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Shigeru Ishiba, a candidate to succeed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, abandoned his plans to use the hit video game “Animal Crossing” for his ruling party leadership election campaign, as doing so would violate the game’s terms of use, his team said. Tuesday.
Ishiba, a 63-year-old former defense minister, had sought to use the game on Nintendo Co.’s Switch console to reach rank-and-file members of the Liberal Democratic Party by establishing an island called “Jiminto,” a play featuring the Japanese party name, and make the campaign signs available for users to download.
The attached photo shows an avatar of Shigeru Ishiba that was to be used in the video game “Animal Crossing.” (Photo courtesy of Masaaki Taira’s office) (Kyodo)
But Nintendo’s terms of use prohibit users from making political statements in the game, a fact many pointed out on social media after the Ishiba camp announced the move on Sunday.
In “Animal Crossing: New Horizons,” players develop a virgin island inhabited by anthropomorphized animals through activities such as fishing, farming, and building houses.
Ishiba was intended to generate excitement ahead of next Monday’s LDP leadership elections, as the coronavirus pandemic prevents candidates from making speeches in person. The official campaign for the race began on Tuesday.
In the elections, Ishiba and 63-year-old former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida face an uphill battle against the strong leader, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, 71, who has secured the support of the majority. of the members of the PLD Diet.
The US affiliate of the Kyoto-based company, Nintendo of America Inc., does not set such rules that prohibit political speech, and US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has used the game to reach voters in his own campaign.
The attached photo shows an avatar of Shigeru Ishiba that was to be used in the video game “Animal Crossing.” (Photo courtesy of Masaaki Taira’s office) (Kyodo)
The title had sold more than 22 million copies worldwide by the end of June, as the blocking measures have kept users at home.
Ishiba seeks to obtain the support of the rank-and-file members of the PLD, who will make their voice heard in the primaries to decide how the party’s local chapters vote, as well as unaffiliated voters before the next general elections to be held before the camera. The current term of Representative members ends in October 2021.
In the presidential elections of the PLD, the members of the Diet and three delegates from each of the 47 chapters of the party’s prefecture will cast their votes. Most of the local chapters are holding primaries.
Former Japanese Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during an event in which he and the other two Liberal Democratic Party presidential candidates delivered speeches in Tokyo on September 8, 2020 (Kyodo).
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