Gaasyy Higashitani vs. Rakuten Chairman Mikitani: Battle Erupts and Impact on Upper House Election

The current “battle” between Yoshikazu Azumaya of “gaasyy-ch,” an exposé-style YouTube star, and Hiroshi Mikitani, chairman of Rakuten, is turning into an all-out war.

It all started on June 26. During a live broadcast on Instagram, Higashitani, in an atmosphere of lip service rather than revelation, said

The president of a company, Mr. M, gathered Ukrainian women who were in a difficult situation due to the war”

He told me that “M,” the president of a company, gathered Ukrainian women who were in a difficult war situation. Although he used initials and did not name names, Mikitani tweeted the following, which could be taken as a rebuttal to this tweet.

What is your point? Why shouldn’t I party to forget the war when the Ukrainian people are suffering from it? You’re a hyena, you know that? (Original text in Japanese)

Higashitani was outraged by this response and began an emergency live-stream to discuss the details of the party. He even revealed that an informant of his was present at the party, and that he laughed on the spot during the party, saying, “If Garcy finds out about this, I’ll be in big trouble.”

Interestingly, after this exchange with Mikitani, something unusual happened around Gaasyy. The Twitter accounts of Higashitani and those around him were frozen one after another.

Gaasyy was frozen for posting a disturbing photo of a famous actor, but he immediately opened a new account and restored it, only to be banned two days in a row. When that didn’t work, he asked a Gaasyy staff member to create a new account on his behalf, but that too was banned, even though he had done nothing wrong.

In addition, Mr. Rihiro Takahashi, the founder of the IT company “FC2,” who is a close friend of Gaasyy, was also temporarily frozen. The cause is unknown, but the timing of the bannings is so coincidental that it has become a hot topic.

Perhaps the direct reason for the freeze lies elsewhere. However, Gaasyy is currently running for the NHK party in the Upper House election, which is scheduled to be held on July 10. His election strategy will be affected. In addition, his shift of focus from the entertainment world to the political world may have surprising effects in the future.

Until now, it has been about exposing the female and financial problems of celebrities such as Go Ayano and Arata Mackenyu, so it is true that we have always regarded Mr. Higashitani lightly as being far unfit to be politician. However, no one thought that the finger would be pointed at Mr. Mikitani, who is a star businessman known to everyone. He has made a wave in a new field, and there is speculation as to whether this has anything to do with his election campaign. 

There is only about a week until the election day for the upper house of the Diet. Will Mr. Higashitani make more revelations that will surprise voters?