A Japanese YouTube star became a lawmaker last year. Now he's been fired for never coming to work
CTV
A YouTube star who became a Japanese lawmaker has been stripped of his role after he failed to show up for a single day of work in parliament.
A YouTube star who became a Japanese lawmaker has been stripped of his role after he failed to show up for a single day of work in parliament.
At a plenary session on Wednesday, Japan's parliament expelled Yoshikazu Higashitani for his continued absence, the first time it has taken such a step in more than seven decades.
Yoshikazu is better known by his online alias GaaSyy under which he ran a YouTube channel talking about celebrity gossip.
He was elected to the Upper House of Japan's parliament in July 2022.
But he failed to respond to a 'letter of invitation' from the Speaker of the Upper House, was absent from the March 8 plenary session and did not attend a single parliamentary session since his election.
Japanese parliamentary law stipulates that members of parliament must come to the House on the day it is convened.
At the time of the March 8 plenary session, GaaSyy was out of the country, according to local media.