選挙

poor aso I heard from my region newspaper his popularity going down !!

No because politics is crap.
I really don't care about it.
You vote the wrong person, you just blame yer flaming butt not the chosen. Not that I am siding with the chosen one but that's the logic behind voting. whatever.

Oi Politics in America is so messed up.The two party system needs to die in my opinion.

Not really into politics either. But yes, I have been hearing those vans go by and waking me up in the morning. Doesn't seem like too much bad stuff is happening, but being a foreigner I guess it's harder to tell. I've heard some stories but I'd rather not say. ^^;

japanese communist party? so if they win....that means it'll be like north korea right? no freedom, no this an that, that's how i look towards the term "communist".

image ID#75139 - "The Japanese Communist Party kidnap me and ask that I help recruit some communist troops." I just can't help but laugh myself to tears at that picture. I find that rather ironic in the fact that the Empire was built on the foundations of capitalism.

Hey Danny, I see you're subscribed to betamaxDC. lol
And as far as politics go: I'm not even old enough to vote so I wouldn't know.

Never knew that Japan had a communist party. o.o Never really liked politics myself sense they seem to put me to sleep.

voting in Australia is compulsory as soon as people turn 18... Not too sure about the consequences of not voting... but it's probably a fine...

I don't really follow politics and usually just vote randomly or just donkey vote it.

I've never voted. Honestly, no matter what the different UK parties say, they all pretty much seem to just do the same things anyway... which most of the time don't really seem to be good.

(Also, kinda ironic with your feelings about the Japan elections, when the BBC News segment you appeared in last night was about exactly that XD )

Don't really bother about politics, unless the living conditions of the area I stay in are crappy ^^; Singapore's fine so I don't think there's much to worry about.
Also didn't know Japan had a communist party...

wow Danny~ never knew you were a communist~ Joke~ xD

I'm about to have my very first vote next year~ I think it's a right to choose one's desired leaders..

But with the Politics in the Philippines looking more like Showbiz~ I think it's making me think twice.
With so many idio.. err candidates wanting the Presidential seat for 2010, it just causes chaos~

Wished we had two party system instead~ I'm tired of nuisance candidates for the presidential seat~~~

自分の選挙区は候補者が以下の有様で
自民：ファイザーとか。児童ポルノ規制推進
民主：ＮＧＯピースボート前事務局長
幸福：論外
消去法で共産の候補者に入れる事になりました。(東京23区)
余談だけど、Googleの選挙対策ページよく出来てた。
http://www.google.co.jp/intl/ja/landing/senkyo2009/

I vote myself and I didn't know the voting age was 20 over there.

Australia, when you hit 18 you have to join the electoral roll, and compulsary to vote. Some sort of bad consequence if you don't.
But, also not into politics so when I vote, I probably won't care about it...

I voted for the first time in 2008, and I'm happy that all of the candidates I voted for won. I'm a big politics junkie in that I avidly read the politics section of my local newspaper (which, being based in Washington, D.C., has a pretty strong focus on politics). I'm not active at all in civic affairs or volunteering for public service, so I figure the least I can do for my country is pay my taxes and vote.

oi~ if you want seriously messed up politics come here to the Philippines. general elections next year. campaigns begin November-December, but you would think it had already begun from the sheer number of ads and promotional material all over the place.

our politics are likely better described as antics, shenanigans, and nothing good brewing.

pauldy, no need to pull punches. half the political candidates here ARE idiots, and some are worse - they're just freaking lunatics. eh? *resigned*

I wonder if the Communist Party over in Japan is a lot more active compared to say... the party here in the U.S. I would think so mainly because of communism near Japan. <_<
I've known a few people who registered as a member here and they get highly persecuted for it and targeted as a "potential" threat. It's stupid. Politics are stupid. I stay away from it normally. XD

I can vote from next year, though I doubt I will. Not interested in politics at all so any vote I had would just be picking someone at random - which is kind of a waste of time.

Politics...hate them but i do understand about it though, even though i don't really care :P

I'm not old enough to affect politics in any way.

Given if I can, I wouldn't bother. Politics in the US seems so annoyingly bothersome I wouldn't want to get myself involved into the trouble...

I'm not interested in politic ^^;; hope something good will happen in Japan

Do I look like I give a damn? "in James Bond tone~"

Not interested in politics, and not bothering to vote...

On a sidenote though, i dont even have the voting thing when its election time (wtf?)... Not that im gonna do anything with it... but still ;;

I know it's a long shot but I hope DPJ will win ^w^ go for Anime Shrine XD !!

