An election cannot pass you by quietly in Japan. Even those not particularly interested in politics are constantly reminded of the impending poll with intermittent announcements blasted from vehicles equipped with roof-mounted megaphones. Larger cars, vans and even minibuses are busy spreading the word for prospective candidates, announcing their arrival and thanking the public in a whirlwind campaign trail of both city and residential streets. Of course, a moving vehicle can only convey so much information before the fleeting moment of their passing has been and gone, so speeches and policy statements are often saved for when the van pulls up at a park or other designated public space.
During the recent Tokyo election, I came across one such political rally at a local park. The van had pulled up by the side of the road and a sizeable number of people had gathered to watch. Intrigued, I also wandered over. Here the usual Japanese preoccupation with presentation was once again evident. The candidate had a whole team of helpers, all wearing perfectly pressed yellow shirts and white gloves. Some were making announcements and introducing speakers, while others were simply holding signs (which seem to be a preferred method of advertising in this country). In fact, they even had two members, one on either side of the van, whose job it was to bow at every passing car, truck, bicycle and pedestrian coming from either direction. Being quite a busily frequented road, they were like yoyos bouncing up and down for the entire presentation. After the candidate himself had given a lengthy speech about his policy pledges, he ran around the crowd (literally running), moving in and out, shaking supporters’ hands as he passed. He even made a point of approaching me in front of the local media and other supporters who had brought along their cameras and video recorders. In English, he thanked me for my support and asked me to please vote for him on election day (even though I am not eligible to vote). I thought to myself that being seen amongst the community, as part of the community and not a distant politician unable to understand issues of local importance, was an imperative part of this type of campaigning (he probably also thought it was politically expedient for him to be photographed with an “expat supporter” and show off his English skills). However I also wondered how effective this type of campaigning actually is.
Intensive political campaigning does not seem to translate into a high voter turnout at the polls (although this seems to be an issue that plagues other nations too where electoral participation is not mandatory). I guess coming from one of the few countries in the world where voting is compulsory, choosing not to vote is a concept somewhat foreign to me. So do these abrupt announcements from morning to evening make a difference? Do they encourage more people to vote than would have otherwise? Perhaps more importantly, do they influence who people vote for? While in no way implying this is representative of the whole Japanese population, most of the people I have spoken to say that they don’t really pay attention to this type of campaigning. They tolerate it only because this is what they have become used to as part of Japanese political culture. Some have noted that they thought other forms of campaigning were far more effective, especially television. In an effort to reach out to inactive voters, the opposition is pledging to lift the ban on use of the internet during the official campaigning period should they win government. Japanese young people, often accused of political disinterest, are the main targets here. Current members of parliament, including the Prime Minister, have recognized the potential usefulness of online sites such as Twitter as a powerful political tool. The leading Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has been posting animated video clips to YouTube, while the opposition, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) has created a free downloadable video game for mobile phones, mocking the LDP’s policies. However, online campaigning must cease on August 18, marking the start of the official campaigning period, as current Public Offices Election Law prohibits cyber-campaigning during this time.
With the August 30 lower house election just around the corner, political campaigning is set to intensify as the official campaigning period begins. It seems that what in other nations may be deemed ‘noise pollution’, street campaigns will remain part of pre-election political maneuvering in Japan for at least the foreseeable future. There seems to be wide-held recognition that current campaigning techniques are not translating into higher voter turnout at the polls and that more effective use of technology such as the internet is the way forward. However, whether or not a move to more virtual media will result in the decreased popularity of street campaigning remains to be seen. My money is on needing those earplugs for some time yet.
