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Japan Times
5 days ago
- Politics
- Japan Times
Tokyo teams up with bathhouses to boost voter turnout for assembly election
Local authorities in Tokyo are ramping up efforts to raise voter turnout ahead of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election on Sunday, rolling out a series of public awareness campaigns aimed particularly at younger voters. Initiatives include partnering with public bathhouses amid Japan's ongoing sauna boom and collaborating with high school students to create promotional materials. According to the Tokyo's election commission, voter turnout in the previous election in 2021 stood at 42.39%. While over 50% of voters in their 60s and older turned out, rates were much lower among younger demographics, with only 25.8% of voters in their 20s and 34.22% in their 30s casting ballots — highlighting a persistent gap in political engagement between age groups. In an attempt to reach younger voters, the commission is collaborating with the hot spring website Nifty Onsen and the Tokyo Sento Association to raise voter awareness at 61 bathhouses across the capital. Posters are being displayed during the campaign period, and several bathhouses are naming one of their baths 'election bath' to make people more aware of the upcoming election. 'With the sauna trend, we can appeal to a wider, younger audience,' a Tokyo metropolitan government official said. 'We hope people will take a moment of relaxation to reflect on politics and the upcoming election.' In Tokyo's Nerima Ward, local high school students helped design election-themed pocket tissue packs to be handed out at train stations and other public locations. The Nerima municipality is the only one of Tokyo's 23 wards with a dedicated election outreach team. Its official X social media account is updated frequently. 'We aim to post at least once a day,' a Nerima government official said. In the city of Machida in western Tokyo, officials have redesigned the birthday cards that the local government sends to residents turning 18 to inform them of their eligibility to vote as Japanese citizens. The new designs were developed with input from young people and aim to make the cards feel less stiff and formal and more accessible. 'We hope their first voting experience will lead them to vote again,' a city official said. Translated by The Japan Times
South China Morning Post
14-06-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Japan police ramp up security to tackle ‘lone wolf' attacks ahead of Tokyo election
As campaigning began on Friday for the Tokyo metropolitan assembly election, Japanese police have stepped up measures to thwart possible 'lone wolf' attacks after incidents involving notable politicians in recent years. Top politicians are set to converge on the Japanese capital for a close contest seen as a bellwether for the national House of Councillors election this summer, in which the ruling Liberal Democratic Party is expected to struggle. 'We are mobilising the organisation's full strength. We cannot create conditions that allow for the 'unexpected',' a senior official of the Metropolitan Police Department said. Stump speeches are a mainstay of Japanese elections, offering candidates a chance to get their message across and granting voters opportunities to meet their potential representatives. Politicians have been targeted while campaigning in recent years, with former prime minister Shinzo Abe fatally shot during a stump speech in the city of Nara before the 2022 House of Councillors election. During an election-related appearance in Wakayama, also in western Japan, in 2023, an explosive device was hurled toward then-prime minister Fumio Kishida
Japan Times
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Japan Times
Parties to test political waters in Tokyo election ahead of Upper House vote
Campaigning for the June 22 Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election — an early indicator of how voters nationwide might cast their ballots, especially for the major national parties, in next month's Upper House poll — kicked off Friday. Candidates for the 127 seat chamber include those from the main national ruling and opposition parties, as well as local parties, including Tomin First no Kai (Tokyoites First), whose special adviser is Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike. Key questions that have emerged in the race include how well the Liberal Democratic Party, currently with 30 seats, can retain its position as the largest party in the assembly. It will put up 42 candidates. Six former and current assembly members involved in the LDP's political funds scandals are running without formal party support. Large gains or losses in the election could prompt changes to the LDP's Upper House campaign strategy and further strengthen or weaken Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's standing as party leader, which is already weak. The July 2021 Tokyo assembly election saw the LDP and its ruling coalition partner, Komeito, failing to win a majority. Then-Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced two months later he would not seek reelection as LDP president and was replaced later in September by Fumio Kishida. Tomin First — the second-largest party in the Tokyo assembly, with 26 seats — is fielding 37 candidates. Komeito, which has 23 assembly seats, is fielding only 22 candidates this time. Though Koike serves as an adviser to Tomin First, she and Komeito's Tokyo chapter have a good relationship. How independent voters respond to the governor's support of Komeito and Tomin First candidates in Tokyo's multiseat districts is another key question that could impact Komeito's chances in the subsequent Upper House race, where the LDP and Komeito still hold a majority. The Tokyo race will also be a test of the opposition Democratic Party for the People's strength in the wake of a political stumble. It withdrew its endorsement of former Lower House lawmaker Shiori Yamao Wednesday, just one day after she announced she was running as a DPP national proportional candidate. The DPP and its leader, Yuichiro Tamaki, faced a public and social media backlash, along with dissent within the party, over the initial decision to back Yamao, who had been involved in a series of political scandals as well as an extramarital affair. Currently without any presence in the assembly, the DPP is putting up 18 candidates. The party did well in last October's Lower House election, especially in urban centers such as Tokyo, where it won over many younger, independent voters who were attracted to its economic policies. Kentaro Yamamoto, a political scientist at Tokyo's Kokugakuin University, says that while the DPP's withdrawal of its endorsement of Yamao was a blow, it might not hurt the party too badly — not because of its strategy, but because of Tomin First's cautious approach in this election. 