TOKYO COMMUNIST TROOPAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!

I do keep myself informed regarding my country's politics but that's the most i do to it. I don't want to mess with politics here since it's already messed up to begin with.

In Canada for the last few years we've had an election at least once a year now...

danny accept my friend request please may take time to tgo though all 379 though

Haha, here in Finland it's quite different. Well, I don't know that much but once we went to the watch the parliament or whatever, and there were people almost falling asleep xD and some were too bored to listen so they just went to drink coffee.

So err.. Yeah.. That's how Finnish laws are created.

In the US..... Politics is the most idiotic thing..... they take rather to much interest in what the person does in their personal life....(in a couple of years I'd say that the times the go to take a crap on the restroom will be a big deal.....) and the idea of having just two political parties does not really feel like we (the people) get to run the country.... it is more like.... "oh the country has to be run by someone.... so lets just say this guy...." US needs more competition in regards to candidates.... not just two.... we should be able to just get on a pedestal and run for president.... and let the people decide.... but propaganda and advertising is what make voters vote....
in other words the electoral system here, in my opinion, its almost like a monopolist market.... you must pick from two evils.... not really for who you want to....

and all this is coming from a very political uninterested anthropologist.... lol

In conclusion I don't like voting..... and never have....

I don't go out to vote. I don't even register my name for the voting. Reason: even though I like the current government, I dislike the leader and my always knowing selfish inner self said that they'll win anyway.

but that was 4 years ago. That said leader has effing resigned from his seat. With the new leader at the realm, I might just go out to vote when the next general election comes

Politics...i just don't follow them around...

I have to keep up with what's going on here on politics since this government want's us to become like Cuba @#$%$# Dictators and communists =_= my 2 best friends already moved to Spain before they forbid going out of the country ....and my personal opinion? ... politics suck in just a few cases it makes people happy but mostly of the time it just makes people miserable besides there's always cheating ALWAYS ... ToT.

Didn't really bother with it too since I'm not interested in politic.

But well, hope somethings bad aren't happening today...

Don't be so down about not missing your photo-op with soon-to-be EX-PM Aso. :p

IMHO I don't see much wrong with decent law-abiding foreign nationals like Danny being given the right to vote, compared to other countries with huge immigration history, it's not Japan has numerous foreign nationals residing as to distort the results favouring them "gaijin devils" anyway. One of the manifestos for the DPJ, hot favourites to become the new government tomorrow, is giving people like Danny that right.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_of_foreigners_to_vote

Voter behavior in a proper democracy usually comes in this cycle:
1. Voter apathy as they get cynical and tired with politics
2. Government starts to get crap, whether they like it or not
3. Voter participation increases if discontent is not eased
4. Government gets replaced, if popular enough, they get re-elected, but usually by this time, voters get complacent as well

So Danny, if you're one day given the right to vote, and you feel that the government is way too crap that it's actually affecting your life, CHERISH YOUR RIGHT! While it's delusional to think that change will happen overnight, you can still give the MP who took your support for granted a very good beating up.

I think those of us who's witnessed third-world politicking first hand are more determined to encourage people to at least not be too ridiculously apathetic when it comes to their voting rights, for we have no choice, and am forced to accept whatever crap the unelected government feeds us, but they do.

I'm living in the Netherlands and have the right to vote for quite a while now (urgh becomming an old timer :P) but i don't bother with politics at all. Can't say why .. i just feel like i always have other things on my mind :)

BTW, this Happiness Realization Party that's everywhere is giving me the creeps.

They remind me of Aum Shinri Kyo, who sent candidates to run for the 1990 elections and lost pathetically as obviously no one took their ridiculous ideas seriously. And then they came up with the Sarin gas attack in the Tokyo Metro in 1995.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aum_Shinrikyo

LOL. Yea right Danny. I live in the U.S. Last time I didn't vote we elected George Bush. Its kind of everyone's responsibility to become at least slightly educated about politics and vote. That, or you might wake up one day to complete dictatorship control.

I have always found politics interesting and sort of ironic in some ways. If you don't take it too seriously, some of the propaganda is downright hilarious. I remember seeing a local campaign airing commercials featuring talking dogs for some odd reason. But I always try to vote and even volunteer at the voting locations. I figure it is the least I can do but I can understand those that do not like politics at all.

