41-year-old Pune Man To Contest Election In Japan 

Indians are suffering from election fever these days. So, a 41-year-old from India is contesting election but not in India, in Japan. He hails from Pune and his name is Yogendra Puranik aka Yogi. Yogi is contesting elections in Japan. And he is probably the first Indian to contest elections in Japan, says the report.

Yogi's election manifesto includes a place of entertainment or vocational training for breast-feeding mothers and non-local children getting access to government schools and availability of creche for babies. Yogi is candidate for contesting election from the Edogawa municipal elections in Tokyo.

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While talking to a tabloid, he said that “These are issues that are really important to voters here."

The constituency from where Yogi is contesting election has 4,500 Indians live. He’s a part of Constituent Democratic Party of Japan and a retired banker by profession. Yogi who is from Pune went to Japan to pursue higher studies in the year 1997. He worked with various IT companies in Japan. He has been living in Japan for 20 years and is a resident of Edogawa for 15 years. Yogi further said that “I felt that there were social issues which could not be solved just through volunteer activities.”

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Constituent Democratic Party from which Yogi is contesting election is the largest opposition party, which came to power in 2011. However, it lost in the subsequent elections. “The person heading this party, Yukio Edano, is very intelligent and integrated, and when the sitting MP Akihiro Hatsushika came to me with a proposal, I accepted, after discussing with my support team,” says Yogi. He joined in his campaign by his strongest supporters, his mother and son. He is presently busy campaigning, urging residents to vote for him.

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Yogi when was asked about how different elections there are from India, to this, he said, “Japanese are very systematic, strict rules are followed by all parties and they behave in a very gentlemanly manner. The only drawback is a lot of paper work, but there is great support from the election commission here.”

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Fidel Technologies president, Sunil Kulkarni who also hails from Pune and is a resident of Japan says, “This is historic, that an Indian has decided to plunge into local politics in Japan. It is indeed a welcome move and will open many doors to fellow Indians from a long-term perspective.”