Wacky inventor, comedian join race to rule Tokyo

JAPAN: An eccentric inventor, a comedian and a taxi driver were among those who launched campaigns on Thursday in the contest to become the next governor of Japan’s crowded, sprawling capital of Tokyo.

The dark horse contenders are adding spice to a race that analysts say is likely to boil down to one between incumbent Shintaro Ishihara and his main reformist challenger, Shiro Asano.

Yoshiro Nakamatsu, the self-proclaimed inventor of the floppy disk and more than 3,000 other gadgets including a golf putter with a “sonic dynamism mechanism” that his Web site says improves your score and your health, is making his fourth run for the job.

At a news conference this week, Nakamatsu, 78, promised not only to lower taxes, but to safeguard Tokyo’s 12.6 million residents from missile attacks with a new invention. “I’m going to protect Tokyo by an invention that will make missiles turn around,” Kyodo news agency quoted Nakamatsu — who is running under the moniker “Dr NakaMats” — as saying.

Asked how, he replied: “I cannot give you a simple answer.”

Perhaps inspired by another comedian’s recent election as a governor in rural Japan, 50-year-old Kinzo Sakura, a former member of a comedy duo, also threw his hat in the ring with a pledge to ensure Tokyoites’ “right to live and pursue happiness”.

Taxi driver Mitsuru Takahashi, 61, was also among the 11 candidates who had registered to run by Thursday morning, ahead of a filing deadline of 5 p.m. (0800 GMT). The vote will be held on April 8.

Besides such less conventional candidates, Communist-backed Manzo Yoshida, a former ward mayor, and well-known architect Kisho Kurokawa are also challenging Ishihara, who is seeking a third term.

Tokyo, Thursday, Reuters