Japanese Elections 2012

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On December 16th, Japanese people will go to the polls to choose a new government. Everyone knows that Japanese people tend not to be interested in politics, and I know that many of you do not like talking about this topic, but it might not be an exaggeration to say that Japan’s future is riding on the election this time.

Actually, Japan’s general election has been receiving a lot of coverage in the Western media. Here is a list of the main points that people have been talking about.

1. The DPJ came to power promising change, but they have failed to deliver. They have also spent a lot of time fighting and arguing with each other instead of running the country. As a result, it is likely that the LDP will win this time.

2. The leader of the LDP is an ex-prime minister who was generally seen as a failure the first time around.

3. Japanese politics seems to be moving further and further to the right, with many nationalist politicians gaining popularity. This may have a big effect on Japan’s relations with its neighbours, particularly China and Korea.

People sometimes ask me whether I can vote in the elections. The answer is that I cannot. I have permanent residency in Japan, but I would only be able to vote if I changed my nationality and became Japanese. Of course, I would never do that because it would mean giving up my British passport.

To be honest, I have to admit that I do not usually pay much attention to Japanese politics either, but this time, I am quite concerned about the direction Japan will take if the LDP get back into power.

Mr. Abe is saying that he is going to spend trillions of yen on construction projects in order to boost the economy. He might be right, but as we all know, Japan already has huge debts, and this may well make things worse. I can’t help thinking that the last thing Japan needs is to go back to the old way of doing things.

The other thing that worries me is that the LDP seem to be in favour of pushing ahead with the development of nuclear power. After the disaster at Fukushima, I find it hard to believe that any Japanese people would vote for a party who are pro-nuclear, but it seems that a lot of people are going to do just that.

Anyway, I would be very interested to hear what Japanese voters (that’s you, by the way!) think about the candidates and their policies. If you are not interested in the elections, I hope you will write a comment explaining why. If you are interested, please tell me what the most important factors will be for you when you decide who to vote for.

Look forward to hearing your opinions.

このブログは英語学習者のためのものです。レベルの高い人もいれば、初心者もいますので、自分のレベルや学習経験を気にする必要はありません。「いつもコメントを書いている人は仲間みたいだから参加しにくい」と思う方もいるかもしれませんが、勇気を出してコメントを書いてみてください。必ず温かく迎えてもらえます。多くのコメントは英語で書かれていますが、もちろん日本語もOKですし、英語と日本語を混ぜて書いても大丈夫です。言いたいことが言えないときは、How do you say 「〜」in English? と聞けば、きっとだれかが教えてくれると思います。私のエントリー、または他のメンバーのコメントの中に分からないところがあったら、「”…”はどういう意味ですか？」と遠慮なく聞いてください。このブログで使われているフレーズや表現をたくさん吸収すると、より自然な英語に近づけることができますよ！

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