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Gravure idol Mitsu Dan denies LDP candidacy rumors

Mitsu Dan appears on the cover of weekly tabloid Friday (April 8-12)
Mitsu Dan appears on the cover of weekly tabloid Friday (April 8-12)

TOKYO (TR) – Celebrity Mitsu Dan, 35, has denied rumors that she will run on the Liberal Democratic Party ticket in this summer’s upper house election, reports Nikkan Sports (April 3).

On Sunday, Dan, a popular gravure (pin-up) idol and actress, said on the TBS weekly variety program “Sunday Japon” that she didn’t know why she would become a candidate after comedian Yuji Tanaka mentioned the speculation. “April Fool’s Day was two days ago,” she giggled.

Last month, the ruling party had considered noted author Hirotada Ototake, who was born without arms and legs, as a candidate. Ototake has consistently supported causes for the disabled.

The LDP had viewed Ototake as a person who typifies Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s initiative that strives for all (of the roughly) 100 million people to play an active role in society. However, revelations of adulterous escapades by the author have removed him from consideration.

The rumors regarding Dan appear to have started with a report in Tokyo Sports (April 3), in which a Nagatacho insider suggested that she is a person under consideration.

This is not the first time that Dan, who rose to popularity in 2013 following the release of the SM film “Be My Slave,” has been the subject of speculation regarding politics. Last year, she appeared on the same program while wearing a pin that seemingly opposed the government’s push to revise the constitution.