Hello and welcome to my belated second edition of my Japan Blog, a blog where I wish to create discussion about anything I seem fired up on at the time. And this time I have chosen quite a controversial topic. My question to pose for everyone right now is, should voting be compulsory or voluntary?

I come from Australia which generally has a strong stance Federally on issues concerning the rights of people within the borders of Australia. Whether it be foreign relations(flip flopping decisions on submarines), inhumane conditions for immigrants or general poor handling of most issues under the sun, the Australia Government has recently been under fire for its actions but they have been mostly clearly cut with no leeway in the execution of the law. Voting in Australia has been accessible to all Australian's since 1962(embarrasing I know) and has stayed compulsory since 1912 to the current day. This has seen Australia's voting percentage to keep above 90% since it was made compulsory. On the other hand, Japan has a much more relaxed view on voting and doesn't enforce the populous to vote. This wasn't really necessary post-war, but has been on the gradual decrease in recent years with the most recent election last week being a 55% turn-out of voters.

Coming from a generally outsiders perspective(not having the right to vote in the first place) it seems that the Japanese populous do not have such a good grasp on political ideologies and therefore don't feel the need or right to speak out in the first place. This is mostly seen in the heavy populated middle aged population of Japan, the people that joined the workforce when Japan's economy started stagnating post bubble in the mid to late 90's. Of course, this is generally speaking and should not encompass the whole or even majority of the Japanese population, however, in Australia common issues of politics are often talked about freely in the workplace, where as in Japan there is little to no talk of such subjects. This is reflected in the low turn-out at poll booths and the general apathy seen online toward the election. For me, this is something that is a direct relation of two things; lengthened time of financial safety and the coercion of media within Japan resulting in the popluation "taking their rights for granted". The first point is reflected in Japan's relatively stable financial sitiuation that has seen little to no growth, but also little to no loss in major sectors(before Covid).

My second point is one that could really be justified in two examples

1. the reaction of the media before the election

2. the reaction of the media after the election

Regarding 1. or what little there was of 1. is the general lack of coverage regarding the election and politics of any real meaning.

The top story for the day before the election was the Emeperor's Daughter's Husband failing his American laywers license. This story was bullying by the Japanese media for starters and drowned out any important information that would help people make a wise decision when voting for their next Prime Minister. There are many reasons as to why the Japanese media didn't cover the election beforehand, but what I believe to be the real reason was, if the middle aged populous actually go and vote, the current party in power will lose power in the National Election so they did their best to keep it under covers. The ruling party were worried as pre polls showed them losing up to 100 seats in the election, and there was growing sentitment against their party with the countless amounts of poor decisions, cover ups, bribery and racism that has been seen in the last decade under the rule of LDP.

Anyway, the important thing to remember is that the Japanese media didn't cover the election until the results were revealed.

and...surprise surprise the LDP won majority and the status quo is returned, and so is the coverage of the election. The next day the newpapers and online internet papers were filled with news regarding the election and unsurprisingly slander towards the opposition party.

After hearing one example of how media can manipulate a population into becoming apathetic about their voting rights, I ask again, should voting in a Democratic Nation be voluntary or compulsory?

I can't make my mind up, all I know is that I realised this election that voting is important and if you care about your country's future, you should have a say in it.

For all those that want to read up on Japan's current media issues here is a link that rates the country's freedom of press, Japan is quite far down the list.