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Japanese Political Candidates Go Dark Online

Posted by kdawson on from the sounds-relaxing-actually dept.

maximus1 writes "A 59-year-old election law prevents Japanese candidates from blogging and twittering during the campaigning window. So, on Tuesday, 1,370 Japanese will stop all online activity. Candidates get a brief slot on public television, usually in the early or late-night hours when few are watching, to make their pitch. The rest of the time is spent campaigning in neighborhoods, walking through the streets, and making speeches outside railway stations. If opinion polls are to be believed, the Aug. 30 election could be the law's last stand. Voter turnout among the young is poor, and some believe it's because the old-fashioned method of campaigning has failed to energize a population that is surrounded by digital media from the day they are born. 'The Internet must be made available for election campaigns as soon as possible,' the Asahi Shimbun, Japan's second-largest newspaper, wrote in a recent editorial."

7 of 91 comments (clear)

  1. To paraphrase... by rumith · · Score: 3, Funny

    In Japan, only old people vote.

  2. Wait, what? by danhm · · Score: 4, Funny

    Japan outlawed political candidates from using Twitter 59 years ago, eh?

    1. Re:Wait, what? by lxs · · Score: 3, Funny

      Well Japan was always ahead of the rest of the world technologically.

  3. Walking? by Asahi+Super+Dry · · Score: 3, Funny

    Walking around neighborhoods? More like driving around in vans with obnoxious loudspeakers. The campaign posters are funny, too. It's obvious that they're heavily regulated as to content and layout. Candidate name, picture, office desired, party name, brief generic slogan. It's like the elections are designed to be boring. I'm almost glad I can't vote...

  4. Re:It's the 21st Century, where's my time machine? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Oh, if only the young and ignorant hadn't voted in the last U.S. election...

    and if only everyone voted for Ron Paul

  5. Re:can we get that here, please? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    On the contrary, the megaphone vans is an excellent system for weeding out bad candidates.

    In the days before an election, I'd sleep in in the morning, with a notepad next to my bed. Every time I'm awakened by one of those vans, I write the candidate's name on the notepad and go back to sleep. Come election day, I go to the voting booth and pick the best guy on the ballot who is NOT on the notepad. Serves the sleep-disturbing selfish dickwads right.

  6. Japanese elections are meaningless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    One of the four parties you can vote for this time is the "happiness realization party"

    http://www.hr-party.jp

    (Actually, it's a scam party, but it will be interesting to see how many votes they get)