A politician dressed as the Joker is running for office in Japan

A new figure in Japanese politics is running for office to remind voters that we live in a society…

When Yuusuke Kawai decided that he was going to run for governor of Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, he clearly set out to make an impression on undecided voters.

His campaign strategy is simple: he’s decided to dress up as the iconic Batman villain The Joker…

And before you think this guy is just some kind of joke, let me tell you now that he has some pretty good policies.

Kawai, who is the head of an event planning and temporary employment agency, is running as a candidate for the Party to Make All of Chiba a Land of Dreams and Magic, according to SoraNews24.

Presumably for copyright reasons, he’s also not The Joker - he just happens to be “a joker”...

According to the Japanese blog Hachima Kikou, Kawai’s campaign pledges include:

• Renaming Narita Airport in Chiba as “Disney Sky”
• Picking “Let It Go” from the film Frozen as the prefecture’s theme song
• Outlawing the word “trash” and replacing it with the phrase “star fragment”
• Building a red tower, similar to Tokyo Tower in Tokyo, in the prefecture but calling it Tokyo Tower (for reasons that are unclear…)

Another major part of his agenda seems to be irritating one of his rival candidates Masayuki Hiratsuka, who is known for opposing mask mandates and vaccines, and for claiming that Covid-19 is “just a cold”.

“Just getting colds is not pleasant,” Kawai told reporters this week, adding that masks could also be important for preventing seasonal allergies.

So while he probably has a very low chance of winning the election, it’s good to see that the Japanese Joker is at least supportive of measures to protect public health...

Most importantly, Kawai also has an extraordinary campaign song which is both incredibly irritating and incredibly catchy:

If you want to find more about his political positions, you can find his official press conference below:

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