Takashi Tachibana
Takashi Tachibana (立花 孝志, Tachibana Takashi, born 15 August 1967) is a Japanese social activist, journalist, accountant and politician who is the founder and leader of the NHK Party (NHK党, NHK tō). A former assemblyman for the Funabashi City Assembly and the Katsushika Ward Assembly, he was elected to the House of Councillors in the July 2019 regular election on his party's proportional representation list. He automatically forfeited his seat on 10 October when he officially became a candidate in the October 2019 by-election to the House of Councillors for a majoritarian seat in Saitama.[1]
Takashi Tachibana | |
|---|---|
立花 孝志 | |
(cropped).jpg.webp) Tachibana in 2021 | |
| Leader of Seijika Joshi 48 Party (de facto) | |
| Assumed office 7 April 2023 (Disputed with Ayaka Otsu) | |
| Deputy | Hodaka Maruyama |
| Preceded by | Ayaka Otsu |
| In office 17 June 2013 – 8 March 2023 | |
| Deputy | Hodaka Maruyama |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Ayaka Otsu |
| Leader of the Horiemon New Party | |
| Assumed office 20 May 2020 | |
| Member of the House of Councillors | |
| In office 29 July 2019 – 10 October 2019 | |
| Succeeded by | Satoshi Hamada |
| Parliamentary group | Minna no Tō |
| Constituency | Proportional |
| Member of the Katsushika Ward Assembly | |
| In office 13 November 2017 – 26 May 2019 | |
| Member of the Funabashi City Assembly | |
| In office 1 May 2015 – 14 July 2016 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 15 August 1967 Izumiōtsu, Osaka, Japan |
| Political party | Seijika Joshi (National) Horiemon New (Prefectural) |
| Other political affiliations | Minna no Tō (until 2013) |
| Occupation | Social activist, journalist, accountant, politician |
Career
He was an accountant, program producer and executive assistant of Katsuji Ebisawa, the chairman of NHK from 1997 through 2005. He leaked information about NHK's accounting scandals to the Shukan Bunshun in 2005,[2] which forced him to retire. He founded an internet watchdog TV show concentrating on NHK in 2011.
Political career
In November 2017, he won the Katsushika ward assembly election in Tokyo at 2,954 votes. On 27 December, the Tokyo District Court dismissed his request to sue the owner of one seg cell phone for the contract of NHK bill collection. In June 2018, the Tokyo High Court supported the district court's decision.
Tachibana leads The Party to Protect the People from NHK, which distributes stickers for the purpose of expelling NHK reception bill collectors.[3] He supports scrambled broadcasting of NHK, such that only viewers who want to watch NHK need to pay the broadcast fees.
Tachibana was elected as a member of Japan's House of Councillors at the election for the House of Councillors at 2019.
He acknowledged he had bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.[4][5]
In May 2020, Tachibana founded the Horiemon New Party.[6] Tachibana named the party after entrepreneur Takafumi Horie (who was given the nickname "Horiemon" due to his resemblance to the manga character Doraemon) and uses Horie's likeliness in campaign ads. Despite this, Horie has publicly stated that he does not have any connection to the party and that Tachibana used his name and likeliness without his permission.[7]
Controversies
Shingo Watanabe video
Tachibana published a video about Shingo Watanabe, a member of Settsu city assembly. The video alleged that Watanabe knew the condition of the corpse of Moritomo Gakuen officials. Watanabe made a libel for criminal charge and damages against Tachibana. The Tokyo High Court, in charge of criminal litigation, charged him with an indemnification in the civil litigation and ordered a fee of 300,000 yen. Watanabe then criticized Tachibana who insisted that the case was without foundation, stated that there was a problem in the law mind spirit, and refused to pay the 300,000 yen fee.
