It’s been awhile since we’ve had a good Japanese mystery to investigate. A couple weeks ago, workers began installing long white boards all over town with squares numbered 1-50. A large date—April 26—appeared at one end with a whole lot of indecipherable Japanese surrounding it.
A few days later, nearly all of the boxes were plastered with election posters from all of Japan’s major political parties. It’s time to elect our local mayors (kuchō/区長) and assembly representatives (kugikai/区議会)! I say “our,” but as foreign citizens, we don’t get a vote. At least we have plausible deniability if it all goes south… “Not my kuchō!”
In addition to the posters, candidates ride around in vans with loudspeakers, sharing their message with the people. They wear white gloves as they wave out the window, apparently a symbol of honesty.
The posters themselves were pretty standard fare, although I did notice a couple of trends. First off, several candidates seemed to be taking the theme of “fighting for you” literally. I counted six posters with candidates raising clinched fists, ready to punch the opposition right in the face. Some of my favorites…
The next candidate had comic-style posters of him fighting for the people of Kawagoe on his website during the election. Kinda cool.

Manabu-san looks way too happy for someone who has spent 25 years working in Kawagoe City Hall (25年間川越市役所勤務の経験を市政に生かします!).

Misao-san took a slightly different route with the “Who has one finger and wants your vote? This guy!” theme

Odaka-san has a bit of a “Um, I’ll fight for you?” look about him, but as a local fire chief, and PTA president, he’s got the goods.
The other prominent theme is the use of cartoonish representations of the candidates. It says “Look, I’m fun!” Some of the best…
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