Upcoming election candidate forced to stand down after past as hostess exposed
When the 27-year-old Mari Takahashi agreed to stand as a candidate for the Democratic Party for the People, the senior members of the party must have been pleased. Japanese politics is a staid world full of graying men in dark suits, and the presence of young blood — especially photogenic young female blood — is a dream come true.
Takahashi is a graduate of Keio University, one of the most prestigious colleges in the country. She won the university’s beauty contest in 2016 and worked as a TV announcer while still at college, followed by three years at an IT consultancy company. She also did a gravure shoot for Weekly Flash in 2020 (this was apparently not an issue for the political establishment, but then quite a few former gravure models have moved into politics over the years).
However, shortly after Takahashi was announced as a candidate, the opposition party has now withdrawn its endorsement of her in the upcoming House of Representatives of Japan election for a constituency in April after allegations were made about her past: that she had worked as a hostess while receiving social welfare.
Both the party and candidate had been upfront about her difficult past, in which she received social welfare while a student because of her father’s company had gone bust. She actually stood on an anti-poverty platform, promising to campaign on behalf of people who, like her, had experienced such hardship directly.
The Democratic Party for the People moved quickly to hang its candidate out to dry.
In a tearful Instagram live video and posts published on Twitter (X) and then later deleted, Takahashi denied working as a hostess during the same period that she received social welfare.
She said that financial straits forced her to work as a hostess for a certain time, but it was all legal and she filed a tax return every year. Her financial woes were due to her father’s bankruptcy, her student loans, and because she is looking after her elderly parents.
She accused her former party of forcing her to stand down as a candidate, but to give physical illness as the reason.
She also announced that she would “retire” from politics. Though it is possible for Takahashi to stand at the election as an independent, it almost certainly scupper her chances of a seat since she would have to win it outright all on her own. (Less famous or established politicians are more likely to gain seats in parliament in Japan not through winning their election but by sneaking in through the proportional representation votes the party receives.)
Considering how many Japanese male politicians like to spend their very high salaries or their generous expense accounts at hostess clubs, this all smacks of serious hypocrisy to us.
