The Land of the Rising Sun has become the Land of Political Assassins as Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has tapped 32-year-old dotcom blockbuster Takafumi Horie to run against an especially difficult political opponent in September’s elections. If successful, Koizumi’s internal coup could switch on light bulbs in the heads of political strategists (strategerists) everywhere.
Horie, the founder of Livedoor, agreed to Koizumi’s plea to use his wealth, youth, and celebrity status in an attempt to drive out 68-year-old Shizuk Kamei, a thorn in the Prime Minister’s side who opposes privatizing the national post office.
Japan’s post office doubles as a savings and insurance institution, which makes it the world’s largest financial institution with three trillion dollars in assets, according to the
AP.
Kamei, powerful and entrenched in the national government, has been a stalwart enemy against Koizumi’s reforms. And after considering a number of celebrity moles, Koizumi is pushing for the Gen-Xer in typical dotcom casual attire to use his status horn the old man out. Horie agreed only if he ran as an independent candidate.
"I feel strongly that the reform drive by Prime Minister Koizumi must not stop," said Horie after meeting with the PM at his home.
Back home in the States, it has traditionally been celebrities and sports figures running for office and charming the masses. One has to ask how long it will be before our own dotcom babies are recruited to thwart political opposition with their wily, new-fangled progressive ideas, while riding on their Internet street credit.
Is Japanese Internet Tycoon’s Political Debut an Omen?
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