Geography Reference
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his own district. I never came across anyone talking about being or becoming
a member of Komeito. When Kamio took me to the YMD meeting described
above, the Soka Gakkai members I met there appeared to know each other
fairly well. Still, after the meeting when we were about to begin a group
interview with six people, Kamio inquired,
'
So you are all members of
Komeito then?
(something I had asked of him). They had looked around at
each other and nodded, which either con
'
cial mem-
bers or simply people supporting Komeito and thought that this was what I
meant. By then, I had learned that it took a while to explain what I meant by
this question. On another occasion, one supporter who understood that I was
asking about party membership said,
rmed that they were o
'
I don
'
t know how to become a
member
. Indeed, there is no such link on the Komeito home page.
In addition, none of the UNRC members (a Soka University (SU) club, in
the activities of which I participated for three months leading up to the 2004
Upper House election) were members of Komeito. The UNRC activities, run
entirely by students, focused on studying and discussing international issues.
3
Finding few young people who were in fact members of the party surprised
me as I assumed they would be members because they were indeed active
supporters. Moreover, membership only cost 3,000 yen per year. I also
thought it might be a topic of conversation, considering the fervour with
which they supported the party, and the fact that Komeito is always strapped
for cash, but I never heard it spoken of at meetings or among themselves, and
it seemed to be an entirely separate and personal issue not related to their
canvassing activities. Moreover, only a few of the students subscribed to the
Komei Shinbun, while some of them read it in the Soka University library.
However, with only a single exception they all read the Seikyo Shinbun, the
Soka Gakkai daily newspaper. This had much to do with cost as well,
although both newspapers are only about half the price of national news-
papers. They receive most of their information about the party
'
s policies
through pamphlets provided by the party before elections and at those times
actively study such issues. Moreover, some browsed the Komeito website and
the internet for news.
Most of the Komeito supporters I met were active members of Soka
Gakkai. While an accurate number is di
'
cult to ascertain, my observations
from 2003
10 indicate about one-quarter of the youth division are actively
canvassing beyond their family, calling up friends and acquaintances. Another
quarter will de
-
nitely vote and are likely to ask their immediate family to vote
for Komeito as well, while another quarter is likely to vote for Komeito upon
being encouraged to do so by their more active peers. The last quarter are not
interested in politics or in Komeito, and may or may not vote. This last group
are also individuals who may be members of Soka Gakkai in name only
without attending meetings or practising Buddhism. Such individuals often
have parents who practise (or practised) but do not do so themselves.
Before elections, the active Soka Gakkai members were busy supporting
the party mostly through their individual canvassing among friends and
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