is a Japanese

street musician Street performance or busking is the act of performing in public places for gratuities. In many countries, the rewards are generally in the form of money but other gratuities such as food, drink or gifts may be given. Street performance is pr ...

and a fringe political activist who was a candidate for the governor of

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

in the year 2007. He was born in

Kagoshima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands. Kagoshima Prefecture has a population of 1,527,019 (1 February 2025) and has a geographic area of 9,187 Square kilometre, km2 (3,547 Square m ...

and lives in

Fukuoka is the List of Japanese cities by population, sixth-largest city in Japan and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancient times. ...

. He gained notoriety with his provocative 2007 Tokyo gubernatorial election speech.

Background

While his background was an intense revolt against the formal high-school education system,Chris Salzberg
Japan: Toyama Kouichi calls for revolution, bloggers reflect on freedom of speech
Global Voices, 25 April 2007 he has been described as having a

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

history and labeled a

nihilist Nihilism () encompasses various views that reject certain aspects of existence. There have been different nihilist positions, including the views that life is meaningless, that moral values are baseless, and that knowledge is impossible. Thes ...

. Koichi has written several books. Toyama describes himself as a fascist.

Gubernatorial campaign

As a candidate for

Governor of Tokyo The is the head of government of Tokyo. In 1943, upon the unification of Tokyo City and Tokyo Prefecture (1868–1943), Tokyo Prefecture into Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the position of Governor was created. Previously, the prefecture had a ...

in 2007, Toyama Koichi was entitled to record a 5-minute televised campaign statement, during which he denounced majority rule and called upon Japan's political minority to join him in overthrowing the government. In response to the viral spread of Toyama Koichi's statement online, the Tokyo election commission asked YouTube to remove election speeches of candidates, allegedly to "ensure fairness" among candidates, because YouTube had "allowed only certain candidates" speeches "to be viewed freely on the site", according to an election official. According to Japanese election law, the broadcasting of speeches is only allowed on public broadcaster

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

.Tokyo requests YouTube delete candidates' speeches
physorg.com, 5 April 2007

Works

* 『ぼくの高校退学宣言—グッバイ・ハイスクール』徳間書店 (Tokuma Shoten)、January 1989 * 『ハイスクール「不良品」宣言—反管理教育中高生ネットワーク・DPクラブの顛末』駒草出版、June 1990 * 『校門を閉めたのは教師か—神戸高塚高校校門圧殺事件』駒草出版、November 1990 * 『注目すべき人物—1970年生まれの「同世代」批判』ジャパンマシニスト社、November 1992 * 『さよならブルーハーツ—パンク日記』 JICC出版局、April 1993 * 『見えない銃—外山恒一、孤軍奮闘の軌跡/だいたい全記録』出版研、December 1995 * 『ヒット曲を聴いてみた—すると社会が見えてきた』駒草出版、April 1998 * 『最低ですかーっ!—外山恒一語録』不知火書房、December 2004 * 『青いムーブメント―まったく新しい80年代史』彩流社、May 2008 * 『ポスト学生運動史―法大黒ヘル編 1985～1994』彩流社、January 2010

Magazines

* 『デルクイ 01』彩流社、February 2011 * 『デルクイ 02』彩流社、November 2013

References

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External links