If you are interested in Japanese elections/politics - then I recommend the movie "Campaign" (Senkyo) by Kazuhiro Soda. A documentary about Kazuhiko Yamauchi who runs as a candidate for a seat on the Kawasaki city council for the LDP. Really informative and entertaining. I've seen the premiere of this movie on the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) in 2007, where the director and Kazuhiko Yamauchi were present.

http://www.laboratoryx.us/campaign

襷を掛けるとアーマーが何か違うものに見える。
団長の腕章も違うものに見える。

I remember reading a news article about Happiness Realization Party saying that the party will invade DPRK and protect themselves from PRC... that party gives me the creeps.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/6016544/Japans-Happiness-Party-plans-to-attack-North-Korea.html

Quotes below:
"...we think that we should make a pre-emptive attack if it is clear that North Korea intents to launch a missile against Japan."
"China is a huge military nation," [Kyoko Okawa] said. "They own a lot of missiles that are a danger to Japan. That is why we view China as a great menace to Japan."
"...growing military threat to national security presented by its neighbours, added Mrs Okawa, who according to the organisation's literature is a reincarnation of Florence Nightingale and the Greek goddess Aphrodite."

I mean, seriously? I'm not into politics, but having this "reincarnation of Florence Nightingale" and "Aphrodite" is seriously shooting over the coocoo's nest.

I am a Political Scientist so I keep up with as much political news as I can. I tend to try and not talk about politics here or comment on other people's political comments(even though sometimes I really really want to) because this is not the place to do so. ^^

Well, I live in the U.S. and politics is interesting to me(just been sorta slacking a bit on the news recently), just not old enough to vote yet. ^^

I love how politics at least how I perceive it in the comments are like a hobby. Sadly it revolves around your whole life, and every policy those people sitting up in the big chairs make it is at your expense. Politics is not something you don't get into, because if it is corrupt or bad it can ruin your entire set of rights and everything else in your tiny little world. But of course you can't complain when it does because you claim "I'm just not that into politics".

We have president elections next year, until now I don't know for whoever vote.

I hate politicsssss, and I see most of us here feel pretty much same way.
I really wanna see politics do what they said they will do during election.

I vote at all elections and I have made up my mind on who to vote for even before the election date is set. The reason is that I'm up to date with what goes on and I know who is the most likely to make my will come true. It's not enough to have the right point of view, it also takes a certain type of person to use the influence given to him/her to make their politics come true. Campaigns are usually about promising gold to everybody and stuff like that and half of the promises are forgotten on the day after the election. It's what the politicians do when they aren't running a campaign which matters.

I'm a little bit surprised to see an active communist party in Japan. The communists took Russia and then they got the idea to try to take control of Japan. The result was that Japan turned against it by turning to nationalism and this strong nationalism peaked around WW2. Never before had the population been that loyal to the nation. Looks like the communists appeared after Japan lost the war but I don't think USA favoured communists in Japan during the cold war. Do anybody know when they reappeared in Japan?

An interesting note of this is that the communists tried to get Germany to become a communistic controlled country too. Germany too turned to nationalism, which kicked out communism (or jailed it) and that nationalism peaked around WW2 too. I wonder if it's by random that both countries turned to nationalism or if it's a logical result of being told to become communistic. It would be really interesting if a communistic attempt to take power will result in either communistic power or nationalistic power while the "business as usual" government is sure to loose.

Don't ever intend on voting, politics is too much for me. Oh and the corruption inside the system is annoying too.

-stays outside the cycle-

A lot of apathetic people here, but at least you should be glad that you have the right to be apathetic. I keep up on politics pretty well, especially since my roommate works for Fox News and he comes back every day with the big political news of the day. I agree though, Danny's blog is not a place to discuss politics, as it can be too divisive, and we should be gathered here because of our similar interests, not our opposing viewpoints.

Politics... Tried following it a bit some time ago. Quitted due to all the fake promises, stupid new laws without proper investigation, shameless abusing our tax money etc. Geuss that's just my view of my country politics :P

Politics = trash bin for me

I do keep an eye on politics, read up what's going on now and then or catch the news occasionally. Starting with the past presidential election I intend to keep on voting for as long as I am able.

Politics is a big thing in my family and I try to keep in the loophole. However, I am frequently arguing with somebody in my family about politics, so, I try not to dwell too much into politics. I for one hate the two party system in the US seeing how everyone is either too liberal(left) or too conservative(right). I guess being a moderate has its downfalls ^_^ I am dissappointed because I didn't get to vote in this last election. Just turned 18 in April >_< I try not to discuss poilitcs around friends because that usually leads to people getting angry over things that you can't change yourself.

I try to keep what's up in the politics but it makes me dizzy... if I do vote, I vote for the lesser of two evils.

