Advertising, ad campaigns, ad agencies, and the people that make it happen

Interesting to read that Japan's choice to restrain political speech in the 21st century includes banning the use of Internet sites to solicit voters in its upper house elections. Based on election laws drawn up in the 50s, candidates are restricted in the ways they can reach their constituents. They can only distribute leaflets that reach no more than 3% of the voters. Despite some of the world's heavy Internet usage, young people don't feel involved in politics. "In Japan, 95% of people in their 20s surf the web, but only a third of them bother to vote.One student, Kentaro Shimano, at Temple University in Tokyo, says... "YouTube is more casual; you watch music videos or funny videos on it, but if the government or any politicians are on the web it doesn't feel right." Haruka Konishi agrees. "Japanese politics is something really serious," she says. "Young people shouldn't be involved, because they're not serious enough or they don't have the education." How weird is that? There can't be many places in the world where students feel their views shouldn't count.

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No wonder Japanese students aren't interested in politics!