Ototake Hirota: From Bestselling Author to Political Controversy – Latest Updates

2024-04-03 01:48:58

Ototake, the author of ‘Dissatisfaction with the Five Bodies’

Autobiography bestseller in Korea

In 2016, it was revealed that he had an affair with five women.

2022 House of Councilors independent challenge

Liberal Democratic Party nominates only 1 out of 3 by-election seats

This is Ototake Hirota speaking. [교도 연합뉴스]

Hirotada Ototake (47), a best-selling Japanese author who became famous in Korea in the late 1990s with his autobiography ‘Dissatisfaction with the Five Bodies,’ is running for the House of Representatives (House of Representatives) election. He was initially scheduled to run as an independent candidate, but it was reported that Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party recently decided to nominate him.

Kyodo News reported on the 2nd that candidate Ototake will run on the recommendation of the Liberal Democratic Party in the House of Representatives by-election to be held on the 28th. Toshimitsu Motegi, secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party, appealed for support, saying, “It is clear that there were situations in which it was difficult to support the candidate in question,” but added, “It is an election in difficult circumstances, but I want to do my best to win.”

However, Kyodo News reported that the Komeito Party, the ruling coalition, was passive in recommending him considering the fact that he was embroiled in controversy in the past over women’s issues.

The Liberal Democratic Party considered nominating Ototake during the 2016 House of Councilors election, but withdrew it when suspicions of an affair arose.

Ototake, who worked as a sports writer following graduating from Waseda University, a prestigious private university in Japan, served as a member of the Taoist Provincial Education Committee from 2013 to 2015.

However, he caused a stir in Japan in 2016 when it was revealed that he had committed an affair with five women. In 2001, he married a college junior and had two sons and one daughter. He admitted the fact and divorced her.

He also ran as an independent in the 2022 House of Councilors election, but was not elected with 5% of the vote. Currently, he is the vice-representative of the ‘First Association’, established by the local political party ‘Tomin First Association’, of which Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike is a special advisor, to enter the National Assembly. Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said of his candidacy, “I received a promise that something like that would never happen once more.”

Ototake was born without limbs due to congenital amputation. He became a celebrity when his autobiography, ‘Oche Dissatisfaction’, published in 1998, sold regarding 6 million copies in Japan. His “Disability is inconvenient, but not unhappy” and “There is no need to be moved. The message, “I just want you to tolerate (my disability),” had a huge social impact.

This book was translated and published in Korea in 1999 and sold 500,000 copies, ranking first on the bestseller list, and his story was once included in a textbook that guides elementary school life in the 7th curriculum.

Meanwhile, Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party decided to field a candidate only in Shimane 1st ward in this election to elect three members of the House of Representatives. The areas targeted for election are all places where Liberal Democratic Party members were active. However, in Tokyo’s 15 wards and Nagasaki’s 3 wards, excluding Shimane 1 ward, where a vacancy occurred due to the death of an active member, existing members resigned due to violations of the Public Official Election Act.

Local media believe that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will suffer a political blow if the Liberal Democratic Party candidate is defeated in Shimane Prefecture, a ‘conservative stronghold’.

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