July 2009 to July 2010 - Religion and Politics in Contemporary Japan - page 191

that Komeito had e ectively been a ' moderator ' , the role of which had been

in uential in changing some of the more right-wing policies of the LDP, that

Komeito s standpoint had always been to be on the side of the people and

that its role was important in this aspect. At the end of the conversation, the
taxi-driver not only said that he would vote for Komeito but that he would
ask his family to do the same. While this was an unusual example in that
most of the people whom they contacted were friends, it was a somewhat
typical report, in which they had a conversation about policies, the role of
Komeito, Komeito

'

s policies and subsequently succeeded in changing the
opinion of the other. This was done by explaining what Komeito

'

s policies
were and why Minshut - was not as attractive as portrayed in the media
(emphasising its changing policies and recent money scandals). Some people
also shared their frustration in not being able to convince people, but many
talked about positive results.
In the end, 17.9% of voters in Okinawa voted for Komeito in the propor-
tional representation in 2009, the highest percentage in the country to do so.
While it did not get Toyama elected, which was obviously disappointing, they
had achieved the seemingly impossible goal of increasing the votes for
Komeito by 20,000. Receiving 120,000 votes for Toyama would have been
enough had so many not voted for Minshut - and Kokumin Shint - . The LDP
candidate Okuba lost to the Minshut - -backed Kokumin Shint - candidate,
Shimoji Mikio. It had been an uphill battle (gyakuf - ). They were dis-
appointed that Toyama was not elected and shocked that Komeito lost 10 seats
in that election, but they were not personally dissatis

'

ed nor feel they had lost

con dence and commitment. This was because while their immediate objec-

tive was not achieved, they had experienced many bene ts (kudoku)from

engaging in canvassing, the best thing being a deeper sense of self-con

dence.
While the relocation of the Futenma Airbase (discussed below) became the
prominent national issue after the 2009 election, it was hardly part of the
political agenda leading up to the 2009 election. Neither, in fact, was it as
prominent as the media made it out to be among voters in Okinawa in the
election of 2010, by which time the media had mostly dropped the issue, as it
had the issue of money and politics.

The 2010 Upper House election erent election altogether

Come the 2010 election, it was remarkable how di

- adi

erent the political land-

scape in Okinawa looked. After Minshut -

s overriding victory in August
2009, the new Prime Minister, Hatoyama Yukio, reiterated his promise that
he would relocate Futenma Airbase outside Okinawa prefecture. Subse-
quently this issue was to dominate the headlines for the next eight months,
until he was forced to resign, largely because he was unable to keep this pro-
mise. However, this issue not only forced the prime minister to step down but
also the SDP to eventually part from the coalition. Clearly, Minshut -

'

had

'

been popular in Okinawa with Hatoyama s statement of wanting to move