Unmasking Yuichiro Tamaki: From Cosplay to Politics, What Drives Japan’s Most Unconventional Leader

One week has passed since the House of Representatives election. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida took over the “Liberal Democratic Party’s top ranking” status that had existed since the administration of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and was succeeded by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida immediately after taking office in the last House of Representatives election in 2021. The system, which had a solid foundation in terms of numbers, is crumbling, and the Liberal Democratic Party is now in the minority. It fell to the ruling party. In the world of politics, you are strong when you have power, but you are fragile when you lose it. I feel that the current Liberal Democratic Party is desperately trying to protect its power, which has suddenly become fragile.

The person who holds the key to this situation and has suddenly become the man of the moment is Yuichiro Tamaki (55), the representative of the Democratic Party of Japan, which has quadrupled from 7 seats before the election to 28 seats, an increase of 21. In contrast to the Liberal Democratic Party, which decreased its proportional votes by 5.33 million votes from the previous House of Representatives election, the people increased their votes by 3.57 million votes, making it a large source of votes critical of the Liberal Democratic Party. In May 2018, he became the representative of the People’s Democratic Party, which was first formed after serving as the representative of the Party of Hope, which was the trigger for the division of the opposition party before the 2017 House of Representatives election. He has been active as the “face” of the party since his days in a small household.

Mr. Tamaki, who has been disseminating information through SNS and YouTube, has a strong affinity with the young internet generation. In the past, he wrote on his X (formerly Twitter) profile that he was a “political YouTuber.” The initiative is quite ambitious, and in July of this year, “AI Yuichiro” using OpenAI’s conversational artificial intelligence (AI) “Chat GPT” was launched, and although it was temporarily suspended due to regulations, it has become a hot topic. It became. A person familiar with Tamaki said, “He often says that he puts his body on the line, but Tamaki is the type of person who puts his mind and body on the line for the sake of the party.”

I remember five years ago. In the House of Councilors election, which was the first national election after the formation of the Democratic Party for the People, Mr. Tamaki appeared in Akihabara, which at the time was a sacred place for the Liberal Democratic Party’s election campaign. He was cosplaying Amuro Ray from “Mobile Suit Gundam.” Although he had never seen a cosplay of a political party representative, Tamaki said, “The Liberal Democratic Party is also doing activities to attract young people, and we can’t lose in that.I want to do our best with teamwork.” He revealed that his dream was to be an astronaut when he was a child, and even performed “Amuro, Let’s Go”. At that time, there were 6 seats, 2 fewer than the number before the re-election. Even after the party took its current form in September 2020, the expansion of the party did not proceed as expected.

The current situation is that the previous appeal of “settlement rather than confrontation” has suddenly become a source of critical votes against the Liberal Democratic Party, which has been lost due to the slush funds scandal. Mr. Tamaki was a decathlon athlete during his university days. He began seriously participating in track and field during his time in the Upper East Continent, and was initially a short-distance runner, but was encouraged by his captain to become a decathlon runner.

When I interviewed Mr. Tamaki at the time of the Tokyo Olympics, he talked about the appeal of the decathlon as follows.

“On the first day, we will compete in the 100 meters, long jump, shot put, high jump, 400 meters, and on the second day we will compete in the 110 meter hurdles, discus throw, pole vault, javelin throw, and 1,500 meters. In Japan, there are not many people who compete, but there are many athletes competing in the 100 meters, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400 meters.・Athletes are highly respected in Europe, and I took pride in doing so.” “If you can run faster, your long jump record will improve, and because you can run faster on your run, you can also pole vault higher. I can jump. It creates a synergistic effect. My ability to efficiently handle many things at the same time is useful in my current job as a politician.”

The phrase “achieving results while doing multiple things at the same time” came to mind after receiving this result. I feel that this is exactly the position Mr. Tamaki is facing right now.

The Liberal Democratic Party, which wants to protect its power at all costs, is leaning in, and the Constitutional Democratic Party, the largest opposition party, is calling for cooperation as an opposition party. This is a situation where you have to calculate how you can best make your presence known. Even if it is to achieve their own ideas such as the “1.03 million yen wall,” if it is revealed that they are leaning towards the Liberal Democratic Party, they will likely lose support in the House of Representatives election, and if they become part of the party in response to calls from other opposition parties. Even if they do, it is unclear whether they will be able to make their presence felt. It will be a test of skill to see how far the party, which has neither a ruling party nor an opposition party, can make a positive impression of its position, which is often talked about in a negative light.

In an interview before the House of Representatives election, Mr. Tamaki said, “I want to overcome difficulties with a “just punch”.” To what extent does Mr. Tamaki’s “correct argument” make sense to the Liberal Democratic Party, which knows how to hold power? The situation where I put my body and mind on the line continues every day.[Tomoko Nakayama](Nikkan Sports.com/Social column “Interview memo”)