The White-Gloved Gaijin

THE WHITE-GLOVED GAIJIN

A JET Alum Recounts His Days Campaigning in Japan

by Scott Hiniker

(Spring 2004 Issue)

My wife and I flew back to Japan last fall to take part in her father’s campaign for mayor. The town of Okutsu-cho in northern Okayama-ken is my wife’s birthplace and also the birthplace of her father and grandfather. After the previous town mayor had been recalled because of poor performance, my father-in-law seized this opportunity to run for office. His campaign had been underway for months, yet it seemed that only I wouldn’t be able to join because of work obligations. When my wife explained that just she could come, her father surprisingly said that it was more important to have me attend, because it is better for a candidate’s image to be surrounded by male supporters rather than female ones. Although I did finally get the time I needed to take the trip to Japan, we decided that we could have some fun if she didn’t tell her father that I would also be there. We wanted to surprise him instead.

It was a long journey back as usual. We made it to Okutsu the day before Election Day. After I walked in and completely surprised my mother-in-law, she wanted to help us surprise my father-in-law. She called him at the campaign headquarters to tell him to come home because a visitor had arrived. He didn’t suspect anything unusual about her phone call, because during the campaign many townsfolk would drop-by the house to discuss town business, the campaign, etc. When he opened the guestroom door to find us as his visitor, he was totally surprised and pleased at the same time. After a long night of catching-up and talking about the plan for tomorrow, we had to get some sleep to be ready for the big day.

There was a very large cast of supporters on Election Day. Our job that day was to motivate people in town to get out and vote for our man for mayor. To do this, we occupied three large vehicles with the lead car boasting a loud speaker strapped to its roof. Family sat in the lead car and my wife worked the loudspeaker. We all wore badges around our arms and the official white gloves of campaign time. When people heard our caravan outside their homes, many would come outside to show support. My father-in-law would then hop out of the car – sometimes as it was still moving – dash towards them, bow, exchange appreciation, and then dash back. This occurred for hours as we drove to every part of town. It seemed that I waved and hollered “yoroshiku” from the window to a thousand people. As you can imagine, my favorite moment was always when the townsfolk realized it was a “gaijin” in the back seat with the white gloves on! Fortunately, I think many of the townsfolk already knew my face, because our wedding had been held in town just four months earlier and since several members of my family came, you can imagine the commotion that followed.

Becoming mayor of town had been my father-in-law’s dream. He worked his whole career in town hall where he led several initiatives to raise the standard of life in Okutsu. For example, he supervised construction of the most beautiful Onsen resort in Okayama-ken, called Hana-Bijin. Also, in the wintertime when the snow falls heavily, nowadays, adventurers from the big cities travel to this small town to enjoy “Snowmobile Land” – the genesis of… you guessed it, my father-in-law! His ideas generated a lot of tourism revenue for which the people in town were grateful. After so many years of duty to the town, my father-in-law was encouraged to run for mayor.

Once the voting booths closed on Election Day, we waited for the official results at the campaign headquarters. People continued to come by to talk with the candidate during this time. It was the job of the family members to greet with warm tea and candy all who came to show their support. Many guests stayed for hours with the hope of being there when the result became official and the party got started I guessed. When the announcement came that he had won the election, nobody cued Kool & the Gang’s “Celebrate”(in case you were wondering), but the mood was upbeat while supporters gathered for toasts, gave speeches, and posed for pictures. It was one of the most memorable days of my life and I was happy to have been included as one of the family. I kept the white gloves too!