POLESTAR
Volume 13 Issue 18 October 2016
Photo courtesy of Colette English
Photo courtesy of Kelsey Woodford
Dear Hokkaido ALTs,
Weather’s been crying winter recently. Living in Hokkaido, we probably shouldn’t be surprised. Some are already selling their souls to their heaters, but, for others, the crisp air beckons to the outdoors. These pages may be rewarding for both sides. We hope you like what you see and consider helping us to make it better. Anyone can submit work to Polestar. Facebook message or email us at editor@hajet.org with any ideas, questions, or concerns. Thanks to the writers and photographers who made this issue memorable!
Jack Powers, Editor Isabelle Legault, Designer
Next submission deadline: October 30th
From the Pres. Heya, Hokkaido
Photo courtesy of Ferfie Brownoff
Ferfie Brownoff President | HAJET
I
’ve realized that a lot of my presidential ramblings seem heavy, carrying sentimental undertones or some sense of self-grandeur. Welp, today I’m going to take a step back from all of that - I hope you enjoy Simpsonian plot arcs. Jack, our editor, made something of a request a few weeks ago. I posted a photo of the drawing on the left to the Facebooks a while back. I like to sketch and doodle in my spare time and dabbled in Street Fighter II as a child. Apparently, some of the students I teach are partial to the game as well. So, I figured I’d have a go at sketching up some of the long forgotten characters from my youth. It wasn’t Guile that got Jack’s attention, though. He was curious about what I had scrawled above that: “Every great story has a shower scene.” In reality, it’s just the name of a song that I quite like. I wrote it down a few months ago so that I wouldn’t forget what it’s called. But it got me thinking about that claim. I couldn’t really think of any stories I’ve read with shower scenes. I’m positive there’ve been at least a couple surely Murakami’s written at least 12 into his books but they aren’t really sticking with me. The chivalrous literature in the checkout line at my local grocers back home were probably chock-full of ‘em. That said, I’m gonna go ahead and assume they weren’t great.
3. Prepare yourself for transportation changes If you drive a car, make sure you have good winter tires, and make sure to get them changed before you drive on the snow or ice. If you see snow in the weekly forecast, get your tires changed as soon as possible. Whether you drive or not, plan for taking a bit longer on your commutes. You may have to take an earlier bus or train in order to get places on time. 2. Prep yer house Stick bubble wrap on your windows. Fill in the cracks in your sliding-doorways with insulation foam. Be prepared to spend a lot on heating and make sure someone is actually coming by to refill your kerosene! Talk to your supervisor about draining your water/pipes if you are going to spend an extended period of time away from home during the winter. Broken pipes presumably suck. The mess will probably be a bummer, and the potential fees you may be slapped with will be even more lame. 1. Get yerself warm, now! Warm clothes - they don’t suck. I’m writing this on October 2nd, and it’s already dropping down to 5 degrees in my town at night. If you’re tall or have big feet, you may have to use Amazon, Rakuten, or have things shipped from home. Get on that, because cold times are bad times.
With movies on the other hand, I could think of a few. Psycho, Home Alone 2, The early monologue in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, IT (I’ve never read the book, aright?), American History X, and, of course, Naked Gun 33⅓. All great stories, all have shower scenes. Some of the shower scenes are arguably better than others, but I mean the line didn’t say “Every story’s shower scene is great,” right? So while I wouldn’t say that “Every story has a shower scene,” all of the films I could bring to mind with shower scenes are pretty damn good, I think.
On a pretty unrelated note, I wanted to sling my top 3 Halloween-y songs yer way, because Halloween is the best.
Now, this basically got me thinking more generally about top 10s, or 5s, or whatever. Since it’s fall and things are going to be getting cold pretty quick, I figured I’d give my top 3 tips for the coming winter. Some of you already know about this, and a lot of this will be covered in greater detail at the Fall Meeting in Asahikawa. Still, I appreciate that not all of you will be making it out to that shindig. So, in no particular order:
I don’t really have any explanation. I just like the tune.
3. DuckTales (Capcom, 1989) - “Transylvania Theme” The original NES track is tight. It’s pretty short, but it’s neat, eerie, and fun. “It’s no Moon Level Theme”, but that one’s not all that spooky. 2. Misfits - “Vampira”
1. Danny Elfman - “Beetlejuice Theme” This song’s got layers. It builds really well, the crescendos are great, and fades out nicely, too. Nothing feels over done, or drawn out, and it’s wonderfully arranged. The final low/high contrast is pretty rad. And, I mean, It’s Beetlejuice. Come on.