'Tomin First has narrowed down its candidates to just one in many districts and appears to be avoiding direct competition with DPP candidates. It seems that Tomin First's tactics for fielding candidates are conservative, and that they have already calculated that reform-minded voters who previously supported Tomin First will switch to the DPP this time,' he says. The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan — which is the largest national opposition party but is only fifth-largest in the Tokyo assembly, with just 12 seats — is backing 20 candidates. Opposition forces are also seeking to form alliances in some constituencies. The Japanese Communist Party and the CDP have coordinated their efforts to avoid fielding competing candidates in districts with one to three seats, for example. The JCP currently holds 19 seats and is fielding 24 candidates, while Reiwa Shinsengumi is fielding three. There is also the party of former Akitakata Mayor Shinji Ishimaru, which he named The Path to Rebirth. Ishimaru shocked the established parties in last year's Tokyo gubernatorial contest, finishing second behind incumbent Koike and winning nearly 1.7 million votes in a field of 54 candidates. But he has lost much popularity since then, and his party is considered likely to pick up few, if any, seats.
Japan Times
04-06-2025
- Business
- Japan Times
Media firms launch election fact-checking initiative
Jiji Press and some other members of the Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association have launched a fact-checking initiative for election-related online information, beginning with the Tokyo metropolitan assembly election on June 22. The collaboration between Jiji Press, the Yomiuri Shimbun group, Saga Shimbun and Nippon Television Network aims to enhance the fairness and credibility of fact-checking work and disseminate accurate information broadly. The initiative will examine uncertain information pieces that could affect the fair holding of elections and assess them as "correct," "almost correct," "groundless," "incorrect" or "false." Assessment results could be published by participating media companies. Opinion pieces will not be covered. The four media companies will cooperate with the nonprofit Japan Fact-check Center. They will also invite other media companies to participate.
Japan Times
28-05-2025
- General
- Japan Times
Tokyo installs extra-large campaign boards ahead of metropolitan assembly vote
With less than a month to go before the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election on June 22, municipalities across the capital have begun setting up large poster boards to accommodate a potential surge in candidates. In some areas, boards with up to 70 slots are being installed, a move also intended to prepare for the House of Councilors election that will follow shortly after. The initiative comes in response to last year's record-setting Tokyo gubernatorial election, which saw an unprecedented 56 candidates vying for office. Many local governments had prepared boards with just 48 slots, forcing late filers to resort to posting their campaign posters materials outside the designated space using plastic folders and thumbtacks — an unusual and improvised solution. 'In the current climate, it's difficult to predict how many candidates will run,' said one municipal official. According to the Election Administration Commission, the last time the metropolitan assembly and Upper House elections overlapped — in 2013 — the maximum number of slots provided by any local government was 30. But with a steady rise in candidates and the emergence of new political parties, the Tokyo government issued updated guidance in March recommending boards with around 72 slots for dual use in both elections. While the layout and installation of the boards are left to each municipality's discretion, some are taking cost-saving measures. Suginami Ward has adopted the suggested 72-slot format and added a separate lightweight overlay with 27 slots for the Tokyo assembly race, leaving a large blank space around it. After the local election concludes, the overlay will be removed. In Shibuya Ward, officials have opted to overlay the right side of the larger House of Councilors board with plywood tailored to the Tokyo assembly election. To avoid voter confusion, the unused portion of the board will be concealed during the local campaign period. Due to site constraints, Shibuya can only accommodate 64 slots, but plans to add an extra row if candidate numbers exceed expectations. This year's assembly race will also mark the first application of revised rules under the public offices election act requiring candidates to maintain the decency of their posters. The Election Administration Commission is ramping up efforts to publicize the changes and alert candidates to the new standards. The legislation follows a rare show of unity between ruling and opposition parties, prompted by incidents during last summer's Tokyo gubernatorial race in which some public bulletin boards were marred by posters unrelated to the election. Concerns over the integrity of elections have grown amid the spread of fake and misleading information on social media. Authorities have also been alarmed by the emergence of so-called "double horsepower" campaigns, in which individuals run for office without any real intention of winning, instead seeking to drum up support for another candidate. Translated by The Japan Times
