- Title: JAPAN: 94-year-old war veteran fights in election battle
- Date: 13th December 2012
- Summary: HANYU, SAITAMA PREFECTURE, JAPAN (DECEMBER 12, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF 94-YEAR-OLD PACIFIC WAR VETERAN AND CANDIDATE FOR SAITAMA NO.12 WARD IN JAPANESE LOWER HOUSE ELECTION, RYOKICHI KAWASHIMA, WHEELING HIS WALKING FRAME TO BOARD SHOWING POSTERS FOR ELECTION CANDIDATES KAWASHIMA'S POSTER ON BOARD KAWASHIMA POINTING TO POSTER POSTER SHOWING KAWASHIMA'S AGE KAWASHIMA SITTING DOWN ON HIW WALKING FRAME (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) 94-YEAR-OLD PACIFIC WAR VETERAN AND CANDIDATE FOR SAITAMA NO.12 WARD IN JAPANESE LOWER HOUSE ELECTION, RYOKICHI KAWASHIMA, SAYING: "Everybody's dead. I used to have lots of friends living around here, but when I went to look for them to ask for their help, there was no one left." VARIOUS OF KAWASHIMA SWEEPING LEAVES OUTSIDE HIS HOUSE SIGN OUTSIDE HOUSE READING 'ELECTION OFFICE' VARIOUS OF KAWASHIMA PUTTING OUT PLANTS IN FRONT OF HOUSE KAWASHIMA EXPLAINING ABOUT HIS WARTIME EXPERIENCES AND MAKING MOVEMENT OT SIMULATE BAYONET KAWASHIMA'S SON-IN-LAW INTERRUPTING KAWASHIMA (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) 94-YEAR-OLD PACIFIC WAR VETERAN AND CANDIDATE FOR SAITAMA NO.12 WARD IN JAPANESE LOWER HOUSE ELECTION, RYOKICHI KAWASHIMA, SAYING: "There's no one leading any of the political parties at the moment who's fit to be prime minister. That was going through my mind when I was watching television and found out people were standing as independent candidates in the election. Well, I thought, if I'm seeing people in the newspaper standing for election all by themselves, then why don't I give it a go too?" VARIOUS OF KAWASHIMA EXAMINING ELECTION POSTER (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) 94-YEAR-OLD PACIFIC WAR VETERAN AND CANDIDATE FOR SAITAMA NO.12 WARD IN JAPANESE LOWER HOUSE ELECTION, RYOKICHI KAWASHIMA, SAYING: "The money I'm using is what I put aside for my funeral. My daughter was against it. 'If you use that money, you won't be able to have a funeral,' she told me. But I told her it didn't matter, the money was just sitting here waiting to be used up. And I don't need a funeral anyway." ELECTION POSTER IN HOUSE VARIOUS OF KAWASHIMA MAKING FOOD KAWASHIMA SITTING ELECTION POSTER BEHIND KAWASHIMA KAWASHIMA WIPING NOSE
- Embargoed: 28th December 2012 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Japan
- Country: Japan
- Topics: Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA3I6ETNUTV0LSL39AUHTA4NEX9
- Story Text: The race may be on ahead of Japan's election, but Ryokichi Kawashima has chosen a slower road to victory.
Standing for office for the first time at 94-years-old, this is as energetic as Kawashima gets.
He's the oldest candidate in Japan's December 16 lower house election, standing as an independent here in the sleepy town of Hanyu, tucked away among rice fields on the fringes of Tokyo.
But apart from a little campaign help from his son-in-law, Kawashima's on his own.
"Everybody's dead. I used to have lots of friends living around here, but when I went to look for them to ask for their help, there was no-one left," Kawashima said.
Born in a time of flux when Japan was throwing off its samurai past in favour of rapid modernisation, and later serving in China during the Pacific War, Kawashima now lives on his own and takes care of all the daily chores by himself.
Strategy meetings at his wooden house he's turned into a campaign headquarters have to fit around sprucing up the garden.
His policy position is tough to nail down, and Kawashima often appears confused. He oscillates between hawkish and staunchly left-wing -- insisting that Japan never really surrendered at the end of the war but at times offering anti-nuclear and anti-war views.
But at root, Kawashima says, his campaign was driven by a deep dissatisfaction with the Japan's current crop of politicians.
"There's no-one leading any of the political parties at the moment who's fit to be prime minister. That was going through my mind when I was watching television and found out people were standing as independent candidates in the election. Well, I thought, if I'm seeing people in the newspaper standing for election all by themselves, then why don't I give it a go too?" Kawashima said.
Kawashima represents the most-talked-about and fastest growing part of the Japanese society: the elderly.
Japan has aged at an unprecedented pace over the past three decades and at little over 30 million, those aged 65 or older makes up a quarter of the country's population, stretching Japan's annual social security bill to 100 trillion yen ($1.21 trillion).
But in this race, Kawashima is bearing the burden.
When Kawashima filed his application to stand for office just three hours before the deadline, he'd just taken out 3 million yen ($36,400) from the sum saved for his funeral.
"The money I'm using is what I put aside for my funeral. My daughter was against it. 'If you use that money, you won't be able to have a funeral,' she told me. But I told her it didn't matter, the money was just sitting here waiting to be used up. And I don't need a funeral anyway," he said.
More than 1,500 candidates are running in Sunday's election, with the youngest one nearly seven decades younger than Kawashima.
Most are backed either by the opposition Liberal Democratic Party which is headed for a resounding victory, or the ruling Democratic Party which is poised to lose after three years in power. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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