When voters in Tokyo cast their ballots for the governor of the world’s largest city on Sunday, they will be spoiled for choice.
Fifty-six candidates are running for office, a record. A self-described “Joker” has proposed legalizing marijuana and says polygamy could counter the nation’s declining birth rate. Another is a professional wrestler who hides his face on camera and vows to use artificial intelligence to complete government tasks. There’s a 96-year-old inventor who says she’ll develop carbon-free gas-powered cars and a 31-year-old entrepreneur who took off her shirt during a campaign video and promised “fun stuff.”
It can look like democracy at a dead end. But in reality, the race is deeply status quo, and the incumbent is projected to win a third term.
The proliferation of candidates reflects weariness with politics as usual, and many of them aimlessly seek attention, creating a farcical circus-like atmosphere and making real change more distant.
“I wonder if this is democracy in action or if it’s like a ‘one of yours’ in democracy,” said Emma Dalton, a senior lecturer in Japanese Studies at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia. Many candidates criticized the incumbent, Yuriko Koike, “in the most vulgar way”, Ms Dalton said. “Because they know he will win.”
The Tokyo election is emblematic of Japanese politics, where at the national level the Liberal Democratic Party has ruled for all but four years since 1955. The party, which supports Ms Koike, has kept an iron grip on Japan’s parliament despite the many scandals and widespread voter discontent expressed at the polls but rarely at the polls.
Ms Koike, 71, has faced questions about her university credentials and has refused to answer accusations that she is linked to a major property developer involved in several controversial projects. But just as the Lib Dems remain in power despite low approval ratings, it may be benefiting from a sense of not having to upset the apple cart in a period of relative prosperity.
Despite widening inequality and pockets of poverty, “most middle-class citizens are satisfied with their lives in Tokyo,” said Jiro Yamaguchi, a political scientist at Hosei University in Tokyo.
Although Ms Koike has not fully followed through on her promises to eliminate day care waiting lists, reduce commuter rail congestion and abolish overtime among municipal employees, she has used a budget surplus to provide subsidies to families with children and free tuition at private high schools in the city.
Ms. Koike declined an interview request. Mitsui Fudosan, the developer involved in the construction projects, said in an email that it had “no close relationship” with the governor and that “no special favors were granted to it.”
At first, the Tokyo governor’s race appeared to promise a referendum on the Liberal Democratic Party when a serious challenger emerged to oppose Ms. Koike: Renho Saito, 56, a former leader of Japan’s largest opposition party, who resigned from her parliamentary seat running. But fielding so many candidates has drawn attention away from her campaign.
As the first woman to lead the opposition Democratic Party, Ms Saito is well known in Japan. He tried to distinguish himself from Ms Koike by stressing the need to raise wages for young workers and ease government spending. But he has also criticized the national party for financial scandals that have little to do with the Tokyo government.
Focusing on the national party is “an easy ticket,” said Kenneth McElwain, a political scientist at the University of Tokyo. The danger is that “it’s a reason not to vote for Koike, but it’s also a reason to vote for any of the 50 challengers.”
Other candidates have made changes to the national government. Yusuke Kawai, who appeared in a campaign video on NHK, the public broadcaster, with mussed hair, a bleached face and lips painted red in a caricature of the Joker from the Batman franchise, criticized Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for his plans to raise the taxes.
“Prime Minister, before you raise taxes, make sure you sell that Rolex on your wrist!” he screamed, cackling maniacally and spinning onto a desk.
Campaign rules allow anyone who pays a deposit of about $19,000 to run for governor and give each candidate two six-minute slots on NHK and the right to post signs at one of 14,000 official election boards around the city.
Although the intention is to level the playing field for political participation, the system has been hijacked by people who want to reach large audiences with messages that may have little to do with politics.
During a campaign aired on NHK, Airi Uchino, the young businesswoman, removed a striped button-up shirt to reveal her cleavage in a cream color. “I’m not just cute,” she crooned, inviting prospective voters to connect with her on Line, Japan’s popular messaging app. “I’m hot, right?”
Ms. Uchino is backed by NHK’s People’s Protection Party, a breakaway group that backs nearly half of those running for governor. The group allowed its candidates and a few others to put up campaign posters with pictures of cats or cartoon animals on official campaign signs.
Some candidates have used airtime to promote broad views, such as opposition to welfare benefits for foreign workers in Japan or transgender rights.
The sheer volume of candidates can stifle serious opposition. With all paid advertising banned, said Jeffrey J. Hall, a politics lecturer at Kanda University of International Studies, “mainstream candidates cannot amplify their messages to the point where they drown out the voices of minor candidates.”
The upset is obvious. In the polls, Ms Saito appears to be battling for second place with Shinji Ishimaru, 41, a former mayor of a city in Hiroshima Prefecture who described himself as an “idol” to supporters at a rally last week.
Mr. Ishimaru has not offered much of a platform, but his popularity on TikTok and YouTube has helped him win support from younger voters.
Such candidates represent Japan’s breed of populism, said Koichi Nakano, a political scientist at Sophia University in Tokyo, adding that many of the “frivolous
candidates’ don’t expect to win.
“This is a day where fame is business,” Mr. Nakano said. “Reputation of any kind will lead to more business opportunities.”
As someone trying to lead a serious challenge, Ms. Saito faces voters driven less by her support than by a loss of interest in the current governor.
Yumi Matsushita, a university lecturer who attended one of Ms. Saito’s rallies in Chofu, said she did not like that Ms. Koike “disrespected” the voices of those from other ethnicities or LGBTQ people.
But her real objection to Ms Koike was that “a third term is too long”.
As the incumbent, Ms. Koike retains one big advantage: No previous occupant of the office has lost an election. It has also benefited from a largely compliant media. Although she has dug into rumors that she falsified her graduation from Cairo University, she has not investigated allegations that she had favored Mitsui Fudosan, the manufacturer, in construction contracts.
One possible reason: Two of the country’s largest newspapers, the Yomiuri Shimbun and the Asahi Shimbun, are investing in one of these building projects.
River Davis and Hisako Ueno contributed reporting from Tokyo.