The Japanese election is off to a running start, and it’s promising to be as urusai (noisy) as ever, with politicians driving around in loudspeaker cars asking you in a booming voices to support them in the polls when you’re trying to sleep late. Although there are a total of 15 registered political parties holding seats in Japan’s legislature — some of the more interesting ones include the People’s Life First party, which exists to whine about any tax increase for any reason, the centrist Your Party (that’s its official name, Your Party), and a very focused group called the Anti-TPP, Anti-Nuclear, Consumption Tax Hike Freeze Realization Party — there are only two political groups that really matter. First is the Democratic Party of Japan, in power since 2008, which aims to support average Japanese families and employees of companies but ends up getting side-tracked with impossible-to-implement policies at every turn. Then there’s the pro-business Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which ruled Japan almost continuously since 1955 and is favored to win the upcoming election. Their plan for a return to power calls for a massive stimulus budget, the trademark of that party — Japan spent the equivalent of a Panama Canal on public works per year over the last decade — but they’re going even further, bringing kawaii culture into politics. The LDP has announced plans to create a yuru-chara mascot, a cute character in a giant suit similar to the characters that represent Japan’s prefectures, like Barii-san from Nagoya (below, on the right) or our own Gunma-chan (on the left). Does anyone else think creating a cute character as a way of influencing national elections is really bizarre?
Do yuru-chara mascot characters belong in politics? I’m thinking, “Hell no!”
