A pop idol, volleyball player, actor, TV anchorperson, professional snowboarder and an author.

What do they all have in common? They are the former job titles of candidates for the Tokyo electoral district in Sunday's Upper House election, where 34 individuals are battling for one of the six seats available.

Renho, the former TV anchor and a previous deputy chief of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP), is probably the most popular candidate — she secured the most votes in Tokyo in the past two Upper House elections she ran in.

The Liberal Democratic Party’s Kentaro Asahi is a former national team volleyball player, while LDP rookie Akiko Ikuina used to be a pop idol in the 1980s. Yuki Ebisawa, running on the Nippon Ishin no Kai ticket, is a former professional snowboarder, and Reiwa Shinsengumi leader Taro Yamamoto is an actor-turned politician. Also notable is independent Hirotada Ototake, who is well known for his book about his disabilities, “No One’s Perfect,” which sold over 6 million copies.

The diverse and intense competition reflects the unique nature of the Tokyo electoral district with its 11.5 million voters — the largest amount in the country. Past elections show that candidates need to gain about 500,000 votes or more in order to win a seat — a tall order for any candidate, but especially rookies who voters have not heard of.

“The number of voters is a digit more than other electoral districts,” said Kaoru Matsuda, an election consultant in the capital. “You would need to be well-known to voters or have firm party backing" to take advantage of their vote-gathering machine.

This is different from the textbook strategy seen elsewhere in Japan, which involves fielding former bureaucrats or hereditary candidates, usually sons and daughters of the incumbent.

Tokyo has been a magnet for the so-called TV personality candidates — those who have been on TV and are already household names. Comedian Yukio Aoshima and author Shintaro Ishihara have run successfully in the gubernatorial election in the past, and Yuriko Koike, the current governor, is also a former TV presenter.

Tokyo is also unique in that online campaigning using social media has taken on greater importance than in other districts, said Matsuda.

“Candidates can’t win just by (rallying party supporters to vote for the party and its candidates), so they need to appeal to voters through online campaigning or have supporters hand out lots of flyers,” he said.

With no party backing, independent Ototake, who was born without his arms and legs, is taking full advantage of the internet as a way to reach out to many voters.

On his website, he has uploaded short clips of videos about his policies. One hourlong video that sees him talking from a campaign vehicle in the streets of the Shibuya district with Hiroyuki Nishimura, the founder of the 2channel message board, at his side has gained nearly 800,000 views.

Nishimura, an internet entrepreneur, YouTuber and commentator, is hugely popular among the younger generation. Founded in 1999, the 2channel forum, which allows users to post anonymously, became extremely popular as a place to vent controversial opinions.

Reiwa’s Yamamoto, who abruptly resigned as a Lower House lawmaker in April in order to run in the Upper House, also livestreams his campaigning on YouTube, with each of them drawing hundreds of comments. Other candidates usually post where they will be making speeches the following day on social media.

According to a joint poll by TBS and the Mainichi Shimbun released on Sunday, Asahi and Ikuina of the LDP, Komeito’s Toshiko Takeya and the CDP’s Renho seem to be the front-runners, followed by Reiwa’s Yamamoto and Taku Yamazoe of the Japanese Communist Party, which has highly organized voter base comparable to that of Komeito.

Still, with more than 40% of Tokyoites still undecided who to vote for, it’s one of the hardest constituencies to predict.

Compared with rural constituencies, Tokyo voters tend to be more inclined to vote based on topical issues, rather than on what affects their daily livelihoods.

In a nationwide survey of voters by NHK in late June, 43% of respondents said economic policy is the most important topic when considering who to vote for in the Upper House election, followed by social welfare (16%) and diplomacy and security (15%).

Meanwhile, a Tokyo Shimbun poll covering the capital’s residents conducted on June 28 and 29 showed that only 26% said rising prices and the economy was the most important issue in the election, followed by security (17.2%), pension and welfare (15.4%), and the Constitution (11.8%).

In recent months, the prices of daily goods have soared in part due to supply chains disrupted by the war in Ukraine and the coronavirus. At the same time, the LDP has pledged to double defense spending amid the growing threat from North Korea and China, and pushed for revision to the top law in order to, among other things, clarify that the Self-Defense Forces are constitutional.

But for Mami Hosoya, a Tokyo resident who is an unaffiliated voter, at the end of the day, it’s about which candidate is emphasizing policies that would affect her daily life the most.

“I don’t care if the candidate is a celebrity or not,” she says. “I’ll cast a vote based on what their policies are now, not on what their past (titles) are.”