Comments justifying genocide
In September 2019, Tachibana was reported by Asahi Shimbun to have appeared in a video where he appeared to justify the use of genocide as a solution for overpopulation.[8] In the video, he also questioned Japan's aid for underdeveloped countries, saying that poverty and violence were part of "The natural order God created." He also stated in reference to third world countries: "It's impossible to teach dogs. (They're) close to being dogs. There are an overwhelming number of people like that in the world. These countries have babies to the point of idiocy."[9] In a subsequent video issued on his YouTube channel, he rejected these reports, said he was not in favor of such policies, and that he only said these things in order to generate controversy and media coverage.[10]
Conviction for forcible obstruction of business
In September 2019, Tachibana recorded video footage of a business mobile terminal displaying the personal information of NHK subscribers. In November 2019, he contacted the NHK and threatened to release the subscriber information online. This resulted in the broadcaster being forced to provide explanations to relevant subscribers. Tachibana was subsequently tried and convicted of forcible obstruction of business. In January 2022, he received a suspended sentence of two and a half years in prison.[11]
Electoral record
| Date | Election | Constituency | Nomination | Votes | Share | Total candidates | Rank achieved | Rank needed to win | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2013 | Settsu City (Osaka) assembly general | (at-large) | N-Koku | 317 | 1.1% | 29 | 25 | 21 | Lost |
| 23 February 2014 | Machida City (Tokyo) assembly general | (at-large) | N-Koku | 1,589 | 1.1% | 41 | 38 | 36 | Lost |
| 26 April 2015 | Funabashi City (Chiba) assembly general | (at-large) | N-Koku | 2,622 | 1.4% | 73 | 35 | 50 | Won (forfeited/resigned mid-term) |
| 31 July 2016 | Tokyo Metropolis gubernatorial | (at-large) | N-Koku | 27,241 | 0.4% | 21 | 8 | 1 | Lost |
| 22 January 2017 | Ibaraki City (Osaka) assembly general | (at-large) | N-Koku | 1,531 | 1.7% | 43 | 33 | 28 | Lost |
| 2 July 2017 | Tokyo Metropolis assembly general | Katsushika City | N-Koku | 4,463 | 2.4% | 8 | 8 | 4 | Lost |
| 12 November 2017 | Katsushika City (Tokyo) assembly general | (at-large) | N-Koku | 2,954 | 1.9% | 59 | 33 | 40 | Won (forfeited/resigned mid-term) |
| 9 June 2019 | Sakai City (Osaka) mayoral | (at-large) | N-Koku | 14,110 | 5.1% | 3 | 3 | 1 | Lost |
| 21 July 2019 | 25th House of Councillors regular | proportional N-Koku list | N-Koku | 987,885[nb 1] 130,233[nb 2] |
2.0%[nb 1] 88.8%[nb 2] |
13:[nb 3] 155[nb 4] 4[nb 2] |
n/a[nb 5] 1[nb 2] |
50[nb 5] 1[nb 2] |
Won (forfeited/resigned mid-term) |
| 27 October 2019 | 24th House of Councillors by-election | Saitama | N-Koku | 168,289 | 13.6% | 2 | 2 | 1 | Lost |
| 10 November 2019 | Ebina City (Kanagawa) mayoral | (at-large) | N-Koku | 2,990 | 5.5% | 3 | 3 | 1 | Lost |
| 24 November 2019 | Sakurai City (Nara) mayoral | (at-large) | N-Koku | 1,294 | 8.3% | 2 | 2 | 1 | Lost |
| 8 December 2019 | Koganei City (Tokyo) mayoral | (at-large) | N-Koku | 678 | 1.7% | 4 | 4 | 1 | Lost |
| 5 July 2020 | Tokyo Metropolis gubernatorial | (at-large) | Horiemon New | 43,912 | 0.72% | 22 | 6 | 1 | Lost |
- Party proportional vote result
- Tachibana's individual preference vote result within the N-Koku list
- Lists standing in proportional election
- Total number of candidates standing in proportional election
- The proportional district elects 50 members by proportional representation, not by a majoritarian (FPTP/SNTV) system
References
- Mainichi Shimbun, 10 October 2019: N国・立花氏が議員失職 浜田氏繰り上げ当選へ Archived 12 October 2019 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 12 October 2019.
- NHK膿と闇、経理職員が激白「想像を上回る不正」. Zakzak (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 13 June 2014.
- "'NHK Repelling Stickers' free for anyone wanting to keep away Japan's public TV fee collectors". Japan Today. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
- Takashi, Tachibana (4 October 2018). "私立花孝志は【統合失調症】&【躁ウツ病】でした". Takashi Tachibana's YouTube channel (in Japanese). Retrieved 24 August 2019.
- Shūkan Bunshun (21 August 2019). "N国・立花孝志 カネと女と躁鬱 月収3000万円、母も驚いた新恋人、病いを公言【全文公開】". Yahoo! Japan (in Japanese). Retrieved 24 August 2019.
- @tachibanat (25 May 2020). "本日【ホリエモン新党】を立党しました。代表者は私立花孝志目的は、東京改造計画【東京都への緊急提言37項】の実現です。明日14時〜東京都庁記者クラブで記者会見を行います。" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- "不出馬なのに「ホリエモン」ポスターはなぜOK？ 都知事選で選管に問い合わせ300件超". Tokyo Shimbun (in Japanese). 29 June 2020.
- "Anti-NHK party chief goes off the rails in urging 'genocide'". The Asahi Shimbun. 29 September 2019. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
- "Leader of Japan's anti-NHK party suggests genocide as solution to overpopulation". Japan Times. 27 September 2019. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
- N国党首、人口増に「虐殺」言及 共同通信の記事に対する反論 (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 11 December 2021 – via YouTube.
- Endo, Koji (20 January 2022). "Anti-NHK party head convicted for threats to leak subscriber info online". The Mainichi. Retrieved 21 January 2022.