Hmm... the person in the dog outfit reminds me of that K-ON episode where they were recruiting new members ^^

I do try and maintain a slight interest in politics. Whoever is in power governs many aspects of your life, so I do think it is important to at least understand what is happening.

yeah~ politics was just a mess~ but its popularity is more than manga/anime huh?

I'm not much of a politics person but I'll still try to know whats going to happen in parliament.

lol not really I just vote for the lesser of the evils, and who ever sounds like they can actually fufil their election promises. NZ politics are the same all you ever hear or see is parties argueing with each other, its like people who want to behave badly and get paid heaps go into politics!!! lols

I don't do politics either, I just can't get behind any of the current British politicians. Although the fact that Gordon Brown is a pirate with a glass eye did pique my interest in it for a while.

I can't vote or have an influence in anything, but I hate US politics. It's been Christian democrat or republican for pretty much my whole life and I feel like that's never going to change atm. I want a liberal. More separation of church and state, more rights. But most importantly less censorship. ;D

ダニーさんの言うとおり、日本は確かに平和ですね。
国民はその幸せの状態をあまり認識してないですが・・・ｗｗ

私の投票基準は、政党より候補者の人柄で判断してますｗ
選挙の演説カーを痛車でやってほしいｗｗ

I try to stay away from politics it's a touchy subject that always leads to fighting

I don't think my one vote makes any difference really, I have no control what's gonna go on I'd rather deal with my day to day things

I enjoy watching the budget - It's hilarious what kind of antics they get into
After all, politics is more of a yelling competition nowadays than anything else

kinda off topic but i see K.O 3anguo under subscription ^^

i'd vote for the world to b ruled by the joint parties of "the republic of gamers" and "the society for world docking"

Change Yes We Can

Haha go danny! I think that's great you helped out the ol' worker's party.

I know a lot of small Japanese parties like that are united under the Democratic Party of Japan, which is why I mostly favor any DPJ candidate over the LDPJ -- and yes I'm always interested in what's going on in politics because they affect us greatly.

I really don't bother voting since in US people's vote don't really count due to our system :P So while they say I should exercise my right as a voter, most of times I don't do it.

I voted and still now i voted again next year...such a waste of time for those A**freaking candidates,but i must take care on who was on my list..

I'm not into politics, especially Japan.
So long as there's stability, they'll progress the economy further.

I try to keep up with semi-current politics, but I usually can't be completely up to date. The fact that's there's only two major parties in the U.S. makes it a bit easier to keep track of what's happening, but it's still a lot of crap to decipher. All the mud slinging makes it difficult to know what's what.

I'm more interested in issues than candidates...I'm big on getting the US out of the Dark Ages medically and getting us a Single Payer system like Japan has. We'll probably wind up doing it how Canada did it...state by state rather than a national push. Private health insurers have altogether too much power here in the States, and have successfully bought off a whole slew of politicians on both sides of the aisle, and in both of our houses of Congress. Canada and Europe are eating the US' lunch economically because with a national health care strategy that decouples health insurance from employment the exorbitant prices of health care aren't crippling profits. Toyota is actually moving a lot of its North American production North because of this...they closed the NUMMI plant in Fremont, CA over health care issues primarily.

Danny your not a citizen? Also do know if we can be dual citizen?

幸福実現党はなにか危ない臭いがする

They`ve woke me up twice in a row driving around in their stupid vans.

Do you live in Musashikoyama Danny?

Theres really no point in voting here, honestly. A certain peoples party always wins... not that i'm complaining though, they have done a great job in Singapore so far.

Never bother voting either to be honest there all as bad as each other when a new Prime Minister comes in to office everything seems worse or exactly the same as the last Prime Minister.

No idea whats going on in politics too. Lost interest in politics when I was ~16 and realized what politics is all about...

Good luck, DPJ!

In september we also have elections in Germany. Will going to vote for the Pirate Party. :>

first off: congrats to the democratic party in japan, they are expected to get 2/3 of the seats in parlament.
second: voting is the one time, a person gets to express his or hers acceptens or contempt to the ruling power, may it be goverment or other form.
i always wote no matter what, a couple of my friends dont wote, they never have and they said that they never will mainly because they dont fell their opinion matters(stupid answer, because you can get your opinion to matter by voting and give it a voice that way).
in 1897 when the funding members tried to have a meeting they where arrested and sentenced 5 years in jail, not until 1908 where our party legal and since then grown.
dont be afraid so say whats on your mind, its always the thought of few that moves the thought of masses if given enough time.

Greetings, everyone. And I hate to say it, but this article is the final excuse I needed to create an account here.

