Japan Bans Use of Web Sites in Elections

couch_warrior writes with a BBC article about Japan's choice to restrain political speech in the 21st century. The nation of Japan bans the use of internet sites to solicit voters in its upper house elections. Based on election laws drawn up in the 50s, candidates are restricted in the ways they can reach their constituents. Candidates are even restrained from distributing leaflets that will reach more than 3% of the voters. What's more, people who are trying to change the laws are failing. Despite heavy internet usage and a strong installed base of high-speed connectivity, young people just don't feel involved in politics. "In Japan, 95% of people in their 20s surf the web, but only a third of them bother to vote. Some, though, do not seem keen on politicians using the web to try to win their support. 'I believe that internet resources are not very official,' says Kentaro Shimano, a student at Temple University in Tokyo. 'YouTube is more casual; you watch music videos or funny videos on it, but if the government or any politicians are on the web it doesn't feel right.' Haruka Konishi agrees. 'Japanese politics is something really serious,' she says. 'Young people shouldn't be involved, I guess because they're not serious enough or they don't have the education.' There cannot be many places in the world where students feel their views should not count. Perhaps it is really a reflection of the reality — that they do not."

Those damn vans.

[Takichi]

The article talks a little about the loud speaker vans candidates usually use to get their message out. I hate them! The volume they blast their cookie cutter pleads for endorsement are as deafening as they are annoying. My house is a little ways from the road that they drive by, and it sounds like they're right outside my window. If you're unlucky enough to be on the side of the road when they pass, you need to cover your ears to prevent damage to your hearing, all while they're smiling and waving in white gloves. The worst is when election day is coming, so you have three or four vans all trying to out do each other.

Sorry, that was a bit of a rant. But it gives you an idea about what those damned trucks are like. After reading this article, it looks like things won't get any better for a while.

Re:That's the difference!

[Anonymous Coward]

Japanese university students hardly know everything. For the most part, university is the first time that they get a tiny bit of intellectual freedom from the test taking grind of junior and senior high. Most of the university students I meet in Japan are still relatively underdeveloped in terms of personality and it is not until their dreaded job search that they start to become part of society. Point in case, usually when someone becomes a full-time employee they are then referred to as "shakai-jin" or a member of society.

That being said, I really wish these students were involved with politics. They could make such a tremendous difference if they even gave the topic the smallest amount of thought. These young people aren't afraid of the changes happening around them and they have a generally positive outlook of the future. The current politicians are just about as corrupt as you can get, and that's saying a lot when you compare that to the current US situation.

Election Day

[shalmaneser1]

I recently saw a documentary called "Election Day" about a Japanese man running for office. While noting that Japanese documentaries stylistically are very different than modern American documentaries: what happens, boring or not is what you see; it's still incredibly interesting.

There seem to be no television ads, no yard signs with slogans, no big campaign rallies. Instead there's the use of existing events: politicians visiting school exhibitions, attending morning exercise programs for the elderly, and so on.

There's also a lot of the politician himself walking around town, introducing himself to people on the street, and standing around with a bullhorn at various popular locations ( ex. the train station ) apologising for the intrusion and explaining his views on things to anyone who will listen ( no one ever seems to stop and listen for very long ).

In what seems to be the culmination of the campaign there's even a bizarre bus tour around the small town while he and his wife shout things over a pa and wave politely from the bus.

In contrast with American politics -- it's strange to say the least.

All in all though it was refreshing to see a politician taking cat naps in his ultra tiny car and pounding the pavement all by himself to connect with everyday people and to drum up votes.

Mod this racist parent post down, please

[rockout]

Where to start? I was in the military and I think you pulled that first stat right out of your posterior; I certainly didn't see many airmen coming from a wealthier background than the average, nor did more than a handful of them have anything past a HS education. Your "read-between-the-lines" reference to African-Americans in this country is so blatantly racist that I can't believe at least 1 person modded you up for it. And by the way, the other thing I noticed about 18-22-year-old-airmen in the AF was how many of them took on two massive car payments that ate up most of their paychecks because they didn't have to worry about housing. Then they'd take on massive credit card debt on top of that, to the point where the AF had (and probably still has) programs instructing these kids on how to be financially responsible, teaching them even during basic training. It didn't seem to do much good, however; many of them still engaged in that type of behavior that did not seem to indicate they were well-educated or had familiarity with money in any way.

Re:Define "definitely"

[AuMatar]

Actually no. The vast majority of non-officers have never been to college. Many barely finished high school. Another large percentage did ok in high school, but can't afford college and are in it for the GI bill. The number of recruits from the middle and upper class are vanishingly small.