,,,
Game recommendation:
Pay the Banker Danielle O’Neil Southwest Representative | HAJET
H
ello world, here is a fun activity that you can do with your kids at all levels (you can adapt it of course). So I found this activity on one of my favourite teaching resource sites (www.funenglishsites.com). On the site, it’s called “Sentence Betting.” I found this a bit too strongly-worded for the classroom (I mainly teach at the high school level) so I altered the name to “Pay the Banker”. Frankly you can alter it as you see fit. After all, if it’s not adaptable, it probably isn’t that good of an activity anyways.
Level: Any…I used this particular setup for senior high school.
Time: 15-45 min Materials: 1. Bag of sentences 2. Fake money 3. Sentence list with answers 4. O/X signs or mini white boards (optional)
How to Play: This is a reading and review activity. It entails students reading sentences written on the board or large strips of paper then paying (read betting) fake money on whether they think the sentences are correct or not. You will need them to split into groups and hand out an even, predetermined amount of fake money to each group (bank). You may also keep track of the totals on the board if you don’t have or do not want to use fake money, but I find that a large stash of fake mons really gets the kids excited to play. Once in their groups/banks, you can have the students name their banks and write this information on a large corner of the board where it can easily be seen. Ensure that you also write a minimum and maximum pay out/ bet so as to have some amount of quality control for want of a better term. From here you have the banks chose a sentence in turn from your sentence bag (this can be the full sentence or a number that corresponds to a list of sentences that you have prepared). After having read the sentence out loud, the banks will then have one minute to think on their answer and the amount they are willing to pay based on their answer. After the time has elapsed, each
bank gives you (the big bank) their payouts. Once all is collected, the banks must show their answers at the same time. You then indicate what the answer is and pay the total received to each of the banks with the correct answer. As the rounds continue you can up the minimum and maximum pay out totals and add varying levels of difficulty: for instance, having them answer why the sentence is incorrect or adding fines for the wrong answer (you can call it inflation). Or even add a bonus amount from the Big Bank coffers. You may even keep it tame and add a certain payout total to each sentence. For example, correct sentences are 3,000 while incorrect ones are 5,000. How can it be modified? In several ways, it’s all based on your imagination. How I conducted this activity was a bit different from what I got from the website. How you change it is based on the level you teach and the level of your students within each class. I had the sentences in large print on strips of paper. This way I could stick it on the board for everyone to see after a student had chosen it and read it out loud. You could even have the students create their own sentences and challenge other banks for a certain amount (this of course will need some preparation time) For elementary, you could do shapes, fruits and other visual vocabulary and put the wrong names for some items on the picture. After that they would need to say what the correct name is. The fake money could be substituted with a “sticker stash” and call the activity “Sticker Mania” (hmmm, I should copyright that). This modification could even be used for the older kids if they are still into stickers. Use the cheap dot stickers from your local 100 yen shop and have a big prize of really cool stickers (not found in Diaso) for the winning team. So you get the idea, use your imagination. These and other activities are only worthwhile if you tailor them to the needs of your students. So there you have it folks, one awesome activity to kick your ALT game up a notch or two.
