Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
new people joining each time) and talked about their recent canvassing suc-
cesses or di
culties. It was not always the same people gathered but the lea-
ders were usually there. They studied and heard reports about speci
c election
developments. In the YWD the leader of that area led the chanting, a young
woman in her late twenties, who was always cheerful and funny. A strong
sense of camaraderie between the women who attended prevailed, and they seemed
to know each other well. There were about 270 young women in the area, but
usually only 20
30 people gathered on Saturday and Sunday for the whole
day, although others came and went throughout the day. Fewer people gath-
ered during the week. This did not mean that the other young women were
not active in canvassing for Komeito, but many of them worked long hours
and were unable to attend. As elsewhere, probably at least half of the young
members tended not to be interested in the election and were not canvassing
for Komeito; the active supporters tried to encourage them to go to vote.
This situation was similar in the SD, many of the members of which either
were away from Okinawa, or busy with their part-time jobs in the summer
break. However, there were also individuals who had speci
-
cally returned
from Tokyo (where they studied) to call on their friends in their hometown.
At the SD meetings, people took turns to lead Gongy
-
and to moderate the
meetings, which seemed more like groups of friends who had gathered to
achieve a common goal. Like the YWD meetings, these were informal gath-
erings attended each time by around 15
-
20 students. This was far from all the
student division members in Okinawa, some 140 in all. For some of the SD
members it was their
first time getting involved with an election as the voting
age in Japan is 20, and they would study Komeito policy proposals and
engage in discussion about Komeito. These discussions often centred on spe-
ci
c policies that were related to students. There were also students who were
only 19 and not directly involved in canvassing, but who came nevertheless to
learn something about Komeito. These gatherings, where friends chatted,
shared their experiences and studied together, were meant to encourage
people to make the necessary personal e
orts to canvass on behalf of
Komeito: that is, phone their friends, family and acquaintances about voting
for Komeito. They chanted together, studied and discussed things they greatly
enjoyed. The challenge was to call their friends to get them to vote for
Komeito.
At a gathering of young women who supported Komeito
After the young women had
finished chanting at their normally rhythmic and
fast pace, people sat around and talked for a while. Some people chatted
about who they had called
-
if they were friends from school, for instance
-
sometimes chatting to people who were there for the
first time, introducing
themselves and talking about policies. People who had not attended these
meetings before studied the various information about Komeito that they had
received over the last week or so. They also read Ikeda
'
s guidance, not
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