"Thank you, thank you, thank you everyone. Tonight, in
this, the 12th edition of the most storied Saimoe Prime Minister election ever
contested where such contests are serious business for many people and fans,
the task of keeping the moe dream alive for our country moves forward.
It moves forward because of each and every one of you. It
moves forward because you believed that hope, love and justice are the deciding
factors in making our nation better, and that perseverance and determination
transform hope into success and achievement. From despair to ecstasy: that is
the belief that while each and every one of us has their own favorite, we are a
Japanese family, and we rise and fall as one nation and people, on the faith of
the one person we support.
Tonight, on the 23rd day of November 2013, Heisei 25, you,
the voters of 2channel, reminded us that while the road to fulfillment has been
hard and our journey has been full of suffering, we have picked ourselves up,
dusted ourselves off and got back to fighting the good fight and finishing the
race. And thus, we know deep down inside that for this great country the world
calls Japan, the best is surely yet to come.
So now I want to thank every Japanese man and woman who
participated in the Anime Saimoe Tournament and this general election...whether
you voted for the first time or had to find a place to vote for a long time due
to IP restrictions. We're working on that; bear with us. Whether you went on
sites like Livedoor or 2channel, whether you were on foreign sites that covered
this event or tweeted results as they came, whether you held a Madoka Kaname
sign or a Sayaka Miki sign, you made your voice heard and, in the process, you
made a difference so give yourselves a hand.
Minutes ago, I spoke with Sayaka-chan and I congratulated
her on a well-fought, well battled race. We have fought fiercely, online and
offline, but it's only because we believe in this country and you so much we
would give our lives up for you. Sayaka-chan has given back to Japan through
her advocacy of the Saimoe movement and the support of the anime and manga
industry and her legacy is what we honor and applaud tonight. Thank you,
Sayaka-chan, and best of luck in the future.
Now in the weeks ahead, I look forward to talking with
Sayaka-chan on ways to improve this country and promote the importance of pop
culture and the interests of youth so that we can move Japan forward. I want to
thank Toki Onjouji, the outgoing Saimoe Prime Minister, who has been an ally of
mine and who has been a staunch supporter of my cause. I want to thank Kyouko
Sakura, who is also a strong advocate of what I do and who is a powerful,
influential person fueled by faith and ideals.
Of course, Mami Tomoe is a person that I look up to, and she
has also run a solid race in her own right. To my father Tomohisa, my mother
Junko and my younger brother Tatsuya: tonight, your daughter and older sister
will lead Japan forward next year. I am ready to do my best.
But the one person I want to really thank for being the
special someone who saved me and really made me who I am: a person who loves
life and cherishing true happiness is the key to my happiness, Homura Akemi.
Homura-chan, you don't realize how much I love you but maybe you do. I am here
to return these feeling tenfold because I am just beginning to appreciating the
things you do for me. I want us to be together, to experience the future
together, even though I am an angel and you are a devil. That only makes our
bond stronger than steel. Let us enjoy the time we now have, with you forever
at my side. But I will also say that we have class on Monday, so don't go crazy
with the things you like to do for love.
Moderation and discipline are important to living a happy
life and help keep selfish love balanced with selfless charity and service to
others. That is another message that I brought with me on this campaign, and
speaking of which...
Here's to the best campaign team and volunteers in the
history of Saimoe. You're the best. You're the best ever. I've had new faces
join me on this journey too, and I've had familiar faces join me once again.
All of you, however, are part of my family. So no matter what you do or where
you go from this point forward, you will remember this night, and the history
we made together, and the life-long appreciation of a grateful goddess, now
Saimoe Prime Minister Thank you for believing in me, though the dark valley and
into the shining hills of Yuri Valhalla.
This victory is for you. You filled me with hope and gave me
love this entire time, and I will always in debt for everything that you have
done and all the hard word you put it to make this a reality. Again, this
victory is for you.
It's not a secret, everyone: Saimoe campaigns can sometimes
seem ridiculous, despite being serious business, and you know that there has
been talk by many critics that this tournament has declined in terms of
popularity and relevance and that this year has been dominated by one party, the
Puella Magi party. Allow me to counter with this: if you ever get the chance to
talk to people in Mitakihara, in Kasamino, in Tokyo, in Osaka, in Sapporo, in
Hiroshima, in Nagoya, in Niigata, in Yokohama, in Fukuoka, in every internet
cafe and school, in every shopping mall and local gathering spot for fans and
enthusiasts...you're going to experience something else, something magical.
You're going to hear the determination in the voice of a
Madoka Magica fan who has an extensive figurine collection, is a college
student and is looking to be rich through the intervention of his favorite
heroes.
