Hidemi's Rambling No.209

Tomorrow is a polling day for a national election in Japan. For the past two weeks, it had been noisy from candidates’ campaign cars, which are the most common way for campaigning in Japan. The car is decorated with banners of a candidate’s name and runs through streets shouting the name over and over at the top of their speakers. Here, it’s still the era that Marty went back in ‘Back to the Future’. When it comes to an election, I always remember Mr. Goyude. He was a local politician in my hometown. I often saw him outside the elementary school I went to, waving and talking to kids. He would hand out his cards to kids, saying ‘Say hello to your parents for me!’ Some foolish kids boasted about getting his autograph or shaking his hand. Every time I saw Mr. Goyude, I felt pitiful for him. Japanese people say ‘A doctor or a minister, which will you become?’ when they admire a promising child. Our family’s next-door neighbor used to say it to me and each time, I hoped not to be a minister because to become one, the process seemed so sad and miserable. Now I’ve grown up and I became neither a doctor nor a minister…