Japanese comics aren't running any more

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on June 25th, 2007

There, on asahi.com, amid headlines like “Chartered flights between Tokyo and Shanghai to start in October” and “JVC, Kenwood OK merger terms” is an item on the waning political influence of comedians in Japanese politics.

“Those who voted for comedians in the past were people who cared about ‘motherhood and apple pie’ issues, things close to their own lives like social welfare and pensions,” said Junichi Kawata, professor of political science at Osaka University.

“It is still very possible that a comedian or other well-known personality could step into the fray and create a big wave of anti-establishment fervor against established parties and a government that has done little to rein in negligence in the Social Insurance Agency,” Kawata said.

Still, some observers think the era of clowns leading the way has ended, at least in Osaka.

The “clowns” in Japan, actually ran for (and attained) public office. In the ’80s and ’90s, comedians Knock Yokoyama and Kiyoshi Nishikawa were elected to various posts, the former attaining the office of governor of Osaka prefecture and the latter serving three consecutive terms in the upper chamber of the Diet. (For those of you who weren’t hooked on stateside re-broadcasts of NHK’s Today’s Japan, like we were for a while, “prefecture” is a fancy Japanese term for “state” and the Diet is their legislature.)

Here in America, Pat Paulsen was a habitual candidate for the office of the presidency. Doug Stanhope is a Libertarian candidate for pres in ’08. And, in Minnesota, Al Franken is challenging Norm Coleman for his U.S. Senate seat, but is trailing by 20+ points in early polling.

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