Chasing Cranes Kelsey Woodford Eastern Representative | HAJET
S
ince the typhoons have let up and the weather has been clearer, I’ve started noticing a special pair of lovers every time I drive in and out of Nemuro. They stand in the marshy water near a bridge that looks out to the ocean. The couple are never far apart, if you see one, the other won’t be far away. They seem to have chosen this spot near the bridge as their own for now, and I look for them every time I go past. The first time I saw a pair of red crowned cranes, Tanchouzuru丹頂鶴 (タンチョウヅル) in Japanese, I just about fell over in shock. It was August of my first year in Hokkaido. A sunny day unlike this past year’s August, and my supervisor was driving me back from a school visit when he spotted them in a field and pulled the car over to show me. The reason I was shocked: they were HUGE! The cranes stand at 150 to 158 cm tall, and their wingspan can be up to 250cm. They were a bit far away, but close enough that I could picture the height of them standing next to me. They walked with long legs and high steps over the grass. Of course I knew about cranes, but I’d never sought out photos of them, paid much attention, or thought to what it would be like to see one in real life. The whole drive back to the office I was like a little kid who’s seen something for the first time, asking question after question about the birds. I had read a picture book as a child called Sadako and
the Thousand Cranes about a young girl who developed leukaemia as a result of the atomic bombs that were dropped on her home. She tries to fold 1000 paper cranes in the hopes of having her wish come true. She only reaches 644 before her death, but her friends complete the task for her. I was fascinated with the idea that if you fold 1000 paper cranes you will be granted a wish. Each time I folded a crane I did it with care and intention from then on. When I was 15 years old and in high school, my Japanese class made a trip to Japan. One of the places we visited was the Peace Park in Hiroshima. I remember seeing strings and strings of colourful folded birds tied together and strung up in displays around the park. They were beautiful. Our class decided to make our own string of 1000 paper cranes and send them to Japan in memorial in time for the next August. Despite my knowledge and fascination with origami cranes, I had never given a second thought to the bird that that shape represented. It was only after seeing the surprisingly large birds striding through the field in Nemuro that I began to wonder more about them. By winter, I was longing for a closer look at the birds, and heard about two of the crane parks in Kushiro: the Akan International Crane Centre (behind the Akan Michi no Eki), and the Japanese Crane Reserve. I first went to the Akan International Crane Centre. During winter, they feed the cranes at 2pm. Knowing only that, we went to go and see them. We arrived just in time and decided
Photo courtesy of Kelsey Woodford
to go out to see the birds first before looking at the information and displays inside.
based on the red crowned crane’s dance. If you wish to
We walked out and saw a couple flying overhead. That was enough to get me excited, but then we rounded the corner to the area of the crane feeding and saw the huge group of birds--that was an amazing sight. The pure white of the crane’s feathers against the snow made their black and red accents stand out clear and strong. It was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. Seemingly about 20 long lens photographers agreed, and we had to squish our way to the front of the fence to get a good look.
The cranes were nearly extinct in the 1920's, but the
The group of birds were feeding on fish that had been dropped on the snow. There were also crows, kites, eagles, and a fox trying to get a share of the bounty. The crows just shoved their way in under the taller legs of the cranes. The cranes didn’t seem too bothered until a kite would swoop down and snatch for something. The eagles were flying high above in the clouds; they looked like tiny specs on the photos I took. The long lens photographers surely had a good shot, though. Whenever the cranes took flight, the shutters went crazy. We took a walk from the crowd to explore the other parts of the park and saw a few cranes in their own enclosures. The information inside the building included facts about their life, the efforts to revive the declining population through human intervention, and videos of the cranes amazing breeding dance. In Ainu ,the red crowned crane is called “sarurun-kamui,” the god of marshes. Some Ainu dances include movements
also notice a beautifully decorated bridge featuring
see the crane’s dance, winter is the time for it.
population has increased due to the local people's conservation efforts. There are around 1,000 red crowned cranes in Japan now and they mostly live in the Kushiro and Nemuro region. They live in wetlands and marshes in summer. In winter, hundreds of cranes gather at several feeding stations around the Kushiro marsh, such as those I visited. If you do take a trip to the east of Hokkaido, you may crane designs on your way through Kushiro. Aside from the two mentioned above, there are a number of other places around the Kushiro Marsh that you may get a chance to glimpse a red crowned crane yourself. The Tsurui-Ito Red-crowned Crane Sanctuary, Tsurumi Lookout, and Otowa Bridge are all in Kushiro. If you make it all the way out to Nemuro, you may see them around the sand bar Shunkunitai, and a special couple have lately been hanging out just after the first bridge after you pass the Michi no Eki: SWAN 44, on route 44. If you stop at the Michi no Eki: SWAN 44, you can take a short walk on the boardwalk by Lake Furen, and sometimes see some feeding in the marshy area of the lake too. There’s also the chance that you may just happen upon a pair walking through a field.
Playing the Part:
Filtering out the Awkwardness
Michael Colbert Contributor | Polestar
we can always keep our cohort back home informed.
iving abroad today is so much easier than it was thirty years ago. With Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter, our family and friends can find out exactly what our life is like away from home, and they can live vicariously through our adventures.
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wait in long lines at the post office or pay expensive
Skype, FaceTime, Line, Viber, and Whatsapp mean
sending a message to Mom to say that you’re eating
What’s not to like? Calling is free and we don’t have to airmail postage. While social media has heralded in a new age of travel and global connectivity, we should be hesitant to celebrate the ease of communicating. I don’t mean that
and have friends is bad, but our social networks can inhibit life abroad.
