Japanese Parliament Trying To Stop Shinichi Yokoyama

About

Japanese Parliament Trying To Stop Shinichi Yokoyama refers to a viral image of Japanese parliament members physically attempting to stop Judicial Affairs Committee Chairman Shinichi Yokoyama from calling for a vote on the country's immigration reform bill. The photograph has become a popular reaction image and image macro that is generally used to joke about someone expressing an unpopular opinion or doing something those around them don't want them to do. It arguably best known as a popular 'Would' Reaction Image.

Origin

On December 8th, 2018, the Japanese parliament passed a controversial and hotly debated immigration reform bill^[1] that allowed foreign workers a path to Japanese citizenship. During the vote, Japan's opposition party leaders attempted to physically stop Judicial Affairs Committee Chairman Shinichi Yokoyama from calling for a vote, leading to a physical altercation between members of the ruling and opposition parties. Photos of the altercation were published in various news outlets (example shown below).

On January 15th, 2019, Redditor /u/starfennec posted what would become the most widely-memed picture of the altercation in /r/AccidentalRenaissance,^[2] gaining over 550 points in nearly five years (shown below).

Spread

The image wouldn't begin seeing widespread use as a meme until several years later. Initially, it was used as a reaction image describing situations when a mob of people might surround a person. For example, on May 2nd, 2022, Redditor /u/Christron9990 posted an example, credited to Twitter user @whatshittoyaa (since suspended), with a caption about a hardcore band performing their popular song, gaining over 1,700 points in one year in /r/hardcore (shown below, right).^[4] On October 12th, a variation with a caption describing what it's like to smoke Newport cigarettes outside of a methadone clinic was posted to Imgur^[3] by user deafkitten (shown below, right).

The image is arguably most popular as a "Would" reaction image, and is used by people expressing their perceived unpopular opinion that they "would" have sex with a specific person or thing. For example, on December 14th, 2022, Twitter^[5] user @AF16001 posted it in response to a tweet by @fuckeduplookingcars, gaining over 190 likes in eight months (shown below, left). On February 21st, 2023, Twitter^[6] user @travisa850 posted a variation in response to a deleted tweet, gaining over 30 retweets and 2,000 likes in six months (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

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External References