As what yesterday’s Japan Google doodle had shown, yesterday was Japan’s national elections.

I wouldn’t dare explain here how elections and politics are in Japan – every time Hubs explain to me, I end up having more questions.
What I’m amazed with though is how clean the campaign season is. And no I don’t mean the part wherein no politicians are handing money to voters but how there is minimal garbage during campaign season.

Back in the country where I grew up, practically almost all vertical space are taken up by posters and flyers bearing politicians’ names and faces. What you could see here though are temporary wooden structures mounted up every block or so. Each structure has a wall wherein candidates from each party are allotted a certain space.

Hubs said that posting in places other than these allotted spaces are prohibited in Japan. Very impressive. Think of how the flyers could have ruined this beautiful riverside walk had Japan didn’t ban random posting of election flyers.

I just find it funny though how some of the flyers are so advanced. Some of them have barcodes that you could scan with your mobile phones to take you directly to the candidates’ website.

Elections ended at 7pm but as early as 8pm, almost 90% of the results were already out! Impressive. But not nearly as impressive as how cleanliness is kept despite the intensive campaigning.

Kudos Japan for keeping your beautiful country clean!