Election Week

Posted by Kyle Yates in Japan Related, Kansai Area News

Cover your ears if you don’t like loud noises because it’s election week in most towns throughout Japan.

In Japan, it’s normal to see cars with loud speakers attached to the rooves blaring someone’s voice, live and taped, for passersby to hear. During election time, candidates go around in cars, vans or trucks speaking over loud speakers announcing themselves to the neighborhood residents they wish to get votes from. They can sometimes be seeon standing at train stations or street corners with handheld loud speakers blasting everyone within range with their names and a brief summary of what office they’re vying for. Shoot! They’re so loud you can hear them all the way inside your house, which is really what most are aiming to do in the first place.

What is most annoying, as if standing 10 feet from a loud speaker turned all the way up isn’t annoying enough, many candidates love to go through neighborhoods late at night sharing their information for votes when most people are home from work trying to relax after a hard day’s work. They seem to be even louder then, too. I guess it’s because the regular noise of the day has quieted down enough to make a difference. It wouldn’t be so annoying to me though if I could vote. But the fact that I’m a foreigner and haven’t been able to get residency yet in order to be allowed to vote makes all the candidate-announcing a nuisance to my ears.

Ahhhhhh! Here’s another candidate passing by my house now! Ok. Now she’s gone. But wait, here comes another one. They must be opponents!

Guess, I have to deal with it like everyone else until elections are over! Only a few more days to go!