Re:Strange

[Lemmy Caution]

While things are changing somewhat, there are two cultural elements at work here: the first is a strong value on humility and modesty about one's self and one's family that pervades society. Bragging and bravado is not thought well of whatsoever. Also, there remains a lot of deference to age and experience: until one has proven oneself, there's little value in what one might think or say.

Re:Japan at Election Time

[Bueller_007]

1) There is constant political and election coverage of election on the web (try Yahoo, etc. which have whole sites dedicated to election info.) Only political candidates are banned from updating their web pages. There is not suddenly a blanket thrown over the entire Japanese internet media.

2) There is constant political and election coverage in newspapers. How did you forget about those? As I recall, Japan has the highest newspaper readership in the world.

3) There is a lot of political and election coverage on television.

4) Contrary to what you state, the purpose of posters and election vans is surely not to provide insight into a politician's campaign platform. They are merely for publicity--the extremely annoying but more sanitary and time-efficient Japanese equivalent of shaking hands and kissing babies.

5) The LDP has indeed been the dominant power in Japanese politics since WWII, but you must realize that the LDP is a collection of competing factions with different political views that ***run candidates against each other***. In addition to all of these competing factions within the LDP, there are currently five other parties who have members in either the Upper or Lower House of the Diet.

6) Japanese people may not talk about politics with YOU, but you can't necessarily misconstrue this as a lack of interest (especially on the part of older people). Voter turnout in Japan is consistently higher than in America. 67.5% in 2005, 56.4% in 2004.

7) No, of course Abe didn't get elected. At least not by the public. He's a *prime minister*, not a *president*. But don't act like he was just appointed by the LDP out of the blue. He was elected by the Diet (each member of which was elected by the public). You're confusing his role as prime minister with his role as president of the LDP. The two are not the same. This doesn't change the fact that he's a miserable bastard and a terrible leader, but you're absolutely wrong on your charges.

Re:That's the difference!

[kklein]

Um, I teach university here in Japan. I've also taught university in the states. So believe me when I say:

These kids are dumb as rocks. Really, really dumb.

The argument for these people being smart and this education system being good is predicated on test scores. As an educator and an assessor, I can't tell you how dumb that is. Basically (and I speak from experience in the K-12 education system here) no one does any learning in school until a few weeks before a big test, and then everyone crams FOR THE TEST. They don't actually learn anything; they just learn how to take the test. The most immediate place you can see this is by trying to talk to any Japanese college graduate in English. These people have all had about 10 years of English. They should be able to carry on a basic conversation, right? But you'll find that they can only spit out a few words, horribly mispronounced, and usually lacking any kind of syntactic structure. Why? Because they've never been expected to DO anything based on what they studied; they were only asked to pass tests. And they do. But they have zero real-world language--or any other kind of--proficiency, unless they've become involved in something in their careers.

Companies here fill the role we in the Western world give to schools. Now, I have many CS friend who bemoan the fact that they didn't really learn how to program well until they hit the corporate world, but that's not even what I'm talking about. What I'm talking about is that some of my English major students walk out of here into programming jobs--with no prior experience or education or even an interest in programming. Why? Because when they interviewed for the company (and you interview for COMPANIES here--not jobs--the company then will decide if they want you and where you should go and what you should do), they looked like the kind of person who'd make a good programmer.

So if that's the case, what is the impetus to learn anything in school? If it has no bearing on your employability, save the name of the school, why bother actually learning about politics, history, language, ANYTHING? Answer: none. There is no reason whatsoever to learn anything, unless you just happen to be interested. So my boys are interested in drinking and getting laid (nothing wrong with either, mind you), and my girls are interested in Prada and Louis Vuitton (and I have no problem with brand goods, either--although I'm a Gaultier man myself). Very few, however, are interested in anything we'd call "important."

Of COURSE there are exceptions. Of course. But the sick and sad thing that I see over and over is that the exceptions--the people who really did learn things and really are aware of their surroundings--do not fare any better than their benighted colleagues. They don't get better jobs. I'm sure that wherever they end up working, they do a better job, but they still get the same kind of generic jobs with the HORRIFYING starting salaries as the idiots around them.

Japan is not a meritocracy, and it shows. They have done very well for themselves by refusing to compete domestically and by keeping foreign entities on a short leash in Japan. But the lack of sound Japanese leadership has had a lot of repercussions that it seems most people don't realize. Look into who runs Nissan. Who has controlling stakes in Mazda. Mitsubishi. Who runs Sony. Etc. These "Japanese" companies--the companies we point to to say "Japan is amazing"--haven't been run by Japanese people for a long time. The exceptions, of course, are Toyota and Honda, and they're big ones. But still.

