Staff writer

Marutei Tsurunen's striking blue eyes lost just a little of their luster early Monday morning as the results of the Upper House elections were announced and he learned he had narrowly missed becoming the first Westerner to sit in the Diet.

Tsurunen came in fourth in Kanagawa Prefecture's newly expanded three-seat district, falling just shy of realizing his dream for the second straight time. Despite reaching his target of more than 500,000 votes, he had nearly 8,000 fewer votes than the third-place finisher.

Tsurunen, though disappointed, did not dwell on the defeat. "This (election) is not a failure, but in a sense a great success," he told a press conference in Yokohama, referring to the high voter turnout and number of votes he received.

That a naturalized expatriate can work closely with his 500-strong volunteer support group and gain the backing of so many voters shows that Japan is increasingly international in its outlook, he added.

After failing to gain a seat in the 1995 Upper House elections, the tenacious Kanagawa Prefecture resident spent the past three years building toward this year's polls. With meager financial resources, no backing from big business or political parties and a motley support group of 500 volunteers, the independent Tsurunen enthusiastically challenged his better-financed opponents.

If elected, the 58-year-old Finnish-born Tsurunen said he would have worked to improve the government from the inside, emphasizing the government's welfare role and cleaning up the administration. His election would have sent a signal to the major political parties that the status quo is unsatisfactory, he said.

Tsurunen gained national notoriety in 1992 when he won a seat on Kanagawa's Yugawara town council, becoming the first Westerner to sit on a municipal assembly. After three years at the municipal level, he resigned in 1995 to run for the Upper House.

Originally named Martti Turnen, Tsurunen first came to Japan as a Lutheran missionary in 1968. He became a citizen in 1979 and operates an English school in Yugawara.