Japan Election Special

Sangenjaya 1-chome
Monday, April 18
Around 5pm

It is election time. If you live in Japan, you know what that means: vans with loud speakers
Quiet side street
Van with candidate, noisy – as usual – destroying the silence
Me – walking. Annoyed. An opportunity to chat with the candidate
I do
With fingers in my ears I announce my distaste for the noise, in English, of course:
“No one is listening to you? You are too noisy! Go away. Its all a waste of time.”
They stop driving
They stop their announcements
I don’t stop
Though I continue to walk
After several seconds, with speakers still off, they drive past me a little more quickly than the usual slow crawl.
As the van drives past, the candidate, Candidate Oba, with head down, didn’t look at me, didn’t face me, says: “This is Japan”
He didn’t instil feelings of great leadership.
Thought it was (more than) a bit of a racist statement.
“This is Japan”?
Yeah, I know, and that’s the problem.

I am going to miss elections in Japan...