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.