The Japanese election this year coincides with the first voting of the French presidential election, on April 22, 2007 (today). Last week I would hear mini vans or mini trucks passing by with loudspeakers announcing the candidates and their platforms. Then today, on the last day of campaigning, I ran across a politician with his entourage, campaigning old style: two people with banner flags at the front and at the back, flanking the candidate who walked in the middle. A "spokesperson" carried a megaphone and made announcements. They went in and out of the alleys, back to the main streets, all smiles.
I noticed the absence of candidates plastering the city with their posters and piling in their brochures in people's mailbox like in the United States. Instead, a week ago or more, each neighborhood erected a board, within which it was divided into blocks, with each block containing a number. In the following days, candidates would place their posters in the corresponding "districts;" very typical of Japanese: neat and clean, tidy and orderly. I bet tommorrow all of these boards will be taken down promptly.
