Japanese politicians still wary about full Internet use

Saturday 03rd January, 07:31 AM JST

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11 Comments

borscht at 12:45 PM JST - 3rd January

a reclusive Japanese culture, in which people prefer to keep their political opinions to themselves

Hence their reluctance to call Americans 'lazy' and 'stupid' as they have in the past. And let's not get into what a certain mayor has called the Chinese, Koreans, the French language, and foreigners in general.
LIBERTAS at 06:58 PM JST - 3rd January

A perfect example of where the law is simply years behind the social realities it proposes to govern. Archaic laws for archaic people.
meanmutha at 08:55 PM JST - 3rd January

spot on.
Mark_McCracken at 12:17 AM JST - 4th January

"Having nice websites and blogs costs a lot and competition in the field could threaten the fairness of democracy. I mean that only the rich can win,’’ Mabuchi said.

Mabuchi drastically overestimates the costs involved.
bobbafett at 12:33 AM JST - 4th January

In other words "we are afraid to give people a medium of expression on our Governance without the aid of the Japanese public facade".
Taka313 at 04:23 AM JST - 4th January

Behind this reluctance to use cyber communication is a reclusive Japanese culture, in which people prefer to keep their political opinions to themselves than speak out on public occasions such as debates, some legislators and experts say.

I sure remember a metric butt-ton of politicians professing their political opinions over PA systems mounted on top of vans (and doing so at annoyingly loud levels at that).

On the other hand...if they go cyber, all those women waving from the vans with white gloves will have to find something else to do.

Taka
Nordon at 09:02 AM JST - 4th January

Obama started with very little and it payed out BIG TIME.

This reluctance to try it, is their mistake and will be easily exploited by the first politician who gets serious on it.
Potsu at 09:45 AM JST - 4th January

Pretty backward thinking.
mojibake at 10:49 AM JST - 4th January

Yeah, imagine harnessing the power of all those 2channelers ... the "Stop the Yamanote Halloween Train" fund alone would be enough to put off a sales tax increase for at least a wek.
bamboohat at 11:40 AM JST - 4th January

Bottom line, all these excuse are just excuse. Too expinsive to start and run a website and a blog? Get real. The big reason is fear. Fear that the people will find out that the people running this country are just as clueless as the citizens (as in all other countries).

But the potential remains. Get a politician like Obama, that can effectively use the internet to reach the general population (regardless of the message or any specific plan), and he will clean house.

It will likely take a younger, charasmatic politician to do so. It's only a matter of time. The old ways run by old guys who hide behind old methods is clearly waning.
Speed at 04:48 PM JST - 4th January

How many Todai graduates does it take to set up a simple blog?! Put your political viewpoints on Youtube and set up a Facebook account and do the same. This isn't rocket science. It's called connecting with your constituency.