It’s rare that a political official comes out in favor of freedom of expression, and openly condemns censorship, but that appears to be the ticket that Japanese politician Taro Yamada is riding, as he has utilized social media and his outspoken love for freedom of expression to renew the vigor within the anime community in their fight against censorship.
J-Cast.com is reporting that the 52-year-old politician has gained a lot of support during the congressional elections within Japan, explaining…
“Mr. Yamada advocated against the restriction of expression including cartoons and animations, and has developed political activities using Twitter and video sites.”
The article notes that Taro was trending on Twitter recently as the votes were coming in. If you check his Twitter profile he’s definitely very appreciative of the support he received, especially without having the major financial backing and support of some other candidates. He still notes that he’s aimed at pursuing the freedom of expression on the internet.
第25回参議院議員普通選挙にて、全国比例候補者として、報道各社から当選確実が出ました。全く支援団体や寄付も頂かず、ネットを中心として表現の自由を守る事を訴えて来ました。
皆さまに約束しました政策を愚直に実現していく所存です。今日がスタートです。引き続きご支援をよろしくお願いします。— 山田太郎 ⋈（前参議院議員・全国比例）3日目西し35a (@yamadataro43) July 21, 2019
私が53万票を目指す理由です。全ての団体票よりも多くの票数を獲得して、そして、「表現の自由」や「若者」の票が政治的に大きな力となることを証明したい。そうなれば、表現の自由は政治的に侵しづらい存在になります。「私の戦闘力は53万」と言わせてください！
▼動画拡散https://t.co/yUMMrEcKx8 pic.twitter.com/WU47OFW3xD
— 山田太郎 ⋈（前参議院議員・全国比例）3日目西し35a (@yamadataro43) July 20, 2019
This was reiterated by anime and manga translator Dan Kanemitsu, who recently worked on the English translation of Netflix’s airing of Neon Genesis Evangelion, which caught some ire from the Social Justice sector of social media because they believed his accurate translation was “gay erasure”.
Anyway, Kanemitsu noted that Yamada’s campaign ticket of fighting for the freedom of expression of anime, manga, and media really resonated with people.
Taro Yamada, former member of the House of Councillors (the upper house) of the Japanese National Diet has been declared by NHK to have regained his seat. Yamada campaigned on the platform of fighting censorship against manga and anime, among other topics.https://t.co/x4htWapNrg
— 兼光ダニエル真 (@dankanemitsu) July 21, 2019
It looks like he outperformed many other LDP candidates at the ballot box by a huge margin. The votes he received will directly translate into how much clout otakus will have in national politics of Japan in the future, so this is number to watch for.
— 兼光ダニエル真 (@dankanemitsu) July 21, 2019
Yamada definitely performed well in LDP votes, as noted in the NHK rankings.
However, retaining a seat as an elected official and actually lessening, reverting, or blocking censorship from taking old within the region is a completely different story.
Also, I doubt Yamada would be able to do much against Sony’s PS4 censorship policies, or other censorship measures that are forced upon Japanese developers due to coercion from forces working within regions outside of Japan.However, he might be able to help push back against censorship measures that organizations like the U.N., have tried to pass down in order to get anime and manga banned.
But we’ll see what he does and what sort of voice he’ll bring to the table in terms of fighting for the freedom of expression.
(Thanks for the news tip FightSJWCensorship)