Elections

It is election time in Isahaya. It seems to local and not national. The first thing we noticed were large, wooden boards with numbered squares placed in front of public buildings (schools, post office). Then very professionally-done posters, showing a head shot of the candidate, appeared on the squares.

For the last week or so, the candidates and their minions have been driving all around town in vans with loudspeakers mounted on top screaming their name and message. It seems that they have each been assigned a different fluorescent color to wear and they wave their arms and hankies out the window of the van. They start at 8:30 in the morning and seem to go until 8:30 at night. Dave said he wanted to register to vote in Japan just so he could not vote for the loudest of the bunch.

I've seen a few in their fluorescent wear standing on street corners bowing at each driver as they passed.

What I haven't seen are political ads on t.v., so even though we can't hit the mute button, it does seem less distracting and at least they're not bashing each other!