July 2009 to July 2010 - Religion and Politics in Contemporary Japan - page 201

candidate in a very competitive environment and against candidates who
included celebrities. Not well known among the membership of Soka Gakkai
either, she evidently told her life story of how she had been one of a large
family of children from Hokkaido whose mother had struggled to send her to
university. It was a process for Komeito supporters to get to know her, not
only what she had done on a professional level, but for them to get to know
what kind of person she was. This process was not necessarily unique to
Komeito, but the way it demonstrated the potential of ordinary people epi-
tomised the kind of struggles that appealed to Soka Gakkai members.
Moreover, she was a mother of two, who had not been a housewife but a very
active and successful member of society (see Chapter 4) .

In this sense, there was a practice of not only knowing the facts, however
important they were, but also feeling connected to her as a political repre-
sentative. Like Akino, she appealed to what makes Soka Gakkai members
trust her. She had to show she had sincere faith, was an ordinary person who had
struggled against the odds, and had gone through su

' economic '

ering. This was some-
thing believed to help guarantee that she will stay an ordinary person who
understands ordinary people s lives and will refrain from becoming arrogant

once she reaches the realms of power. In this way, Komeito candidates, espe-
cially those who are unknown, engage in a practice of displaying their sin-
cerity, struggles and willingness to undertake their human revolution (inner
change) in order to go on to do something great for other people. This is, in fact,
what the process of faith means for Soka Gakkai members, continuous faith in
human potential and ability to overcome adversity.
The election in 2010 of Takeya and Akino in the Tokyo constituency and in
the Okinawa-Kyushu proportional representation bloc, respectively, was rather
remarkable as they were indeed unknown, ordinary people turned politicians
in six months. Yet, this was the appeal for Soka Gakkai members, who could
relate to such ordinary

'

. Indeed, members in Okinawa were
expressing how smooth this election was, even easier than asking for support
for the more glamorous Toyama. This was despite the fact that Komeito
could just as well have been seen as intricately involved in the unpopular
decision to build a new US Airbase in Henoko as part of the LDP-led government
during that time.

' good citizens '