I have read before about the lengthy near-monopoly the LDP has had on Japanese national politics, and how voter complacency played a great deal in their almost dynastic hold onto government. So kudos to the nation of Japan for finally deciding to call for change.

Unfortunately, from the viewpoint of an American who at least read the descriptions and arguments on Propositions on his ballot, as well as the profiles and recent shenanigans of state-wide and national politicians come go-time, I have to say that this election feels very lukewarm compared to the passion that swirled around me during the 2008 American presidential election.

I agree with a majority of the commenters here that, all too often, politics looks about as appealing as staring into a collection of recently used toilets in a public restroom - they're all by different people of different backgrounds and different, fascinating philosophies, but in the end, for whatever reason, they all produce the same kind of dump. That's the impression I felt listening to all the politicians soapbox from their campaign vans in the various wards of Tokyo I've wandered into - nothing but promises and accusations and appeals to emotion. Even as people are ready to kick the LDP out and leave their fate in the DPJ's hands, I'm worried of the toilet analogy I just made coming to life; I haven't even heard a single discussion in the difference in political philosophies between the parties. At all. Where's the difference? If I had the right to vote, why should I leave my vote to this guy and not that guy if I don't even know what they're aiming to do that's so fundamentally different from the other guy?

So how's the Shocker Party doing? Any chance of Apollo Geist becoming PM? Oh, and an Ambassador to Hell would be really handy for Japan.

they were talking about the japan elections during the bbc news broadcast Danny was meant to be in when i watched it i saw that Danny was only in it for about 2 seconds before talking about voting and democrats

Interesting... those communists don't look evil, I guess the idea of them being evil was a lie. lol I vaguely pay attention to politics, just enough to know who is winning.

I can't vote yet, but I know one thing for sure. Once I can turn 18 and can vote, which will be soon, I will do it. Because in my country, not casting your vote is as good as casting your vote for the most evil party that is here, Communists. They terrorised my country for some 4 decades, but there is still a lot of people who wote for them. They are freakin'. In summary, they promise that everyone will have all the basic human needs almost for free. But it would mean only that you would not be able to get anything else, everybody's salary would be almost identical and so on. They tend to uniform. Communists, at least in my country, are evil disguised in bowl of delicious looking apples. Nice from outside, rotten inside.

Hmm... well I do read a lot of magazines of all sorts, including those news ones every week, so I do suppose I get the general gist of what's going on in politics...

Politicians only benefit those who already have everything.

i vote for japanese comunist party!

haha, I voted when Austria was electing its EU parliament reps. There's always a couple interesting people to vote for ^^;

Oh yea, I've been wondering, why do Japanese officials wear the white gloves?

for whats its worth, i understand politics to a point to see if voting would actually change anything they would be illegal. what ever you may think that politics change is living in a fairytale. it has always been that the few in power will always make the many take it up the a**.

Aso needs to read some more manga in public or he's not going to survive this!

Wow! So the victory goes to Koizumi Shinjiro! Amazing-- the LDP party hasn't been defeated since the start of the 1950s except for that 1-year period in the 1990s. It wasn't even close! Well, let's see how it goes! I liked his father, former Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro.

The photos with Danny and the Kyousantou (communist party) are so funny!! ^^

I don't really follow politics, I only vote when it comes around to it. I usually just end up voting for who my parents vote for haha.

なるほど。確かに、日本は豊かですね。秩序もあるし、不自由はない。
日本は贅沢なのでしょうか。
日本人は人に頼るところが多いので、日本が悪いのは日本の総理大臣のせいにしたりします。
例えば僕が総理大臣だとしたら、「１２日までに税金１％にします」といったら、それを守れなかったら
ダメだと思いますが、それをできていないようにも思います。
期日がきまっていないですよね。

ダニーさんも、仕事をするとき納期があると思います。
どう思いますか？

How Dare the JCP apouse our nuclear powered umbrellas! They are pretty and come in a variety of colors.

In here, you can vote when turned 18 years old.

I never used to much care about politics when I was younger, and even now I won't get into lengthy debates with friends about it or anything. I'm not surprised by the outcome of the election in Japan, sounded like people really wanted a change! I'll be really surprised if the same thing doesn't happen in the UK next year, Gordon Brown is done.

Try my country after election. Someone want to bomb my country Predsident :lol3:

I'm pretty much interested with politics although I only know as much as the average guy. In fact, I would love to run as President and straighten my country out! But before I do that, I have to become very rich, famous and influential. It's pretty hard to win people's votes here if you haven't been seen on TV even once :D

i love watching japanese politics because its better than all the other reselling shows