Gothic novel, the new country may assume a cold and villainous character.
When I was a junior in college, I did as many other American students do and packed my bags, sent out an email about my travel blog, and set off to study in Bologna, Italy for a semester. Instagram posts showed that I talked politics with a sixty year-old Italian restaurant owner and made weekend trips to Oslo and Berlin. I got to share with the world that I was studying abroad the right way. That is, I was doing everything that you’re supposed to do while studying abroad: making local friends, finding restaurants where no Americans went, and going on weekend adventures. I was replicating experiences documented by those who’d studied abroad before me. Through social media, everyone else could see that I was having the “right kind” of study abroad experience.
While I did have an overwhelmingly positive experience studying in Italy, there were days that were less thrilling. One of my first days in Bologna, I spent the entire day alone. While wandering through Bologna’s porticoes, eating pizza, and people watching sounds like a dream, I was homesick. On my way back to my apartment, I almost broke down trying to buy tape.
In this way, social media traps us. The expectation of people back home to receive updates on our lives abroad compels us to package our experience in a digestible way. We simplify what we do and experience on a daily basis to tropes that can be understood: “Oh, you’re in Italy and drank a cappuccino today. Looks like you’re adjusting to life pretty well.” Instead of giving voice to the nuances of life abroad, we often share what people expect to see. This becomes additionally difficult on challenging days. Nobody is going to post a picture of their bedbugs or the angry lady on the street who yelled at them for sitting on the ground. You feel like you shouldn’t share stories about how you don’t really like one of your roommates because you’re supposed to be making a host of international, lifelong friends. So instead of sharing the challenges and frustrations, it becomes a chore to seek out something presentable, quirky, and cool so that people can see that you’re doing things “right.” As we struggle to find these shareable sound bites, our anxieties and insecurities about life in the new place worsen. We may even wonder if there’s anything good about it. Like the foreboding manor in a
Another time after a weekend trip in Switzerland, friends and I got stranded hours away from Bologna due to a train strike and almost missed taking a big exam. Train strikes were frequent, classes at the university were disorganized, and an Italian threw an egg at my friend visiting from Paris. At times like these, I wanted to shake some physical manifestation of the country and ask, “Why can’t you do things differently? You’re so messed up.” Sharing only the beauties can have a reverberating, negative impact. Others who are living abroad see that their friends in x-country are having a great time, and they wonder what they’re doing wrong. Social media serves to heighten the anxiety about life abroad for those who aren’t having an experience as presented by their friends online. Similarly, while swiping through the deluge of social media of friends back home, we find pictures of people apple picking or celebrating Thanksgiving. Nobody takes pictures of the lines at the DMV or the traffic they got stuck in commuting home from work. This heightens our homesickness and FoMO (fear of missing out). Two years later and I’m living in Japan long-term, working as an assistant English teacher at a high school in Hokkaido. Though, yes, I still use Instagram to share what I think is a cool picture, I try to use my own site more to tell stories about life here and give voice to both the fun and the frustrations. Social media can be an easy way to share snippets of our lives, but we need to remember that they’re only that much.
