Mr. Skull Reaper A-ji campaigned on a platform of educational and social welfare reform and was duly elected to the city council of Oita, Japan. But before he could even attend the first meeting, other council members insisted that he remove this mask:
But 44-year-old Skull Reaper A-ji resisted their requests that he remove his trademark item of clothing, a red-and-black leather mask similar to the "lucha libre" masks affected by wrestlers in Mexico.
"People find it easy to come up and talk to me because I have a mask on," he told the Nishinippon Shimbun, adding that he has done a lot for the community for more than a decade, including visiting institutions for people with physical disabilities.
The chamber apparently declined to take his charitable work into consideration, however, and refused to allow Skull Reaper A-ji to take part in a meeting on Monday on the grounds that he was contravening a rule that states "a person taking the floor shall not wear items such as a hat."
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