Being a good Political candidate in Japan, also means being able to get up on the mini-van and give a speech
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Election, DPJ v LDP

Today is Election Day for Japan to choose all 480 seats in the lower house of parliament. The opposition party, Minshutou (民主党) Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) are likely to take office against the incumbent party, Jimintou (自民党) Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

Considering that the LDP have been in power for most of the last 50 years, this win will be a historic change for Japan. The leader of the DPJ, Hatoyama-san will almost certainly be named Prime Minister.

Being a good Political candidate in Japan, also means being able to get up on the mini-van and give a speech
Being a good Political candidate in Japan also means being able to get up on the mini van and give a speech
The DPJ ran on the slogan of 'Change of Power, prepations completed'
The DPJ ran on the slogan of Change of Power prepations completed
There was quite a large turnout at the local station to hear what the candidates had to say
There was quite a large turnout at the local station to hear what the candidates had to say

I went to Gyotoku Station in Chiba-ken to hear these speeches from the Minshuto local candidates and Kan Naoto, one of the popular senior members of the DPJ. My friend who is a local councilor in Chiba was asked to be the presenter of speeches at the event.

Keeping the speeches rolling and the crowd entertained
Keeping the speeches rolling and the crowd entertained
Keeping the crowd engaged by waving all day must be a tiring job
Keeping the crowd engaged by waving all day must be a tiring job
The board showing details of the local candidate in Chiba
The board showing details of the local candidate in Chiba
One of the many volunteers hands out small fan coolers with the candidates name on
One of the many volunteers hands out small fan coolers with the candidates name on
More volunteer work, handing out fans and leaflets
More volunteer work handing out fans and leaflets
Kan Naoto joins the local candidate on the mini-van. He already has a winning grin
Kan Naoto joins the local candidate on the mini van He already has a winning grin
Kan Naoto makes a speech to the crowd, asking them all to turn up for voting
Kan Naoto makes a speech to the crowd asking them all to turn up for voting
Waves and speeches, all in the hot sun
Waves and speeches all in the hot sun
If you havent seen and heard one of these trucks whilst living in Japan you are very lucky. They can be quite loud
If you havent seen and heard one of these trucks whilst living in Japan you are very lucky They can be quite loud

With a large amount of people expected to turn out for voting today and the anticipation of a historical change of power, you can expect to see some TV coverage on overseas networks talking about this topic.

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Shibuya246

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  • RT @Shibuya246: Election, DPJ v LDP, Japan Living | Shibuya246 http://bt.io/9ps So are you ready for the change in power? I thought the present prime minister was popular, guess not. Just like over here. SOS. I thought I reconized your councilor friend from the article you did before. I don’t think I’v ever seen or heard those types of vehicles around here, there’s enough hot air blowin here in Texas without those contributing to it ,HA-HA. 🙂

    • One of the difficulties the LDP has faced recently is a quick rotation of PrimeMinisters. None of them were very popular, but having them change every 5 minutes gave people and uneasy feeling.

  • Mullenkedheim have you a picture of that slogan or was it ironic –sorry I’m not good at that–? 😉

    I honestly don’t know if the DPJ, or the idea of make politicians stronger and weaken burocrats would be the solution to Japan’s problems, as I read in the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/26/world/asia/26japan.html).

    In my gaijin opinion I think what Japan’s system needs, no matter the ruler party, is a more independent Prime Minister, although not so much like a president in presidential system. Nowadays the government can be dissolved by the Diet if it passes a motion of no confidence, and the Cabinet can dissolve the House of Representatives; that creates a “no moving point” when any of the two branches proposal changes that will affect the status-quo.

    • It does seem like they could do with a slight change of that, and probably some points in the Constitution as well, but getting people to vote for change in those areas is always difficult. It shows you that when you get the chance to write a Constitution for a country you better get it right the first time.