A number of my journalist friends tell me that when a story breaks they like to get to it, regardless of whether they're on holidays, off-duty, or not. It's a bit like that in election season for me. Well, let's face it, it doesn't have to be election season, strictly speaking, for me to go and take the temperature of public engagement in politics. That's kind of my job.
And so it was today. Election campaigning is getting into full swing now with the upper house election due on 10 July. This means most of my weekends between now and then will entail pursuing candidates around Tokyo as they spruik their policies, their hopes, their plans.
Today's interest though was the SEALDs group, formed last year in the wake of changes to security laws and which has been vocal and active ever since. The interest here is the fact the central group is made up of university students and joined more recently by high school students (the voting age was lowered to 18 from 20, for this election).
They are criticised for being wealthy young trendies but I'm far more interested in the flow-on effects of their political enthusiasms. The rallying cry has been 'this is what democracy looks like' (yes, in English), and today they were joined by a few hip-hop celebrities as well.
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| On stage |
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| Opposition party leaders spoke |
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| A popular sign at political gatherings opposing PM Abe's politics |
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| An umbrella to say it all |
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| SEALDs members on stage |
At the other end of the street, the gathering was almost gatecrashed by a couple of loud trucks from the Japanese far right, super-patriots and neo-nationalists (some of whom would have people like me banished from Japan for good). The far right have been around blaring their trucks for years, but like the right everywhere, their voices are given a bit more of a platform these days. The police managed to keep the two groups apart...just.
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| A few of us went to investigate the noise |
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| The speaker trucks |
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| One of the speakers |
Back to the democracy movement
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| A variety of speakers... |
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| ...including this 18 year old talking about the value of his vote |
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| Quite a crowd stayed on |
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| 'Vote in July's election' |
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| 'Politics for everyone, now' |
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| Poster boards at the ready; local candidates can put one poster on their designated space |
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| And one of the prettiest hydrangea bushes around (it is not always about the politics...) |
Hold on for an interesting ride over the next few weeks.
[Camera : Lumix TZ-85, 11.09am-11.48am; 1.37pm-1.38pm; 19 June 2016]
