Former gravure idol Chisato Morishita fails to win seat in election

The Lower House election in Japan was held on Sunday — yes, Halloween. The populace elected a bunch of ghouls and monsters to represent them.

One person who failed in their first bid to win a seat was the former gravure idol Chisato Morishita. Now aged 40 and still looking great, Morishita was trying to get elected in Miyagi as a candidate backed by the conservative LDP (who won the election overall). She got 61,410 votes (the ultimate winner got 81,033 votes, securing their ninth continuous term).

As we reported earlier in the year, she has been campaigning since the spring. (In Japan, campaigning to win a seat primarily means making repetitive speeches outside train stations or at other public places with a microphone, sash, and flag.)

What will Chisato do next? Another election bid? Back to teaching golf? Another gravure comeback (though her last one, sadly, did not lead to anything)?

Her attempted career switch certainly put her in the limelight again, with her campaign attracting national news coverage. We imagine she will be getting some offers now.

While politics in Japan is notoriously dominated by old men, there is a strange precedent for former gradols serving in public office. The most successful example is Renho, who was once the leader of the opposition party.