What the Media Missed in the Chiba Goobers

Yes, a former actor—Kensaku Morita—won a Chiba gubernatorial race that saw local LDP Diet members divide their loyalties between himself and two other candidates, winning more votes than the two of the others put together. Yes, one of those two had received the official support of the DPJ, the People’s New Party and the Socialists, foreshadowing the potential electoral damage to the DPJ from party leader Ichiro Ozawa’s involvement in the Nishimatsu scandal. Yes, two of the three other entertainers elected governor have criminal records. But:

Yukio Aoshima (comedian); Governor of Tokyo Prefecture, 1995-1999)
Yokoyama Knock (comedian); Governor of Osaka Prefecture, 1995-1999)
Hideo Higashikoubaru (comedian); Governor of Miyazaki Prefecture, 2007-

Yes. Kensaku Morita is the first entertainer without a purely comedic background to be elected governor.

I can also remember off the top of my head a failed-comedy-duo-turned-successful-writers (Akiyuki Nosaka and Chinpei Nozue) and a far more successful comedian Kiyoshi Nishikawa serving in the Diet. Does Japan have a thing for laughs or what?

And Al Franken still hasn’t been seated in the U.S. Senate. (Talk of a long count.)

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My response to most recent comments on this blog to come later.