Japanese politician dressed as supervillain 'The Joker' running for governor: Watch

A Japanese politician is garnering attention from across the globe after he joined the race to become the next governor of Chiba Prefecture as a “joker”. Yusuke Kawai, who is head of an event planning agency, announced his candidature earlier this month at a press conference where he appeared as the comic book supervillain. According to Japan Today, Kawai will fight the March 21 election with the Party to Make All of Chiba a Land of Dreams and Magic. 

Self-promotion mechanism?

Kawai has shared his post-election plans on his personal YouTube channel, where he also posted a rap song titled “It’s Show Time” to reach out to voters. According to Japan Today, Kawai is running in the election to annoy his rival candidate Masayuki Hiratsuka of the People’s Sovereignty Party. Hiratsuka, who is an anti-mask activist, ran for election as governor of Tokyo last year but lost by a huge margin. 

Meanwhile, Kawai is not the only candidate attracting the attention of people as another nominee named Teruki Goto of the Basic Income Party is also in the race. Japan Today reported that Goto is the same person who appeared on the state television covered in poop-stained diapers to campaign for the Tokyo governor election in 2020. During the 2015 Tokyo gubernatorial poll, Goto made a nude election poster of himself to woo voters. 

As per reports, both Kawai and Goto have entered the fray to annoy Hiratsuka and the duo is also enjoying a lot of popularity on social media. However, reports suggest that Kawai and Goto are unlikely to win the election with some accusing them of using polls as a self-promotion mechanism.