Sunday, December 10, 2006

Life in Japan's grass roots

The Japan Times on Sunday ran a long profile of the American-born wife of a local politician in Kyoto, which provides an excellent account of Japanese local electoral politics.

It pretty much confirms what I've seen over the past month. Electoral politics at all levels are low-tech affairs, for the most part lacking TV or internet presence. Most of the campaign work involved producing flyers and distributing them in person at train stations.

In any case, the Zushi municipal election was yesterday, and both candidates assisted by Mr. Asao's staff won. Accordingly, with the election over, I will begin commuting to the Diet office starting this week.

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