Posts Tagged ‘election’

Englishman Arrested for Disturbing the Peace of a Loud Japanese Election Campaign

It’s no secret that Japan has some of the loudest advertising, propaganda, preaching, and political campaigns around. Most foreigners, not to mention more than a few Japanese, would like to see the loud speakers crushed into dust. But we all put up with it, because this is Japan, and people put up over here, by gum. But not one brave man. Yes, call it reckless, but I am championing the drunken actions of one Englishman who just wasn’t going to take it any more.

According to Itai News, one Edward Jones was recently arrested for grabbing a mike from a politician at a train station and yelled about how Japanese elections are loud and annoying. He allegedly had just finished a few drinks with friends. After his display, he was hauled off to jail.

Itai News’s comments are also filled with Japanese netizens voicing approval for Jones’s actions.
Here is a select few that I felt able to translate:

よくやった
Well done!

許した
I forgive him.

許そうまじでうるさい
Let’s forgive him, they really are loud.

ほんとウルセェ
They are bleeding annoying.

gjgjgj
Good Job! Good Job! Good Job!

無罪
He’s sinless (innocent).

選挙は本当に日本の恥部だよ
Elections really are the secret shame of Japan.

ジョーンズさんに1票
One vote for Jones!

日本の選挙って合理的じゃないよな。
騒音カーで名前叫ぶより、アメリカみたいにテレビとかで政策討論させた方がいい。
Japanese elections don’t make any sense.
Instead of shouting their names from sound trucks, they should have American-style televised policy debates.

[via Hiko]

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Contributor Bio: Claytonian blogs, vlogs, and clogs about Japan, language, and news at The Hopeless Romantic. He muses about hitting campaign cars with rotten tomatoes sometimes. A boy can dream.
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11-year-old accidentally allowed to vote in Japan – her vote will remain valid

A kid was allowed to vote in Osaka yesterday:

The 11-year-old elementary school girl, who visited a poll station in Osaka’s Nishi-Yodogawa Ward with her father, voted for a party in a proportional representation bloc as well as a review of the Supreme Court justices, the election committee said.

Election staff believed the girl, who is relatively tall for her age, was an adult voter. It was only after she finished voting that the staff noticed the error.

As it is impossible to identify the girl’s ballots, they have been regarded valid in accordance with the Public Offices Election Law.

This story really makes one wonder about the quality of the ballots from that ward. Why would staff allow someone to vote before checking their eligibility?

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
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Japan General Election Day 2009

Judgment Day is finally upon us! As the election results come in tonight, be sure to check out TPR’s live video cast:

The webcast will include Garrett DeOrio, Christopher Gunson, Adam Richards, and Ken Worsley. The broadcast will start at 8:00 p.m., and will be viewable at Livestream:

www.livestream.com/tprjp

There’s no need to log in or create an account, simply open that page and you can chat by creating a nickname. We will also have our Skype account open and ready to take phone calls. Skype us at transpacificradio (one word, all lower case.)

For those of you in the United States, this broadcast will be starting at 7:00AM EST.

Tobias Harris of Observing Japan and will also be liveblogging election results. And some live blogging from Our Man in Abiko.

Handy links to check out before the results come in: this list of election vocabulary from Reuters and Stippy’s informative post about the election.

Update: The LDP suffered a crushing defeat, dropping from 300 to 119 seats. The DPJ went from 115 to 308 seats. The Komeito lost 10 seats, including the one that belonged to its leader. The “Koizumi Children” were wiped out. The political world has been turned upside down.

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Judgment Day for Japan

I thought TBS news had the coolest and most ridiculous graphics/music for its election coverage. I was wrong. FTV has raised (or lowered?) the bar by adding Terminator music and the title JUDGMENT DAY to its election news:

Get ready, Japan: Skynet will be attacking us tomorrow! I hope everyone has stockpiled enough weapons to deal with the hordes of killer robots.

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The worst political commercial ever?

Yesterday, I posted examples of commercials Japan’s two major political parties are airing on TV to convince voters to head to the ballot boxes for this weekend’s general election. As an example of an ad from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), I included their longer CM that includes a mini speech from Prime Minister Taro Aso.

At the time I could not find a copy of the 15-second version of the Taro Aso commercial. Now that I’ve found it, I’d like to share it with you all, since it is one of the worst political commercials I have seen in my life:

Most of the commercial consists of Taro Aso silently standing and staring at viewers. It seems like he can’t keep still – it’s almost like he’s wobbling his head around a bit. He isn’t smiling. Those unfamiliar with his natural facial expression might think that he’s scowling.

A narrator asks who they think can protect their lifestyle and this country. Aso keeps standing there, saying nothing. The commercial ends with the LDP logo and slogan (“Protect Japan /a strong sense of responsibility”) appearing in front of Aso.

Even though I don’t particularly like Aso, it’s a painful to watch this commercial. The LDP’s web attack ads are truly skillful examples of political commercials, but this is a train wreck. Aso is not a popular prime minister. A lot of LDP politicans who are trying to hold on to their diet seats have deliberately avoided placing Aso on their campaign posters. Why would they want their national TV ad campaign to put the focus on an uncharismatic and unpopular leader? It’s almost as if they are trying to increase the scale of the defeat they will likely suffer on the 30th.

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Election commercials on Japanese TV: The LDP vs. The DPJ

A few days ago, I introduced some of the YouTube attack ads being used in Japan’s 2009 general election. In this post, I shall share two examples of commercials that the two major parties are airing on TV.

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Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Commercial

Prime Minister Aso is speaking about how his party aims to create a peaceful society. He wants children to realize their dreams, young people to have hopes, and for the elderly to have peace of mind. Taro Aso wants to create a Japan in which people of all age groups can move forward without barriers or worries about the future. Aso and the LDP will pursue this goal with realistic and concrete measures. They have a strong sense of responsibility and can protect Japan. The commercial ends with a message asking viewers to think about Japan when they go to the ballot boxes. (“This summer, think about Japan.”)
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Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) Commercial

This commercial is addressed to all of you out there who are angry about your taxes being wasted. Viewers are told that politics much be changed before their way of living can be changed. DPJ leader Yukio Hatoyama appears on the screen at the end of the commercial to declare, “first, we need regime change!”
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