Hidaka Horse Heaven Katelyn Mitchell Musical Director | HAJET
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he timer buzzes as I canter between the last two poles of the course. I sit back in the saddle, finally able to relax after probably the most intense 47 seconds of my life in Japan so far. It’s about nine seconds shy of a winning time, but still fast enough that my many students in attendance at the event will be talking about it for weeks to come. Beneath me, Momoko – an elderly chestnut Thoroughbred, the latest in a long line of Momokos, all similarly specializing in agility – hangs her head in exhaustion, willingly accepting bits of carrot from the crowd of children surrounding us. Later, when I’m able to feel something beyond “tired” again, what I feel is exhilaration. For the first time since moving here, I’m more than just an English teacher – I’ve become a small piece of the industry and tradition that lies at the heart of the Hidaka region. The drive from Hidaka Town to the eastern tip of Cape Erimo is littered with horses and horse farms. The aptly-named “Thoroughbred Roads” of the region provide countless opportunities to watch groups of Thoroughbreds and Hokkaido’s own Dosanko breed peacefully grazing together. The Hidaka region’s
Photo courtesy of Chris Santos
warm summers, abundant vegetation, and mild winters – by Hokkaido standards – make it an ideal breeding ground for a large number of Japan’s finest racehorses. The breeders of the Hidaka region, along with neighboring Iburi and Tokachi, produce roughly 90% of all Thoroughbreds in Japan. Local pedigrees are diverse and often impressive- it’s not hard to find descendants of various international Derby winners in your average Hidaka stable. Moreover, horse experts from around the world have been moving in and out of Hidaka for decades, drawn by the prestige and lucrativeness of Japanese racing, and, not least, the beauty and rich horse culture of the region. Tucked into deep Hokkaido inaka territory (without a single train line and only a remote connection to a highway), horse-breeding has flourished as an internationally-oriented industry. Foaling occurs early in the year, while the snow still lies on the ground. January-born foals have seven months to grow big and strong before Shin-Hidaka’s annual Select Sale in July, where the biggest, strongest and best-pedigreed will be sold for astronomical amounts of money to buyers from all over the world (it’s not uncommon for especially-promising horses to be sold for over 50,000,000 yen). Most of these foals are destined for a career in racing, usually either at the bigtime racecourses in Honshu or the local ones in Hidaka-Monbetsu and Sapporo. Some, especially the sturdy dosanko, will specialize in jumping, dressage, or gymkhana obstacle courses. Some may even be destined for places like Urakawa’s 乗 馬公園 (Riding Park), which offer lessons and trailriding experiences to local children and adults. The foals who are not sold in July spend the first winter of their lives on Hidaka’s snow-covered shores, awaiting the Yearling (one year old) Sales the following year. Some of them will begin basic training during this time, becoming accustomed
to wearing a saddle and bridle and, eventually, to carrying a rider. As a horse’s racing career usually begins as early as 2 years of age, the foals’ and yearlings’ Hidaka “childhood” is valuable time to perfect their speed, the smoothness of their gates, their balance and – most important of all – their ability to bond with a rider. Many of the horses who leave as foals or yearlings do eventually return to Hokkaido’s peaceful southern coast. After an exciting career of entering races all over the world, age or injury sends them back to Hidaka, where a slightly less hectic retirement awaits. High-performing stallions and mares are turned to the purpose of breeding, creating the next generation of racers and competitors. Even in this new career path there is a potential for high achievement – a ‘date’ between a particularly desirable mare and stallion could cost up to 30 million yen to arrange. Others are used for training or educational purposes, with older, more even-tempered horses being favored first mounts of children and young adults. A select few may even be used as ‘equine therapy’ mounts, working with special needs children and adults to improve their motor skills and communication. The best of the best continue to accrue fame even after death; Urakawa’s Town Museum contains the taxidermied bodies and formaldehyde-preserved hearts of the town’s highest-achieving racers, and Niikappu honors its greatest thoroughbreds in a museum all their own. Horses are the true heart and soul of Hidaka. They are economically significant, educationally valuable and, of course, aesthetically adorable. The next time you happen to find yourself in our sunny, friendly region, don’t just admire the grazing Thoroughbreds from afar – numerous farms and stables offer riding experiences for everyone from the beginner to the professional. Take a chance, take a ride and create your own small moment in Hidaka’s storied equestrian history
“Summer in the kotan (village) of Nibutani was short, and autumn always followed close behind. Then would begin the salmon fishing that called forth the best in the Ainu.� -Our Land Was a Forest, Kayano Shigeru
Photo courtesy of Matthew Jones
Autumn Salmon Run: Past and Present Jack Powers Editor | Polestar
T
hrough September and October, salmon forge upstream to spawn in the gravel beds of the upper reaches of the rivers of southern Hokkaido. For the Ainu of the Hidaka and Iburi regions, day-to-day sustenance, commerce, and local traditions and culture relied upon the annual salmon run as part of a lifestyle marked by essential coexistence with nature. Ainu men (deer hunters in the summer months) would generally set out in teams of four split between two canoes. Two of them would paddle and maneuver the vessels, while the others held a long net between them. They would head downstream, against the salmon, and trap the fish in a “V” with their nets. This method of catching salmon was called yasi. Ainu villages clustered around the major rivers in order to reap the bounty of the river Kamuy each autumn. The Ainu held great respect for the salmon and the streams that they inhabited. Rivers were sacred- it was forbidden to wash soiled objects in a river stream by Ainu custom. The first salmon of the season was treated with particular respect. The head of household would bow to the salmon and intone in Ainu, “Thank you for honoring us with your presence at our home today.” In the 1930’s, the Japanese administrators of Hokkaido, in an effort to industrialize fishing in the region, banned the Ainu from fishing in their ancestral rivers. The Japanese forcibly converted the local ethnic Ainu people to commercial farming. Livelihood in the region was devastated and an essential element of Ainu culture was lost. But the autumn salmon run lived on. Long gone are the days when the red salmon would madden and overflow the stream as in the old Ainu stories. Still, fisherman bow their reels into the rivers of the region and hope for its blessings. Most salmon will die at their destination after spawning a new generation that will migrate down the river and into the ocean, eventually to return to complete the cycle. Bearers of an old, buried Hokkaido splash out of the water and back in--in an instant-on their long journey, unchanged. The salmon run occurs throughout most of coastal Hokkaido, though it is particularly pronounced around the southern Hidaka and Iburi regions. The Chitose Salmon Aquarium, not far from the airport, opens visitors to an underwater view of the action as around 30,000 fish swim by every day on their journey. Hokkaido’s not just for bears, though they enjoy the salmon, too.
