What do you think about the way Japanese election campaigns are conducted, with candidates driving along streets, repetitively blaring out their names, or speaking from atop vans near stations, and so on?

It's inane and a travesty of democracy.

Repetitively saying their names and begging for voting do not appeal to me at all. I want to hear about their way of thinking and the content of their politic plans.

It's ridiculous to say the least.

If there are 3 things I find disturbing and wish they could at least level down a notch, it will have to be those vans that only shout candidate's names till pretty late in the day, street touts screaming "izakaya!!!" or "karaoke!!!" and getting in your way, those obasans at my train station reading off a religious newspaper promoting a bunch of nonsense.

Wish candidates had a platform to get into more debates with each other to see who is the fittest amongst them instead of promoting lip service and screaming names.

their campaign styles aren't conducive for Japanese society if you ask me. They would be better if to hold organized public speeches rather than just make noise in already stressful areas. As if commuters would listen to them.

Stupid and useless noise pollution

Just as @Aly Rustom said.

They can do it from eight in the morning till eight at night. It should be made illegal. Oh, hang on, who makes the rules again?

Noise pollution, very irritating, very pointless. Get out of the 1950s!

I mean, it is an extension of what happens in the Japanese workplace /

it mirrors the mentality of many Japanese people (turn on the tv for a few minutes, if you don’t believe me)…;

it’s all about image, arigatos and yoroshikus…;

we should give more importance to what people are, not who they are — what kind of person he/she is…; what/how he/she thinks and how hard they work.

as foreigner and permanent resident I still have no chance to elect anyone or be elected.

so called "japanese elections" are meaningless for me as cant anticipate or join race.

from taxpayers view its huge waste of tax money and human resources for nothing,since results will be the same as everytime.LDP winning guarantee 101%.this means no changes at all in anything.

from tourists view-its annoying.loudly.disturbing.at stations,streets ,park-anywhere.

from general point of view-its just pathetic show of white gloved people for some plebs around.in hope to grab some position,than start to steal money in own pockets-as LDP crooks do all the time.

japanese "democracy" is a joke.

when many foreigners who lives here,paying heavy taxes and sponsoring this theatre have NO RIGHT to vote or be voted,have NO CHANCE to say a single word to be heared.

in this country you dont have real opposition party like in some other countries as all dinosaur crooks are the same blood type regardless name of party...

howgh

It's all basically a pantomime to conceal the fact Japan is a one-party state. The opposition parties spend heaps of money on loudspeaker trucks, posters, renting offices and venues for speeches etc etc, no one pays much notice and the LDP win elections anyway. Total waste of time but win-win for the LDP. This is from an article in The Independent about the Scottish National Party but it applies equally well in Japan:

In any political system, the long dominance of one political party tends to breed complacency, arrogance and worse, because it no longer fears embarrassment or defeat.

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/nicola-sturgeon-husband-snp-news-b2321644.html

what Eastman said.

Seems a terribly inefficient way to conduct the campaign, but apparently the population gives important to people doing it so there is probably no change in sight.

For a country hellbent on keeping peace and quiet in public AND private spaces, their advertising methods are possibly some of the loudest, most obnoxious I've ever come across. Nobody needs to go into a shop and have blaring announcements screaming at you from every shelf just like nobody needs these election campaign vehicles driving around screaming gods only knows what. Houses and apartments in Japan already lack adequate soundproofing; this just makes all the noise pollution worse.

EastmanToday  12:02 pm JST

as foreigner and permanent resident I still have no chance to elect anyone or be elected.

I would like to be able to vote, but it's really not worth surrendering my own nationality for. My choice of candidates is basically an elderly male independent incumbent who is apparently planning to join the LDP, or an elderly LDP made man. The opposition don't get a look-in because they don't have as much money.

I think if you're planning a trip to Japan one of the first things you should do is make sure you avoid election time. I experienced the horrible noise of one of those elections during my first visit, more than ten years ago. Everywhere I went I was assaulted by that cacaphony of blaring loudspeakers. For subsequent trips I always emailed a friend and asked him to warn me if it was going to happen again. If he said yes, I changed my travel dates.

Outdated. Extremely annoying.

If I was able to vote, I would vote for the one that isn't doing the loud speaker campaigning for the sake of the people.

S

I agree with all the above comments about noise pollution, waste of public money, pointless, etc. But elections here seem to be better than the American model, where campaign finance rules mean that he (and it’s usually he) with the biggest pile of millions or even billions is the winner! That’s not democracy, that’s oligarchy.

rcchApr. 19  11:37 am JST I mean, it is an extension of what happens in the Japanese workplace / it mirrors the mentality of many Japanese people (turn on the tv for a few minutes, if you don’t believe me)…; it’s all about image, arigatos and yoroshikus…; we should give more importance to what people are, not who they are — what kind of person he/she is…; what/how he/she thinks and how hard they work.

In other words, I completely agree with

beachcomberApr. 19  08:08 am JST Repetitively saying their names and begging for voting do not appeal to me at all. I want to hear about their way of thinking and the content of their politic plans.

and

SDCAApr. 19  08:46 am JST Wish candidates had a platform to get into more debates with each other to see who is the fittest amongst them instead of promoting lip service and screaming names.

Simon Foston

Agree.

I dont want to loose my too but how abt dual citizenship?

Maybe need to wait for some new Meiji again?

These things are just there to break up the peaceful quiet of neighborhoods in my opinion. None of the candidates say what their platforms or beliefs are just inssenantly screaming their name until 9pm like douchebags.

if they actually had anything to say sure, but just screaming “Wada Naoya desu!” Is nothing. Police chase those loud motorcycle’s all night but those are a kitten purrring compared to this mess