{"id":50293,"date":"2025-07-22T18:40:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T09:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=50293"},"modified":"2025-07-22T18:40:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T09:40:12","slug":"japanese-politician-lambasted-after-cosplaying-as-gundam-character-who-famously-tried-to-cause-a-global-ice-age-by-dropping-an-asteroid-on-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-politician-lambasted-after-cosplaying-as-gundam-character-who-famously-tried-to-cause-a-global-ice-age-by-dropping-an-asteroid-on-earth\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese politician lambasted after cosplaying as Gundam character who famously tried to cause a global ice age by dropping an asteroid on Earth\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Japan\u2019s 2025 Upper House elections ended this weekend, but not without a good deal of controversy leading up to voting day. One of the more bizarre cases was that of <strong>Reiwa Shinsengumi<\/strong>, a progressive left-wing populist party that got lambasted online due to a promotional video posted by its leader. The controversy even prompted an official statement from Bandai Namco and Sunrise Studios.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">\u308c\u3044\u308f\u65b0\u9078\u7d44\u4ee3\u8868\u3001\u5c71\u672c\u592a\u90ce\u3067\u3059\u3002<br><br>\u308c\u3044\u308f\u65b0\u9078\u7d44\u306f\u4eca\u56de\u306e\u53c2\u8b70\u9662\u9078\u6319\u3067\u3001<br>\u58f0\u512a\u306e\u5ca1\u672c\u9ebb\u5f25\u3092\u64c1\u7acb\u3057\u3066\u3044\u307e\u3059\u3002<br><br>\u7686\u3055\u3093\u3054\u5b58\u77e5\u306e\u901a\u308a\u3001\u58f0\u512a\u306e\u5ca1\u672c\u9ebb\u5f25\u306f\u3001<br>\u65e5\u672c\u3092\u4ee3\u8868\u3059\u308b\u6570\u3005\u306e\u30a2\u30cb\u30e1\u4f5c\u54c1\u306b\u3001<br>\u51fa\u6f14\u3057\u305f\u8005\u3067\u3059\u3002<br><br>\u305d\u3093\u306a\u7acb\u5834\u3067\u3042\u308a\u306a\u304c\u3089\u3001<br>\u306a\u305c\u3001\u53c2\u9662\u9078\u306b\u51fa\u99ac\u3092\uff1f<br><br>\u5ca1\u672c\u9ebb\u5f25\uff1a\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/kO8kRoRaJr\">pic.twitter.com\/kO8kRoRaJr<\/a><\/p>&mdash; \u308c\u3044\u308f \u5c71\u672c\u592a\u90ce \u6d88\u8cbb\u7a0e\u5ec3\u6b62\uff01\u4f4f\u307e\u3044\u306f\u6a29\u5229\uff01 (@yamamototaro0) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/yamamototaro0\/status\/1946204114985332939?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 18, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>On July 18, Reiwa Shinsengumi leader and former actor Taro Yamamoto published a video calling on people to vote for his party while cosplaying as Quattro Bajeena (Char Aznable), an iconic character from the Mobile Suit Gundam series. Yamamoto shot the video in front of the life-size Unicorn Gundam statue in Tokyo. He donned a blond wig, sunglasses and flamboyant red outfit reminiscent of Quattro\u2019s appearance in 1985\u2019s Zeta Gundam.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"956\" height=\"634\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 956px) 100vw, 956px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20250722-50293-002.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-50299\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20250722-50293-002.jpg 956w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20250722-50293-002-380x252.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20250722-50293-002-768x509.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In the video, Yamamoto introduces Maya Okamoto, a famous anime voice actress (with big roles in the Gundam series) and candidate on Reiwa Shinsengumi\u2019s national party list. The two perform what\u2019s assumed to be a humorous skit, in which Okamoto notices the party leader\u2019s get-up and asks him what\u2019s going on, only to receive a \u201cNothing at all. Business as usual\u201d in response. The video showcases Yamamoto&#8217;s whole costume, but it is not addressed at all.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1100\" height=\"621\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1100px) 100vw, 1100px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20250722-50293-001.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-50298\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20250722-50293-001.jpg 1100w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20250722-50293-001-380x215.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20250722-50293-001-768x434.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>As reported by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.j-cast.com\/2025\/07\/20506027.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">J-CAST<\/a>, this piece of pre-election PR earned a good deal of backlash from Japanese people online, who criticized Reiwa Shinsengumi for \u201cusing someone else\u2019s intellectual property for political gain.\u201d Assemblyman Minoru Ogino, who is known for speaking up for freedom of expression in manga and anime, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ogino_otaku\/status\/1946452207366508786\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">referred to the act<\/a> as \u201cbuffoonery.\u201d Naturally, Gundam fans chimed in too, pointing out that Yamamoto either does not know or has gravely misunderstood the political moves of Char Aznable in the Gundam series (which include attempting to cause a nuclear winter on Earth by dropping an asteroid in order to force humanity to fully immigrate to space).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yamamoto\u2019s cosplay scandal escalated to the point that Bandai Namco <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sunrise-inc.co.jp\/news\/releasenews.php?id=294\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">issued an official response<\/a>. On July 22, they stated, \u201cIn the 2025 House of Councillors election, certain candidates were campaigning using cosplay and videos\/social media posts in situations that strongly evoked the image of characters from the Gundam series. However, Bandai Namco Filmworks Inc. (SUNRISE studios), did not give permission for this, and we do not support any particular candidate.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cosplaying as Gundam&#8217;s Quattro Bajeena without permission was not the wisest move for getting people to vote, it turns out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":50296,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[73,17],"class_list":["post-50293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-anime","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Japanese politician lambasted after cosplaying as Gundam character who famously tried to cause a global ice age by dropping an asteroid on Earth\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Cosplaying as Gundam&#039;s Quattro Bajeena without permission was not the wisest move for getting people to vote, it turns out.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-politician-lambasted-after-cosplaying-as-gundam-character-who-famously-tried-to-cause-a-global-ice-age-by-dropping-an-asteroid-on-earth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Japanese politician lambasted after cosplaying as Gundam character who famously tried to cause a global ice age by dropping an asteroid on Earth\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cosplaying as Gundam&#039;s Quattro Bajeena without permission was not the wisest move for getting people to vote, it turns out.