Upon arriving in Japan I noticed the abundance of political posters on display. On virtually every street I have encountered largely the same image, regardless of the political affiliation of the politician (or potential politician) the layout is nearly identical. The first picture I've posted is the standard of all Japanese political posters, whoever is pictured has a serious look on their face as if to tell the public that they are ready for business. Couple this with the seemingly endless parade of vans blaring out political messages and one could assume that Japan is a hotbed of political discourse. Whilst this may well be true for some age demographics, in my experience the youth of Japan have very little interest in the political process. In order to find out more about Japanese youths' seeming disinterest in politics I asked several Japanese students their thoughts on politics in order to gain some insight.
How do you feel about politics?
Seiko- "I don't really know. My Dad is interested but my friends and I don't think about it much".
Jiro- "I followed the Obama election but Japanese politics is not interesting".
Yurika- "Iam going to vote in the next election, I don't know which party is which yet".
Although Iam sure there are young people who are interested in politics, as far as I have ascertained it does not permeate Japanese culture as it does in Australia. It is unfortunate because living in a democracy brings with it certain responsibilities and I feel that political awareness is integral to sustained growth and freedom.
It really is such a shame that the youth of Japan does not have the same drive to participate in the political process as all the younger generation in Australia. Papa Bear
ReplyDelete"Mr. Angry Fist" (as he was called by previous students) has stepped down as the head of New Komeito so the photo and poster are dated. I like that you talked to students and their responses seem typical. I bet the responses of older people would not be so different.
ReplyDelete