Liveblogging Tokyo prefectural election results

(Scroll to the bottom for updates)

From Tokyo Prefectural Assembly Election

Join me as I watch the results pour in from NHK and the Adachi-ku government site!

10:10pm – DPJ set to become top party in the assembly, with LDP and Komeito 2nd and 3rd. Not sure if this means the Komeito will defect and actually govern with DPJ.

10:11pm – As of 9:45pm with 7% of the votes tallied, it looks like my picks for Adachi-ku are on target so far

10:13pm – DPJ has so far picked up 8 seats from previous election. Things will get messy if the LDP/Komeito coalition cannot hold a majority together.

10:25pm – The secretary general (幹事長) of the LDP’s prefectural chapter loses his assembly seat! Shigeru Uchida of Chiyoda-ku. First time LDP has lost a seat there since 1959. Tokyo Shimbun blames higher turnout for his demise. Also it’s easier to kick him out since Chiyoda is a single member district.

10:29 – Final turnout 54%, 10 points higher than last election. Adachi-ku turnout 55.76%.

10:32 – While we are waiting you can check out these pics of the Adachi-ku polling station (I took them before a dude told me to stop – apparently that is not allowed)

From Tokyo Prefectural Assembly Election

10:34 – Things are not looking good for former porn star “gravure idol” (read: soft-core porn star) Mai Goto who was running from Shinjuku. Here’s her campaign poster courtesy Ken Worsley:

10:40 – New preliminary results for Adachi-ku – DPJ’s Satoru Onishi in the lead with other credible candidates holding steady. Still a nailbiter to see if DPJ or LDP will come out with two seats.

10:42 – There was another election today, for mayor of Nara city. And the DPJ candidate won there too! Check Tokyo Shimbun for a gleeful Gen Nakagawa.

10:49 – Sankei is reporting that DPJ won six of the seven single member districts.

10:51 – Adachi-ku is way behind schedule. But it’s kind of understandable. While it’s clear DPJ’s Onishi won a seat, there are six other candidates who appear about even. Since there are only six seats total, one of those six will have to lose. My bet is it’ll be Asako the “samurai conservative” independent

10:55 – NHK is calling another winner in Adachi-ku: DPJ’s Katsuhiro Suzuki! That means both DPJ candidates nabbed seats from Adachi.

10:57 – Current standings: LDP – 25
DPJ – 50
Komeito – 17
JCP – 4

Too bad the DPJ didn’t run more candidates – they might have been able to win an outright majority by themselves!

11:00 – NHK is reporting more Adachi-ku results: LDP’s Masatsugu Mihara won a seat. He was someone I predicted would lose. Oops!

11:02 – Tokyo Shimbun has great pic of the local LDP leader who lost his seat in Chiyoda-ku:

11:07 – According to NHK, ex-porn star Mai Goto is officially a loser in Shinjuku-ku.

11:10 – On the national scene, DPJ is gearing up to file a no-confidence motion against Aso, and LDP members are leaning toward kicking Aso out rather than an early election. Aso is sticking to the line that this election does not matter and that the party should keep him on through the election, whenever it might be.

11:15 – DPJ now 5 seats away from an outright majority. (Correction – that’s DPJ plus other opposition parties)

In Adachi-ku, Nobuyuki Nakayama of Komeito won a seat.

11:19 – Final two Adachi-ku seats announced: Yoshie Oshima from the commies and Haruhisa Tomotoshi from Komeito. My predictions were 5 for 6 – not too shabby!

11:30 – I am very saddened to hear that the anko factory owner Naoki Takashima lost his seat! Maybe he can dedicate his free time to perfecting his bean paste recipe and finally mastering how to type Japanese using romaji.

11:33 – Final vote tallies for Adachi-ku (in order of vote totals):

  1. Suzuki Katsuhiro (DPJ) – 47,245
  2. Satoru Onishi (DPJ) – 45,208
  3. Masatsugu Mihara (LDP) – 37,612
  4. Nobuyuki Nakayama (Komeito) – 34,200
  5. Haruhisa Tomotoshi (Komeito) – 34,159
  6. Yoshie Oshima (JCP) – 34,130
  7. Naoki Takashima (LDP) – 32,895
  8. Osato Ichikawa (Independent) – 12,579
  9. Mitsuhisa Asako – 9,213
  10. Sachiko Miyamoto – 2,115

Only the top six won seats. The rest will have to find real jobs.