PLEASE stop buying the Japan hype, people. If you came over here and lived for a few months, you'd be just like every other gaijin, saying "I always thought Japan was X, but it's actually Y!" It is nothing like what you imagine. It is a silly place.

Re:good rule

[vtcodger]

The article title "Japan Bans Use of Web Sites in Elections" is unusually inaccurate even for Slashdot. If one actually reads the article, they find that what is banned isn't having a web site. It is changing the content or putting up a new site in the final few weeks before an election.

If I recall correctly, this isn't even a new policy. I think Japan does it for every election.

Japan has no shortage of cultural excesses. (e.g. the sound trucks). They probably are addressing some real, and hopefully unique to Japan, problem with these rules.

Re:That's the difference!

[DDLKermit007]

Acccctually the main problem is the main populous of Japan just doesn't care. They are FAR more apathetic to everything going on around them than any other simple minded part of the US. They generally don't care as long as something doesn't bother their microcosm of life. Even at that they'll far too often just move aside when it does. I really like the country (hell I'm still enjoying it even though were having an Fing MONSOON hitting land here), but thats something I just have never been able to get used to. People here just don't care, and those that do are seen as disrupting the flow of things, and thus all too often get ostracized.

This move is purely been made because the internet has allowed people in other places to stand up for themselves elsewhere. Sure it won't keep scandalous information about politicians, and hopefuls from getting out, but it'll sure help make sure such information is never taken seriously. China's government WISHES they could control media as well as Japan is able to, and they do it so effortlessly because it's all too often self censored. Anywhere like the internet where anyone can do some damage they make the "outer fringes" in people's minds.

Re:Japan at Election Time

[Anonymous Coward]

I am American, living in Japan (about 12 years). My understanding is that the voter must *write* the name of the person they want on the ballot. You not only have to know the name, you have to be able to recognize the kanji (Chinese characters) for the name. So one idea with the trucks is to get as much attention as possible so that people remember the name.

A candidate in a recent local election actually used katakana for his name, just so it would be easier for people to remember and write. (Katakana is the relatively simple "alphabet" that is usually used for foreign words and names. It is rare for a Japanese person to have a katakana name).

Personally, I am not sure why hearing someone scream "vote for Suzuki" at you for weeks would make you want to vote for them. Nor can I figure out how it would help me remember how to write the name. My Japanese wife couldn't find the above mentioned candidate's name on the ballot - she was looking for the usual kanji, not the katakana he used. So go figure.

As for the pension fiasco, you forgot another important factor - not enough children. Japan is for the Japanese. There is no immigration to speak of. So with only like 1.25 children per woman, this country will be empty in 100 years or so. Long before that however, it will go bankrupt trying to pay the retirees. I think the estimate is 1 worker for each retiree in like 2030. Taro's taxes go straight to some retiree as a pension check.

Something has to change. Maybe taxes go through the roof (which kills consumption and would likely make couples have even fewer children). Or maybe the retirement age goes up to 70 or 75 (not likely and still doesn't solve the birthrate problem). Or you allow in more immigrants, in hopes that their numbers can stabilize the situation. Even assuming allowing more immigrants would stabilize anything, Japan would have to take in like several *million* immigrants each year, every year, for the next several decades. Not going to happen in a country where the number of non-Koreans* naturalized each year is probably in the low thousands.

So in terms of the pension system at least, my opinion can be summed up in two and a half words: "they're screwed."

Also, to address the article, in Japan it is often the case that whatever is not expressly allowed is forbidden. Not always of course, but it seems that way to this American a lot of the time. That this would apply to election laws as well does not surprise me.

*technically, many of the people of Korean descent in Japan are not Japanese citizens, despite being born and raised here to parents who were born and raised here. Many do not even speak Korean and have never been to Korea. Some are technically "North Korean" just because their grandparents were told to choose one when Korea was divided.

(Americans: imagine that at the end of the Civil War, the black slaves were freed but then denied American citizenship. Instead, each family is shown a map of Africa and told to decide which country they are a citizen of. But they stay in the States as resident aliens. Kinda-sorta-but-not-exactly what happened to the Koreans in Japan.)

Many of these Koreans choose each year to take Japanese citizenship. Point is, it would be totally misleading to consider them "immigrants", even if a couple hundred thousand did get citizenship in any given year.