Nationalist Teruki Goto appears in Japanese election campaign in just his birthday suit

A naked nationalist is stirring up election billboards in Japan, offering a bit of colour – and a lot of flesh – to get out the vote.

Right winger Teruki Goto is pictured on his campaign poster in his birthday suit, wielding a samurai-style sword in front of two Rising Sun flags and the imperial chrysanthemum crest.

A strategically-placed stroke of one of the kanji ideographs that make up his name covers his modesty.

Elections in Japan tend to be very staid affairs: candidates’ campaigns generally consist of them wearing a sash bearing their name as they stand outside train stations greeting commuters – most of whom do their best not to make eye contact.

Each candidate is allowed to print a limited number of flyers while their posters – usually formulaic headshots with a vacuous slogan along the lines of “Making things better” – must be corralled on huge election noticeboards, alongside everyone elses.

Add in Japan’s tendency to avoid controversy, even in matters of running the local council, and Goto’s campaign for a seat on the assembly of Chiyoda ward in Tokyo certainly catches the eye.