PS: over 2000 people voted for the Happy party! I’ll have to watch my back in Adachi-ku from now on…

11:40 – NHK is calling it – the DPJ and other opposition parties will end the night with a majority in the assembly.

Impressions: The people in Tokyo have just about had it with the LDP name. Not only has the LDP-Komeito coalition’s performance in national policymaking done little to inspire confidence, in Tokyo they’ve become synonymous with wanting to destroy Tsukiji Market, a world-famous landmark, and move it to a potentially unsafe location. They’re also the ones behind the bailout of the disastrous Singinko Tokyo, a bank that was set up using mostly taxpayer money and became a haven for bad loans. Those factors combined with heightened interest in this election thanks to the media’s description of the  race as a major political landmark leading into the general election. As DPJ leader Yukio Hatoyama took pleasure in repeating, this was the perfect chance for Tokyo voters to cast a vote against the status quo.

I am going to bed now, but I will leave you with the music that was playing when Mrs. Adamu cast her ballot.

(for some reason they were playing music box オルゴール music at the polling station)

17 thoughts on “Liveblogging Tokyo prefectural election results”

  1. I think when live-blogging people usually put the newest comments at the top, in the same order as if it were individual posts, no?

    Anyway, great job covering the entire election. While you may be right that the DPJ could have won an outright majority by running more candidates, I think in the long run they’ll be better served by being conservative (I obviously don’t mean conservative in the political sense here) in their choices and not running candidates who are simply unqualified.

  2. Does the Japanese constitution allow for a vote of no confidence in the government rather than the prime minister?

    Is Mai Goto really a former porn start or a former gravure idol? It seems to me there is a distinction.

  3. There are two types of no-confidence motions – the 内閣府不信任決議 and a regular 不信任決議

    The first is provided for in the constitution and can only be passed by the lower house. If it is passed, the government must either dissolve the lower house or step down en masse.

    http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%86%85%E9%96%A3%E4%B8%8D%E4%BF%A1%E4%BB%BB%E6%B1%BA%E8%AD%B0

    As for Mai Goto, she did nudes, so I would say that makes her a porn star everywhere but Japan :-/

    http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%BE%8C%E8%97%A4%E9%BA%BB%E8%A1%A3_%28%E5%A5%B3%E5%84%AA%29

  4. “As for Mai Goto, she did nudes, so I would say that makes her a porn star everywhere but Japan :-/”

    I don’t know man, I think that “porn star” and “posed for Playboy” mean two very different things.

  5. Too bad about Komeito picking up a seat, but Blinky’s in for a tough road ahead – yeah!

    And kudos to MFT for the fine liveblogging and candidate profiles!

  6. Yeah, doing straightup nude modeling hasn’t made you a porn star in America since like 1960. Pin-up girl maybe.

  7. But Goto got busted for her DVD not just including nudity but a little more than that….
    I think calling her a “soft porn actress” wouldn’t be far from the truth.not exactly so sure about the “actress” since not so much acting is involved in her activities.Too bad making Kabukicho an oriental vegas has tanked.But then we always have Macao….

  8. Has the proposal to legalize casino gambling in Japan completely died? I haven’t heard about it in a while, but Ben was saying that there are at least a lot of people still hoping it’ll come through.

  9. It’s Ishihara’s idea and seems he has other new toy to play around with,which is Olympic game.Even it’s alive,don’t think it would survive in current political climate.

  10. There are still a lot of people who want casino legislation approved but the Agriculture Ministry is firmly opposed and the same lawyers groups which brought down the sarakin have also mobilized. Add to that parents associations, religious groups and anti-internationalist interests and there are quite a few hurdles to be cleared. I’ve followed the debate closely since 2003 and I think the chances look slimmer than 4-5 year ago. Personally, I don’t much like casinos so that’s no bad thing in my book.

  11. I don’t think allowing casinos in the already-busy parts of Japan would be a particularly bad thing. On the other hand, the proposal in Taiwan to allow casinos in the serene rural fishing islands of Penghu, in the Taiwan Straight, would probably lead to some absolutely horrible results.

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