Takashi Tachibana

Takashi Tachibana (立花孝志, Tachibana Takashi, born 15 August 1967 in Izumiōtsu, Osaka) is a social activist, journalist, accountant and politician who is the founder and leader of The Party to Protect the People from NHK (NHKから国民を守る党, NHK Kara Kokumin wo Mamoru 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]

For the journalist, see Takashi Tachibana (journalist).

Takashi Tachibana
立花 孝志
Tachibana at Shinkoiwa Station
Leader of The Party to Protect the People from NHK
Assumed office
17 June 2013
DeputyHodaka Maruyama
Preceded byPosition established
Leader of the Horiemon New Party
Assumed office
20 May 2020
Preceded byPosition established
Member of the House of Councillors
In office
29 July 2019 – 10 October 2019
Succeeded bySatoshi Hamada
Parliamentary groupMinna no Tō
ConstituencyProportional
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 (1967-08-15) 15 August 1967
Izumiōtsu, Osaka, Japan
Political partyN-Koku (National)
Horiemon New (Prefectural)
Other political
affiliations		Minna no Tō (until 2013)
OccupationSocial 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 2954 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 was suffering from 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 cartoon 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]

Electoral record
DateElectionConstituencyNominationVotesShareTotal candidatesRank achievedRank needed to winResult
8 September 2013Settsu City (Osaka) assembly general(at-large)N-Koku3171.1%292521Lost
23 February 2014Machida City (Tokyo) assembly general(at-large)N-Koku1,5891.1%413836Lost
26 April 2015Funabashi City (Chiba) assembly general(at-large)N-Koku2,6221.4%733550Won
(forfeited/resigned mid-term)
31 July 2016Tokyo Metropolis gubernatorial(at-large)N-Koku27,2410.4%2181Lost
22 January 2017Ibaraki City (Osaka) assembly general(at-large)N-Koku1,5311.7%433328Lost
2 July 2017Tokyo Metropolis assembly generalKatsushika CityN-Koku4,4632.4%884Lost
12 November 2017Katsushika City (Tokyo) assembly general(at-large)N-Koku2,9541.9%593340Won
(forfeited/resigned mid-term)
9 June 2019Sakai City (Osaka) mayoral(at-large)N-Koku14,1105.1%331Lost
21 July 201925th House of Councillors regularproportional
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 201924th House of Councillors by-electionSaitamaN-Koku168,28913.6%221Lost
10 November 2019Ebina City (Kanagawa) mayoral(at-large)N-Koku2,9905.5%331Lost
24 November 2019Sakurai City (Nara) mayoral(at-large)N-Koku1,2948.3%221Lost
8 December 2019Koganei City (Tokyo) mayoral(at-large)N-Koku6781.7%441Lost
5 July 2020Tokyo Metropolis gubernatorial(at-large)Horiemon New43,9120.72%2261Lost
  1. Party proportional vote result
  2. Tachibana's individual preference vote result within the N-Koku list
  3. Lists standing in proportional election
  4. Total number of candidates standing in proportional election
  5. The proportional district elects 50 members by proportional representation, not by a majoritarian (FPTP/SNTV) system

References
  1. 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, retrieved 12 October 2019.
  2. 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.
  3. "'NHK Repelling Stickers' free for anyone wanting to keep away Japan's public TV fee collectors". Japan Today. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. https://twitter.com/tachibanat/status/1264736441088655362?s=21
  7. https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/38629
  8. "Anti-NHK party chief goes off the rails in urging 'genocide'". The Asahi Shimbun. 29 September 2019. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  9. "Leader of Japan's anti-NHK party suggests genocide as solution to overpopulation". Japan Times. 27 September 2019. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cRMaqrXHh0
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