Political parties and candidates are boosting their use of online tools such as social media to reach more young voters ahead of the upcoming House of Representatives election.
A ban on online campaigning was ended ahead of the House of Councillors election in 2013, and using the internet for election activities has apparently increased even further as the coronavirus pandemic has made it difficult to campaign in person.
"There are many students who haven't been able to find part-time jobs and have had to leave their universities. There are many young people who are having difficulties because of the coronavirus," a candidate running in a Tokyo metropolitan area constituency said in a speech at a major station on Friday.
Few people stopped to listen to his speech, but 5,000 people viewed the livestreamed version on YouTube.
The Oct. 31 election is seeing an increase in the use of livestreamed speeches and social media to reach voters, in addition to methods that are already widespread such as emails, blogs and online videos. Amid the pandemic, parties and candidates are refraining from ordinary activities such as holding campaign rallies, where supporters gather indoors, and shaking hands with voters on the street.
The parties have young people in particular in mind. According to the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry's Institute for Information and Communications Policy, 85.2% of people, across all generations, have used YouTube, but the platform is used more widely by young people with 97.2% of those in their 20s accessing the service.
In the 2017 lower house election, which had an overall voter turnout of 53.68%, the turnout for those in their 20s is estimated to have been only 33.85%.
"There is great room to garner votes from young people," said a person connected to the Liberal Democratic Party.
The LDP has launched an initiative in which 23 "I voted" images with different designs have been put up on its website and people can post the image of their choice on Twitter with the hashtag #ivoted2021.
"The initiative is intended to encourage people to vote by seeing such posts by their acquaintances," said the person in charge of the LDP's public relations.
The largest opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, has released 109 videos on its website sorted by issue. Its leader Yukio Edano speaks on topics such as same-sex marriage and unemployment in the videos.
Komeito, the LDP's ruling coalition partner, has put up its 2021 manifesto for children and childcare, written in simple Japanese, on its website. "We want parents and their children to read it together in order to expand their support," a party member in charge of the matter said.
The Japanese Communist Party has released an online video of an interview in which party executives are asked questions by the party's mascot. Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party) has updated images and other materials to show the activities of its candidates. The Democratic Party for the People has uploaded a video of its leader Yuichiro Tamaki calling for economic measures on Instagram and other online platforms.
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