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-politician-lambasted-after-cosplaying-as-gundam-character-who-famously-tried-to-cause-a-global-ice-age-by-dropping-an-asteroid-on-earth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-22T09:40:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-22T09:40:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20250722-50293-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1530\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"826\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Japanese politician lambasted after cosplaying as Gundam character who famously tried to cause a global ice age by dropping an asteroid on Earth\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","description":"Cosplaying as Gundam's Quattro Bajeena without permission was not the wisest move for getting people to vote, it turns out.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-politician-lambasted-after-cosplaying-as-gundam-character-who-famously-tried-to-cause-a-global-ice-age-by-dropping-an-asteroid-on-earth\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Japanese politician lambasted after cosplaying as Gundam character who famously tried to cause a global ice age by dropping an asteroid on Earth\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"Cosplaying as Gundam's Quattro Bajeena without permission was not the wisest move for getting people to vote, it turns out.","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-politician-lambasted-after-cosplaying-as-gundam-character-who-famously-tried-to-cause-a-global-ice-age-by-dropping-an-asteroid-on-earth\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2025-07-22T09:40:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-07-22T09:40:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1530,"height":826,"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20250722-50293-header.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Amber V","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Amber V","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-politician-lambasted-after-cosplaying-as-gundam-character-who-famously-tried-to-cause-a-global-ice-age-by-dropping-an-asteroid-on-earth\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-politician-lambasted-after-cosplaying-as-gundam-character-who-famously-tried-to-cause-a-global-ice-age-by-dropping-an-asteroid-on-earth\/"},"author":{"name":"Amber V","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fdc6517a00e35b6917ffdb02e8b574d9"},"headline":"Japanese politician lambasted after cosplaying as Gundam character who famously tried to cause a global ice age by dropping an asteroid on Earth\u00a0","datePublished":"2025-07-22T09:40:10+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-22T09:40:12+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-politician-lambasted-after-cosplaying-as-gundam-character-who-famously-tried-to-cause-a-global-ice-age-by-dropping-an-asteroid-on-earth\/"},"wordCount":422,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-politician-lambasted-after-cosplaying-as-gundam-character-who-famously-tried-to-cause-a-global-ice-age-by-dropping-an-asteroid-on-earth\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20250722-50293-header.jpg","keywords":["Anime","News (Japan-related)"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-politician-lambasted-after-cosplaying-as-gundam-character-who-famously-tried-to-cause-a-global-ice-age-by-dropping-an-asteroid-on-earth\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-politician-lambasted-after-cosplaying-as-gundam-character-who-famously-tried-to-cause-a-global-ice-age-by-dropping-an-asteroid-on-earth\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-politician-lambasted-after-cosplaying-as-gundam-character-who-famously-tried-to-cause-a-global-ice-age-by-dropping-an-asteroid-on-earth\/","name":"Japanese politician lambasted after cosplaying as Gundam character who famously tried to cause a global ice age by dropping an asteroid on Earth\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-politician-lambasted-after-cosplaying-as-gundam-character-who-famously-tried-to-cause-a-global-ice-age-by-dropping-an-asteroid-on-earth\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-politician-lambasted-after-cosplaying-as-gundam-character-who-famously-tried-to-cause-a-global-ice-age-by-dropping-an-asteroid-on-earth\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20250722-50293-header.jpg","datePublished":"2025-07-22T09:40:10+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-22T09:40:12+00:00","description":"Cosplaying as Gundam's Quattro Bajeena without permission was not the wisest move for getting people to vote, it turns out.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-politician-lambasted-after-cosplaying-as-gundam-character-who-famously-tried-to-cause-a-global-ice-age-by-dropping-an-asteroid-on-earth\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-politician-lambasted-after-cosplaying-as-gundam-character-who-famously-tried-to-cause-a-global-ice-age-by-dropping-an-asteroid-on-earth\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-politician-lambasted-after-cosplaying-as-gundam-character-who-famously-tried-to-cause-a-global-ice-age-by-dropping-an-asteroid-on-earth\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20250722-50293-header.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20250722-50293-header.jpg","width":1530,"height":826,"caption":"Taro Yamamoto cosplaying as Quattro Bajeena"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-politician-lambasted-after-cosplaying-as-gundam-character-who-famously-tried-to-cause-a-global-ice-age-by-dropping-an-asteroid-on-earth\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Japanese politician lambasted after cosplaying as Gundam character who famously tried to cause a global ice age by dropping an asteroid on Earth\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","description":"AUTOMATON is a website that covers the Japanese gaming world. We bring you the news on video games from Osaka and Tokyo.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization","name":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","width":374,"height":190,"caption":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCabvYnvuUUbbGUrxkaFRgSA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fdc6517a00e35b6917ffdb02e8b574d9","name":"Amber V","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","caption":"Amber V"},"description":"Editor-in-Chief since October 2023. She grew up playing Duke Nukem and Wolfenstein with her dad, and is now enamored with obscure Japanese video games and internet culture. Currently devoted to growing Automaton West to the size of its Japanese sister-site, while making sure to keep news concise and developer stories deep and stimulating.","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/amber-vjestica\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50293"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50303,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50293\/revisions\/50303"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}