Not since 1951 has a member of the Diet, Japan’s parliament, been expelled. Yoshikazu Higashitani, known on social media as “GaaSyy,” missed all the sessions and has not apologized.
The upper house of the Japanese parliament has decided to expel a producer of videos about celebrity scandals for the YouTube platform, elected deputy in 2022, for missing all sessions, it was announced this Wednesday.
The disciplinary commission of the House of Councilors unanimously confirmed the decision, made on Tuesday. This is the first time that a deputy has been expelled from the Japanese parliament (Diet) since 1951, according to the Japanese press.
The Diet had earlier this month ordered Yoshikazu Higashitani, 51, known on social media by the pseudonym “GaaSyy,” to apologize to the assembly.
But Higashitani, one of two deputies elected from the small Seijika Joshi 48 party, did not respond to that order.
Expulsion is the most severe punishment an MP can receive in Japan, and this is the third time it has been imposed since the adoption of the current constitution in 1947.
The previous two expulsions were Tomozo Ogawa in 1950 and Kanichi Kawakami in 1951 during Japan’s postwar period.
After the election in July, Higashitani stayed in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, where he already lived, saying he did not dare return to Japan for fear of being arrested.
Japanese police are investigating Higashitani for suspicions of celebrity harassment and defamation in the videos he posts on the internet, according to the local press.
Higashitani will be replaced by party member Seijika Joshi, who has changed his name several times since its inception in 2013. The party was initially formed to oppose the license fee for Japan’s NHK public television.
The Seijika Joshi considered Higashitani’s expulsion illegal.
Source: Observadora
