Since comedian-turned-politican Hideo Higashikokubaru was elected governor of Miyazaki Prefecture in January, the previously nondescript, countryside region of 1.14 million people on the southeastern coast of Kyushu, southern Japan, has had its profile dramatically boosted.
Even Higashikokubaru's past — he was questioned by police but not charged for having sex with an underage girl, then subsequently divorced from his actress wife — seems to have enhanced his current image as a reborn, serious-minded reformer bursting with an ambition to turn his native, corruption- ridden prefecture around.
One need look no farther than the prefectural government office in downtown Miyazaki for proof of the hype surrounding the 50 year old.