Kenyu Ito always thought there were better ways to contribute to Japan than becoming a politician. The medical doctor saw his primary care services for the people in Sanya, the day laborers' district in Taito Ward, Tokyo, as his way to help society from the bottom up.
After seeing how inept the government was in gauging the gravity of the radioactive fallout from the triple-meltdown crisis that started last year at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, he concluded the current crop of lawmakers are incapable of making decisions about his country.
"Lawmakers in this country can't even do the most basic things properly," said the 41-year-old Ito, "because the current electoral system fails to elect people who are truly knowledgeable about the issues and able to bring change. I would like to change that."