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show victory to Ikeda-Sensei and his wife. Over the months, I asked people
what such statements meant as they made it seem as if they were
fighting this
election on behalf of Ikeda. This certainly made the
'
rationalist
'
a priori
notion of something
(rather than democratic) going on seem real
enough. The answer, as with young people in Tokyo, boiled down to courage
(y - ki). By chanting to have the same spirit as Ikeda-Sensei, they felt courage
welling up from within, whether this had to do with the election or any other
aspect of their life. They explained to me that they needed courage to speak
up about the issues about which they cared. For them, the way to
'
irrational
'
'
was taking action based on courage. Their chances of winning this election,
which in Okinawa meant getting Toyama Kiyohiko elected as the Okinawa
representative in the proportional representation contest, was slim; they
would need to get at least 120,000 people to vote for Komeito. With probably
about 10,000 members actively canvassing in Okinawa this was a tall order.
They would certainly need to make the e
'
victory
ort, and probably take courage, as they
said, to call friends to talk about what others may have little interest in or
think of as contentious. By chanting to show victory to Ikeda-Sensei, they chanted
to have courage to make the necessary e
ort. The controversial part for many
is that this kind of
is displayed in the support of one political party
rather than a more general involvement with politics.
The next speaker, the Men
'
courage
'
rmed
the necessity to pull out all the stops. Talking about the recent voting beha-
viour among men and women in di
'
s Division (MD) leader of Okinawa, con
erent age groups, he concluded that
fifties were voting for Minshut - .He
called upon all those in the YMD and MD to take action.
particularly men in their twenties to
'
We all know that
women take action
Everyone laughed. He
then discussed in detail all the proposals of Komeito. Outlining the tough
situation (kibishii
'
, he said,
'
but how about the men?
'
jy - tai),
fierce battle (gekisen), he appealed to the
sound policies of Komeito. From watching this meeting, it could seem as
if those members who attended more simply follow the direction of Soka
Gakkai; undoubtedly, some of them do. No alternative opinions were
expressed at this meeting, for instance. Yet, this again, of course, was a kick-
o
the
meeting for the election. In fact, perhaps the extent to which policies were
explained was surprising, given that this meeting was of leaders, many of
whom had been long-term supporters of Komeito. Having observed both
such large gatherings as well as numerous smaller meetings, I knew by now
that it was usually at the smaller group settings where people expressed opi-
nions and asked questions. I had observed how many members studied in
detail Komeito
s policies, perhaps particularly young people, but as it seemed
here also the older generation. Yet, while people asked questions and formed
their own opinions, they mostly agreed with the policies. The fact that prob-
ably about half of the Soka Gakkai membership itself has to be encouraged
to vote, let alone engage in canvassing, re
'
ects the general disinterest in poli-
tics and also the apprehension that many less-active members may still feel
towards Soka Gakkai
'
s support for a political party. Study was part of active
 
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