Breakdown of
Japanese elections Benedict Karpov Contributor | Polestar
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et’s talk about democracy. I’ve been living in Hokkaido for just a year, but I’ve noticed that, at any time of the year, even in the tiniest village I can easily find several political billboards or election campaign cars. Even the high school where I’m currently working was used as a voting place twice this year. It looks like election campaigns never stop in Japan. So I’ve decided to take a closer look on what is going on with the elections in Japan. The following is my brief summary on it.
The National Diet consists of 2 houses: House of Representatives and House of Councillors. The elections for the House of Representatives are held every 4 years. The members of the House of Councillors serve longer terms – 6 years, but half of them must be reelected every 3 years. As a result, Japanese citizens have to vote quite often. Just look at the voting schedule for the recent couple of years:
When to elect
2013 – House of Councillors election (half of the House members)
Almost every year! The Japanese political system requires a lot of different elections.
2014 – House of Representatives
election 2016 – House of Councillors election (half of the House members) 2018 – House of Representatives election These are only parliament elections, but there are also gubernatorial elections, mayoral elections, etc., which happen every 4 years.
How to elect Japanese call their voting system小 選挙区比例代表並立制. This beautiful word of 11 kanji can be translated as “a parallel voting system consisting of single candidate voting and proportional representation voting”. To put it simple, Japan uses two voting systems for her parliament elections. The first system 小選挙区選挙 制度 is known as a first-pastthe-post voting system (single candidate voting). Voters choose the candidate they like most and so the candidate who receives the majority of votes wins the election. This voting system is used in the UK, the USA, Canada, etc. The other system比例代表制 is a partylist proportional representation system in which people choose between different political parties and their lists of candidates. In this system, political parties get seats in the parliament in proportion to the number of votes they receive. Different variations of this system are used in Scandinavian countries, Spain, New Zealand, etc. Japan uses first-past-the-post voting system to elect 62% of
Representatives and 60% of Councellors. For the election of the other 38% of Representatives and 40% of Councellors, she relies on a proportional representation system. That means that, at every parliament election, each voter receives 2 ballot papers: one with the names of candidates and the other with the names of political parties. In order to reduce costs, parliament elections may be held at the same time with gubernatorial elections or mayoral elections. Thus, each voter receives 3 or even 4 ballot papers which may be quite confusing.
Why so difficult? Introducing the parallel voting system in Japan was an attempt to satisfy demands of different voters, as the concept of first-pastthe-post voting system is easy to understand and to implement, while proportional representation system helps smaller parties secure representation in the parliament.
Who votes? To vote in Japan one must: 1. Be a Japanese citizen* 2. Be 18 years old or above (20 years old before 2016)
Whom to elect 国会議員 Parliament Member
都道府県知事 Prefectural Governors
市区町村長 Heads of cities, districts, towns and villages
3. Have a permanent residence of of least 3 months *There are some restrictions for criminals and mentally ill people. A permanent foreign resident in Japan is not allowed to vote. For a foreigner to receive a right to vote, it is necessary first to renounce current citizenship and become a Japanese citizen.
市区町村議会議員 Local council members
Photo courtesy of
Rachel Davidson