Kaoru Yosano looks like your typical politician — navy blue suit, glasses, and a Showa Era hairdo. Kaoru Yosano is anything but typical. He is a PC-building, nerd-hero.
At Nicofarre, the teched out nightclub for Japanese video service Nico Nico Douga, Kaoru Yosano participated in the “Kaoru Yosano Triathlon” in which the well-known politician underwent five events against Nico Nico users.
Did the Yosano emerge victorious against the Nico Nico nerds?
The Kaoru Yosano Triathlon, streamed live on Nico Nico Douga, consisted of individual constests that included photography, the game Go, card games, a Kaoru Yosano quiz, and a build-your-own-PC event. In the above photo, the 73-year-old Yosano is facing off in the computer construction showdown.
According to Nico Nico News, the entire triathlon, an otaku Olympics of sort, lasted four hours, and Yosano emerged victorious, winning four of the five events.
Yosano, who served as the Prime Minister’s Cabinet Secretary and Minister of Finance, built his the computer he uses for work. Those D.I.Y. skills were no match for his rivals’, and Yosano’s only loss was in the PC-building time trial.
During the event, Nico Nico users left comments like, “Man, this is surreal” and “Kaoru Yosano lol”, with many surprised at how handy the politician was at sliding in a computer board.
Not bad for an old guy who used to talk finance with Timothy Geithner, and even more impressive when compared to other computer illiterate politicians!
Yosano is hardly the first Japanese politician with geek cred. Former Prime Minister, and fellow Catholic, manga-reading Taro Aso was an otaku favourite during his brief tenure. After he left office, Aso endorsed otaku sake.
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