You'll hear the pride in the voice of a volunteer awash in
rose, pink and white who's spreading the good word about hope and love and is
boosted by the news that his significant other of a few years got promoted.
You'll hear the deep patriotism and pride in the voice of a
fan of one of our main contributors, Gen Urobuchi, who works at the desktops
late to ensure voters have a legit code, because no one needs to be turned away
from making their voice heard. No one. The patriotism and pride comes from
knowing that this is Japan's tournament, Japan's time to shine, Japan's time to
make itself proud of its moekkos.
And that's why we do this. That's why we're here. Deny the obvious, uphold the inane, that's how we roll. That's what Saimoe can be.
That's why this tournament matters. It's not in decline, it goes on and remains
part of Japan's cultural cloth. It's big and important. Saimoecracy in an
island nation of 126 million can be noisy and messy and annoying and
teeth-grinding and full of ragequit and shitposting. We know this. We've been
there. And every one of us has our own beliefs and tastes. When we go through
the tough times that we have gone through, when we make big decisions as an
online community and a country, it naturally stirs passions, stirs up burning
desire, controversy, chaos and madness. It can be suffering.
And that will not change after tonight, and why should it?
After all, these arguments, these debates on who is best girl is a sign of us
being a free country, free to voice out as who is better and who is your No. 1
and my No. 1. We must never forget that as we speak, people in other countries are
risking their right to sound off on their opinions on matters involving the
world and make their own choices, like you have done tonight.
But despite all of our difference in opinions, most of us,
if not all, share certain hopes for the future of Japan. We want our young men
and women to embrace the ideals of those young maidens who have the type of
personality they can relate to and be motivated by.
We want to be a country that has strong relations with the
United States. I hold dual citizenship and I have also talked with Mr. Barack
Obama, the President of the United States of America, about his plans to help
improve the situation in his country. It also helps that I can also speak
perfect English. But that's a different story. The USA is our top ally, and we
want to help improve global security through our special partnership.
We take pride in investing in many concerns in the world. We
possess 13.7% of the world's private financial assets, the 2nd largest in the
world, at an estimated $14.6 trillion and as of 2013, 62 of the Fortune Global
500 companies are based here in Japan.
We remain one of the top economies worldwide and as Saimoe
Prime Minister, I expect that it will remain that way. We are the world's 3rd
largest automobile manufacturing country, we have the largest electronics goods
industry, and we are often ranked among the world's most innovative countries
leading several measures of global patent filings. The best high-tech and
precision goods, such as optical instruments, Hybrid vehicles, and robotics,
are found here in this country.
Our country will not be burdened by debt, weakened by
inequality, or threatened by a warming planet, so long as I am in charge. I
want this country to leave its legacy as a safe country that believes in peace,
self-defense and not initiating conflicts but preventing them through our
Self-Defense Forces.
And I want us to be a country that lives on with confidence
beyond war, and use the ideals of peace and hope to provide freedom and dignity
for those in world that are disadvantage. I am here to reach out to everyone
and listen to the concerns of you, because I believe that compassion and
tolerance are just a couple of fundamental parts in modern-day Japanese
society.
I want to reach out to the young, struggling otaku who may
have a dakimakura of me, who needs a well-paying job, and wants to be a
salaryman. I want to reach out to the young girl in Okinawa who wants a life
beyond the islands and find a family and a future in whatever calling she
answers to. I want to help young people move forward with their lives and be
the best citizens they can be. That's my mission, that's my calling.
Now, as you all know too well, some people will disagree to
the point of being on the edge about how the road will be paved, how to get to
the promised land. For more than a decade, progress comes in spurts and short
hops. It's never a straight line or a smooth path; it's a rocky road filled
with curves.
That said, the fact that we have common hopes and dreams
won't end the debate as to which girl is more moe or who is a more deserving
leader to help solve Japan's problems, as well as build consensus and
compromise to move this Saimoecracy forward. However, the common bonds of hope
and love is the foundation. Our economy has rebounded, the wars are ending.
We're on the up and the world is getting better. Of course, Homura-chan is
responsible for a good deal of this, but that's a different story.
But as I want to reiterate, even if you voted for a
different magical girl or a different Saimoe character, or voted for the old guard
of the previous session, for example, I have listened and learned from you and
you've helped me become the Saimoe Prime Minister I am today. Through your
stories and struggles, our party returns to the Saimoe Prime Minister office
more determined, more inspired and more serious about the work that we need to
do and the future that awaits us all.
Tonight you voted for hope and love, not tanoshii and
futuristic players. You elected us to focus on your issues and not ours. So in
the coming weeks and months, I look forward to reaching out to many people,
including International Saimoe League Champion Ruri Gokou, to meet the
challenges we can only solve as one. We have an Olympics coming up in a few
months, followed by a World Cup. I expect our country to do well at those two
events. And when my term is over, I look forward to helping make the Tokyo 2020
Summer Olympics a success. The organizing committee for those games has my full
support and blessings.
