Arab News Japan

TOKYO: TACHIBANA Takashi, leader of the “Party to Protect Citizens from NHK”, said he doesn’t know when absentee member of the House of Councilors HIGASHITANI Yoshikazu will return to Japan.

Higashitani, a 50-year-old YouTuber known as GaaSyy, has not attended a single Diet session since he was first elected in July last year. He is famous for exposing celebrity scandals on his YouTube channel. Despite being elected to parliament, he has been staying overseas in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Tachibana said in an interview with Arab News Japan on January 10 that Higashitani has told him he plans to return, but added, “I don’t know if he’ll come back or not.”

Tachibana added that his party is not in a position to tell its members what to do.

“We are a political party with a sense of freedom, so he can come back if he wants to, and if he does not want to, no need to do so,” Tachibana said.

“If GaaSyy wants to come back, we will support him, and if he does not want to, we will deal with that.”

Tachibana said he believed that Higashitani chose the UAE as his refuge because he had friends there.

“I don’t think he had a plan,” Tachibana said. “He went there with just 110 yen (less than one dollar) in his hand. I heard he had been contacted by the police, so he grabbed only 110 yen, bought a plane ticket with a credit card and flew to Dubai.”

Recent reports said GaaSyy owns no real estate, financial assets, and is in a debt of loans for 70 million Japanese yen (about $530,000.)

The Metropolitan Police Department has requested Higashitani present himself for voluntary questioning on suspicion of threatening celebrities with YouTube videos. He previously indicated he would return to Japan and comply with this request.

Tachibana formed his party after working for the public broadcaster NHK for 20 years, saying he wanted to fight for citizens who are forced to pay for NHK and expose “bad things.”

His party believes in diplomacy based on strong defense. He also wants to maintain good relations with Arab countries.

“Arab countries have plenty of resources, so we want to communicate with them,” he said. “We want to build friendly relations with Saudi Arabia.”