Uproar in Kouenji! Gubernatorial candidate Toyama Kouichi roared

Original publication date: April 9, 2007

Causing an uproar with appeals on the Internet to "overthrow the government", gubernatorial candidate Toyama Kouichi (36-years-old), on the evening of April 8th, arrived at the south exit of Kouenji station (on the JR Chuo line) in Tokyo with a television in hand to watch as the early election results came in. At the South exit a group of 250 of his young supporters had gathered. Calls for "OUR TOYAMA!" echoed through the air. (Editing: 山本雄史, reporting: イザ！特命記者)

Drinking and partying in front of the TV

8pm on the 8th of April. A 5 minute ride on the JR Chuo commuter express line from Shinjuku station, at the South exit of Kouenji station ― the "base of operations" for Toyama's gubernatorial election campaign ― drinking parties have been held every day during the campaign. On this occasion, already close to 100 of his young supporters had gathered and started watching the TV as the election results came in.

At five minutes past 8pm, Toyama made his appearance riding in on a scooter. Calls for "OUR TOYAMA" echoed through the night sky of Kouenji. Standing at the curbside in front of his supporers, Toyama stated things like: "(With the TV I brought), let's have a party watching TV on the curbside, like in the time of Rikidousan [Japanese pro-wrestler, 1924-1963]", "today, on this election day, as a gubernatorial candidate, since I am not allowed to campaign, I spent the whole day with friends singing karaoke", "I am excited to find out how many people in Tokyo sympathize with the idea of overthrowing the government", "Last night, I had a dream in which I was competing with (gubernatorial candidate) Yoshida Manzou. If Yoshida, who has been recommended by the Communist Party, and myself together gathered more than one million votes, wouldn't this mean that the idea of overthrowing the government was supported?"

"Ishihara Mansei"

At about 8.30pm, when Ishihara was called the winner, Toyama's supporters called out a cheer: "Ishihara Shintarou Mansei" [Mansei means Banzai in Korean], and the excitement reached a climax. By around 9pm, an audience of about 250 people had packed the south exit of Kouenji station, as passengers getting on and off at the station platforms watched and asked each other: "What on earth is going on?"

Toyama acquired tremendous support on the net, and a dedicated server was set up to broadcast a "Live Network Relay" from the curbside. There was also live coverage by "Channel 2".

About appeals by Channel 2 to "Answer (that you voted for) Toyama" at exit polls, Toyama expressed: "This time, up until now I wasn't very familiar with the Internet, but I now have a better opinion about it". He laid out his philosophy: "What I want to say is that, how is it possible that the media calls the winner at 8 o'clock [just when the polls close]? What about the mass media, which has the power to decide the winner? Does the election have any meaning?"

Next, "overthrow the government" at Kumamoto

Among Toyama's supporters, a 40-year-old man who works in the printing business said: "In this match, we want to surpass the number of votes that Uchida Yuuya (who ran in the gubernatorial elections in 1991) won, that's our borderline. If we can, we want to top the 100,000 votes that Doctor Nakamatsu received last time." He pointed out that: "Up until now, all activists were men in their 60s. In this gubernatorial election, it's a major event both on the Left and on the Right that there is a 36-year-old activist running in the elections." Another supporter, a 50-year-old man, became emotional: "I went to an election for the first time in 10 years just because I wanted to cast my vote for Toyama. I want this country to become one in which even a person who only has a monthly income of 100,000 yen can still get married."

A male student (19-years-old) similarely stated that: "In any case, I was thinking that (candidate) Ishihara was going to win. If (candidate) Ishihara was going to win anyway, then I wanted to give a boost to someone interesting." A 20-year-old male office worker sympathized: "When I saw the election broadcast, I felt that he was a really good speaker, like former Prime Ministe Koizumi. I had the feeling that when he spoke about the "minority group", it was really me that he was speaking about." A 20-year-old male kindergarten teacher expressed his honest feelings: "My job involves a responsibility to society, but I am not treated well. When you are doing work that is making life very difficult, and the word "minority" is called out, then something just clicks."

In this election campaign, "Since he entered Kyuushuu, less than 10 people have gathered to participate in the campaign for this election" (a supporter commented), Toyama's objective to run in the election seems to have been achieved. They put up posters at 4000 of the total 14,000 bulletin boards, each with "Overthrow the government" written in very large letters.

Ultimately, Toyama got 15,059 votes (determination of the Tokyo Metropolitain Electoral Management Committee). He did not receive the target of "30,000 votes", but he "plans to run in the Kumamoto City Elections due to be declared on April 15" (Toyama), and it looks like he is still continuing his activities with the aim of "overthrowing the government".