According to ZAKZAK, singer Hiromi Go is considering a run for the Upper House on the LDP’s proportional representation ticket in the election this July. Some may remember him as the man behind a crappy Japanese version of Ricky Martin’s “La Vida Loca” that was inexplicably retitled “Goldfinger 99.” Watch:

As the resident gaijin in my high school, I was often called upon to sing the original version of this song and the Backstreet Boys’ “I Want it That Way” when I was an exchange student. I’m against Go’s candidacy if only for the fact that it forces me to remember this song. But he was most popular in the 80s, making him most attractive to middle aged female voters. One hit you can listen to is 1984’s “240 Million Eyes” (a reference to Japan’s population size, covered here by Country Musume).

In a follow-up article to this important developing story, ZAKZAK reported that Go would be taking a major paycut if he ends up getting elected. The tone of this particular article, however, makes me think the sources are generally against him running, possibly from his talent agency. For one thing, they mention that Go would be much busier with committee meetings, hearings, and meetings with his faction. I kind of doubt he’ll be busier as a Diet member—I mean all a celebrity candidate from the proportional representation ranks has to do is keep his seat warm and vote the way the party wants him to, right? Example: Shinobu Kandori, the veteran female pro wrestler who replaced Heizo Takenaka, doesn’t seem to be doing much except for making the odd election appearance and installing a Shinto altar in her office.

Other possible candidates on the LDP ticket:

Biker gang leader turned Classical Japanese teacher at the prestigious Yoyogi Seminar cram school Keisuke Yoshino. It’s unknown whether he’ll be seeking a prefectural or proportional seat, but if he wins he’ll be one of the few ex-con currently serving in the Diet. It’s a small but colorful caucus that includes the infamous Muneo Suzuki. Yoshino, who was arrested in 2002 for slapping a student in the face repeatedly, left Yoyogi on Jan 31, reportedly to move on to bigger and better things. Ironically, if he wins he’ll be serving the same party as Lower House member Taizo Sugimura, one of the more precocious “Koizumi children” elected in 2005. The gaffe-prone Sugimura found himself in hot water last May when he was caught posting blog posts that plagiarized parts of Yoshino’s autobiography “You’re Not an Idiot After All.” That might make for an awkward conversation at the party convention. BTW, Suzuki made the news recently as a runner in the 1st ever Tokyo Marathon. He’s still a healthy man in his old age (59) despite having undergone surgery for stomach cancer in 2003. Way to go!

Muneo:

TV Tokyo Newscaster Maoko Kotani. She’ll be running in the Tokyo prefectural district, but her candidacy is not without controversy. Some in the LDP are worried that she’ll steal too many votes in the multimember district and lose the LDP a seat it could have had by splitting the vote among two mediocre candidates.

So far, at least as far as ZAKZAK has told me, this is the best the LDP can do for famous candidates. Already megastar idol Norika Fujiwara and former NHK newscaster Midori Miyazaki have turned down spots on the ticket.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 18th, 2007 at 10:37 am and is filed under Aidoru, Japan, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.