Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Thus young people
s commitment to canvassing and interest in politics varied.
Typically, supporters would have a list of people from their high school who
they would call one by one, although not everyone called all the people they
knew, as suggested by Kaku. Instead, like him, some were selective about who
they called. This did not eliminate negative responses, but, as he saw it, also
re
'
ected his inability to
'
Explain convincingly why Komeito
'
s policies would
be better than other parties
'
. Responding to this, he said,
'
Ide
nitely need to
study more
'
, with the aim of
'
understanding and being able to explain better
'
(conversation with Kaku, 08/07/2004).
Although many informants admitted that they felt the burden of canvas-
sing and came out with comments like
'
Just one more week
'
, while sighing in
good cheer, or
'
I can
'
t wait till the election is over
'
, no one regarded election
activities as needless self-sacri
ce. As indicated above, those who canvassed felt
that it was an opportunity to voice what they thought was important. However,
this did not mean it was not exhausting. The willingness, however, to engage
in the often di
cult process of convincing others about the importance of
engaging in politics, and, moreover trying to convince them of a particular
point of view indicated to me a strong sense of ownership towards the political
process and a signi
cant ability to take collective action to further a common
cause.
Young supporters hoped and believed that Komeito politicians played a pro-
gressive role in politics. Komeito
s slogans and discourses focus on showing
how politicians work towards creating a more caring and welfare-oriented
society. What supporters expected of their political representatives re
'
ected
the ideals to which they aspired as Soka Gakkai Buddhists. Trust was a key
issue. Politicians were believed to be mostly practising Soka Gakkai members,
which consolidated their trustworthiness. Although this was not publicly
apparent in their policies or public discourse, Soka Gakkai members mostly
knew if they were. This reassured them that such individuals were likely to
base their thinking and actions on the ethical approach to life with which
they themselves were familiar. They expected Komeito politicians to be indi-
viduals who have integrity, motivated by a desire to improve the lived
experience of citizens in general.
Many young supporters did not start out with an interest in politics prior
to getting involved with supporting Komeito. Rather, because Soka Gakkai
was lending electoral support to Komeito they began to learn about politics.
They began discussing current a
airs and what Komeito stood for, some of them
joining groups consisting of 19-year-olds who, while not getting involved with
canvassing, began studying about politics. Many said that when they began to
nd out more,
'
it was quite interesting, although complicated
'
, especially
'
when it came to understanding the details of speci
c policies and
why
'
'
'
Komeito
s policies were supposedly better than other parties
proposals
.
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