member of the NHK party’s national proportional list, so he can run for office while still living abroad. Since Mr. Azumaya is a popular YouTube star, his appeal to the public will be greater than that of an older Diet member. The proportional representation system for the Upper House election is based on voting by writing in the name of the candidate or the name of the political party. The number of winners for each party is determined according to the total number of votes cast for that party, and the candidates with the highest number of votes are elected in that order. In the end, the key point is how many votes are cast for GaasSyy_ch and how strong Mr. Azumaya’s vote-getting ability is which has already reached over 1.2 million registered users on YouTube in a few months.