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
Incumbent
Assumed office 17 June 2013
Deputy	Hodaka Maruyama
Preceded by	Position established
Leader of the Horiemon New Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 20 May 2020
Preceded by	Position established
Member of the House of Councillors
In office 29 July 2019 – 10 October 2019
Succeeded by	Satoshi Hamada
Parliamentary group	Minna no Tō
Constituency	Proportional
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 party	N-Koku (National) Horiemon New (Prefectural)
Other political affiliations	Minna no Tō (until 2013)
Occupation	Social 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]

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 uploaded a video where he justified the use of genocide as a solution for overpopulation.[7] He also questioned Japan's aid for underdeveloped countires, 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."[8] Later on he denied these news reports.[9]

Electoral record

Date	Election	Constituency	Nomination	Votes	Share	Total candidates	Rank achieved	Rank needed to win	Result
8 September 2013	Settsu City (Osaka) assembly general	(at-large)	N-Koku	317	1.1%	29	25	21	Lost
23 February 2014	Machida City (Tokyo) assembly general	(at-large)	N-Koku	1,589	1.1%	41	38	36	Lost
26 April 2015	Funabashi City (Chiba) assembly general	(at-large)	N-Koku	2,622	1.4%	73	35	50	Won (forfeited/resigned mid-term)
31 July 2016	Tokyo Metropolis gubernatorial	(at-large)	N-Koku	27,241	0.4%	21	8	1	Lost
22 January 2017	Ibaraki City (Osaka) assembly general	(at-large)	N-Koku	1,531	1.7%	43	33	28	Lost
2 July 2017	Tokyo Metropolis assembly general	Katsushika City	N-Koku	4,463	2.4%	8	8	4	Lost
12 November 2017	Katsushika City (Tokyo) assembly general	(at-large)	N-Koku	2,954	1.9%	59	33	40	Won (forfeited/resigned mid-term)
9 June 2019	Sakai City (Osaka) mayoral	(at-large)	N-Koku	14,110	5.1%	3	3	1	Lost
21 July 2019	25th House of Councillors regular	proportional 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 2019	24th House of Councillors by-election	Saitama	N-Koku	168,289	13.6%	2	2	1	Lost
10 November 2019	Ebina City (Kanagawa) mayoral	(at-large)	N-Koku	2,990	5.5%	3	3	1	Lost
24 November 2019	Sakurai City (Nara) mayoral	(at-large)	N-Koku	1,294	8.3%	2	2	1	Lost
8 December 2019	Koganei City (Tokyo) mayoral	(at-large)	N-Koku	678	1.7%	4	4	1	Lost
5 July 2020	Tokyo Metropolis gubernatorial	(at-large)	Horiemon New	43,912	0.72%	22	6	1	Lost

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. "Anti-NHK party chief goes off the rails in urging 'genocide'". The Asahi Shimbun. 29 September 2019. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
8. "Leader of Japan's anti-NHK party suggests genocide as solution to overpopulation". Japan Times. 27 September 2019. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cRMaqrXHh0

External links

• Takashi Tachibana's channel on YouTube