...of my final election? ... (184/365, 3 Jul 2022)
Early start today (when aren't they early at the moment, thanks 4:30ish sunrise), to get to campus for Open Day, number one in a series. I have to be early on-standby to give the welcome speech in the event the new head of department can't make it in time from a prior commitment (narrator: he didn't, I did, and I can't help but think women in these roles have much tougher--if I had done the same thing during my HoD tenure I'd have been spurned in some form or another...but I digress).
And, since I was on campus, in the office at times, I figured I might as well catch up on and prepare ahead of time, a few class notes, etc. I was also aware that it was the start of the last week of campaigning and I really should be out and about observing on the hustings.
I looked up a couple of possibilities, candidates of interesting at times that would be possible, only to find initially that I might not quite make a rally of two significant female candidates at 3:00pm, until I noticed that they were also appearing a little later, at 5:30pm at Kichijoji, oddly enough, the station closest to the other campus. I had plenty of time to get there and then I worried I only had the middle M5 cam on me and I expected these two, Renho and Tsujimoto would draw quite a crowd, hence a preference for the 300mm lens...hmm, photographic dilemma. I went with a plan to arrive in time then to perhaps get a front-row seat (actually, they are all standing positions, but, I digress.)
And reader, I did, although the volunteers kept changing the cones and poles for crowd control, I managed to stay reasonably close and got a few choice pics on the 150mm lens after all.
Both women are candidates whose trajectories I have followed for several years. This was a rally aimed at highlighting the need for more women, progressive women in parliament, and there were well-supported by other women including the wife of former PM Kan, the mayor of the local city here and other women local level politicians. They were well-received by a reasonably large crowd (except for that bloke next to me who kept trying to push me out of the way...don't mess with an ex-hockey player mate).
And as interesting and lucky as I was to score two ex-pms and the Tokyo Governor at Tachikawa last week, I have to say the energy and reception for these two was very strong. I do hope, for women's representation, these two get in. More to come on the politics blog this week, in the run-up to the election next Sunday.
 |
| Waiting |
 |
| Kan Nobuko, former PM's wife lends her support |
Pics with the hardworking and tad temperamental (today) Canon EOS M5, 18-150mm.
And as for this being my last election...it feels like that although, as I noted on twitter yesterday, I'm not sure if a retired psephological-type ever tires of elections. We'll see,
