A huge crowd gathered in front of Gardens yesterday. Apparently Osaka Governor Yoshimura used to live in Nishinomiya

Yesterday, Sunday 3/22, a huge crowd had gathered at Hinata Ryokuchi in front of Hankyu Nishinomiya Gardens.

This is the deck leading from Nishinomiya-kitaguchi Station to Gardens. There sure are a lot of people.

Lots of people are looking toward the park.

So many people at Hinata Ryokuchi, where the police box is!!!

It looks like there’s going to be a street speech by “Masatake Tanaka,” who is running in the Nishinomiya mayoral election on Sunday, March 22. Still, what a crowd.

Yoshimura, Osaka Prefecture governor and member of Nippon Ishin no Kai, is coming!

There are quite a few police officers too, so it feels very well protected.

The media has arrived too.

Or so I thought, but the person in front was Hyogo Prefectural Assembly member Masuyama. He was livestreaming

The person on the left is Masatake Tanaka. And there were so many people there, from Liberal Democratic Party Diet members to Ishin no Kai legislators and Nishinomiya city council members from other factions.

Oh, there’s someone even more familiar~~

It’s Chief Priest Nishii of Hirota Shrine~

Apparently, he serves as chairman of Masatake Tanaka’s supporters’ association.

Of course it’s a beer crate! They’re hiding the maker, but you can tell, lol

What was funny was how he kept repeating “Masatake Tanaka” even more than a campaign car announcer would. And Tanaka grinning at that was hilarious, lol.

The person shaking hands with Chief Priest Nishii is Kaneko, a pastor and representative of Hyogo Ishin no Kai! A handshake between a shrine and Christianity is pretty exciting, lol.

And a heavyweight! Shinsuke Suematsu, an LDP member of the House of Councillors and former Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, also came to show his support.

His words, “A country cannot move forward with politics that does nothing out of fear of failure. It’s important to move politics forward, even if it means taking risks,” felt like something that could apply not just to politics, but to all kinds of things. Taking on challenges is scary, after all~

This is another familiar face in Nishinomiya: LDP politician Kenji Yamada also rushed over. He became State Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, didn’t he?

It was also striking that he described Tanaka as a candidate who can work in cooperation with the national, prefectural, and city governments. I guess having close enough ties to get in touch right away is a real strength.

There was also a message introduced from Prime Minister Takaichi, and Taro Aso said in an audio message that giving up his position as a city council member after 22 years to take on this challenge “is not something done with ordinary resolve.” Tanaka resigned from the city council last October to run for mayor

Yumi Kamitani, who worked in the same faction as Masatake Tanaka for eight years in the past, is running in the city council by-election.

Her words left an impression: “If Mayor Masatake Tanaka is born, I want to become a council member again. I want to serve as a council member under Mayor Masatake Tanaka.”

There was all kinds of support too, from members of the House of Representatives and House of Councillors to even an Akashi city council member.

Kee Miki is with Ishin in the House of Representatives, but since she’s from Nishinomiya, they shared this handshake across party lines. She looked kind of happy about it.

While all that was going on, an Alphard came in.

It’s Yoshimura~~!

Up he goes, up he goes~

They look like they’re having fun.

Believe it or not, these two are the same age. Born in 1975. Maybe they’re both 50

What surprised me even more was that Yoshimura apparently lived in Nishinomiya before.