As for you, your work is not over. The role of voters in our
Saimoecracy does not end with your vote tonight. Japan, as you must understand, has
never been about what can be done for us but what can be done for us together
through the promotion of many interests, including pop culture, anime and
manga. That's the greatest gift to the world concerning this country: anime and
manga.
We are one of the wealthiest nations in the world, but it's
not the wealth that make us rich. We have one of the strongest self-defense
forces in the world, but that's not what makes us strong. Our many
universities—Toudai, Waseda, Keio, Kyoto, Tokyo Tech, Tohoku, Kyushu, Nagoya,
Hokkaido and Tsukuba, among others—are world-class in their own right but they are not what keeps the world full of knowledge and skills.
What makes Japan amazing and exceptional...is its culture.
Popular culture, that is Japanese popular culture not only reflects the
attitudes and concerns of the present but also provides a link to the past.
Japanese cinema, cuisine, television programs, anime, manga, and music all
developed from older artistic and literary traditions, and many of their themes
and styles of presentation can be traced to traditional art forms. This is what
makes Japan the greatest nation on earth. Our pop culture is celebrated in all
corners of the world through conventions and cosplay, through sales of anime
Blu-Ray discs, figurines, plushies, posters, manga volumes, doujinshi and other
clothes and sundries.
The power of cuteness and moe, combined with a spirit of
hope and love, is what has made me confident about the future of Japan. I've
seen it at work. I've seen it around the world. You just can't dislike this
nation and its people. I've talked with people in the anime industry about new
trends and new ways to help develop it further and help it move forward. I've
seen it in people in America at conventions like Anime Expo and Otakon and
Comic-Con International where cosplaying is celebrated. I've seen Japanese pop
culture celebrated in Europe and Africa and Latin America, where I would check
in and see the latest trends in popularity. I would listen to the debates on
which famous anime girls are better and which girls have some work to do to
earn the fans' trust. I've seen it. I've seen it all.
And I witnessed, before my eyes not too long ago, the story
of how I was given my second chance at living the life I now love. As I floated
in to purify Homura-chan's soul gem, she grabbed my hand, took my power and
liberated me from the grasp of the Incubators.
I realized, days later, that she what she did wasn't wrong,
but it was something that would allow me to come back to my family and friends
and value the time I spend with them. The importance of life and looking out
for oneself was something that I learned to appreciate.
I know that every Japanese citizen wants to have a bright
future and a sense of optimism when they head into the real world. That's what
we're all about. That's the country I'm so excited and honored to lead as your
Saimoe Prime Minister.
And tonight, despite everything we've been through, through
all the suffering and frustration we've had over the past several months, I've
never been more hopeful about the future of Japan.
I've never been more hopeful about Japan and the world, and as
the Goddess of Hope, I ask you to sustain it, and keep hope and love alive in
your hearts and each other. This isn't blind optimism, which ignores the
massiveness of the tasks ahead or those roadblocks that we have to put up with.
And this isn't about idealism that allows us to sulk in our own soul gems of
despair and pretend that everything is okay. No, that's not the hope I'm
talking about.
As I have realized, hope is actually that special something
that tells us that despite what all the naysayers may say, despite all the
detractors that come crashing down on our doorstep, keep reaching, keep
working, keep fighting and turn it into confidence and positive motivation.
Japan, I believe we can build on the progress that the
Puella Magi Party under Mami Tomoe made and continue to fight for better jobs,
better opportunities and better anime and manga for everyone to throw money at.
I believe we can keep this promise that you should not forget, that someone is
fighting for you and as long as you remember her, you are not alone. It doesn't
matter whether you're Japanese or gaijin; whether you're straight, gay or
lesbian; whether you're male or female; whether you're rich or poor; whether
you're pro-Puella Magi or anti-Puella Magi; you can make it here in Japan if
you're willing to ante up.
I believe we can take advantage of the future together
because we are not as divided as people may say we are. We're not cynical as
critics say we are. We are the country that brought anime to the forefront,
manga to the forefront and moe to the forefront. This is Japan, the pride of
Asia.
And together, with your help and the grace of myself and
Homura-chan, we will continue this journey forward and remind the world and the
universe why we are still, forever and always, the greatest nation on the face
of the planet Earth.
Thank you Japan. We send our blessings on this country and
the world. Take care of yourselves and be good to yourselves. I love you all.
You Are Not Alone!"
-Madoka Kaname
2013 2channel Anime Saimoe Tournament Champion
National Olympic Stadium, Tokyo, Japan
November 23, 2013
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