No.303 オリジナル英文

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Japanese Politicians Cut Off From Internet During Campaign
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When Japanese lawmaker Kan Suzuki was elected to the Upper House eight years ago, he knew he wanted to take his political discussion to the Web.

The member of the Democratic Party of Japan started writing a personal blog and began broadcasting a weekly Webcast called "Suzukan-TV."

Suzuki says his goal was to connect politicians with average voters.

This allowed for direct interaction.

The Webcast quickly became a forum where thousands tuned in to discuss policies and exchange ideas.

But when Suzuki ran for re-election two years ago, he ran into a problem - a complicated election law that bans Internet use during the campaign season.

He was forced to halt his blog and Webcast at the most critical time.

Suzuki says when voters are doing their own research, when the need for information is the greatest, the law asks politicians to take a break from this kind of communication.

Politicians such as Suzuki who maintain Web sites during the legislative session must freeze content during the campaign period.

So they pin up posters on election commission-sponsored bulletin boards and spread their message by megaphones.

One of the most digitally connected countries in the world remains locked in the 20th century at a time when global leaders are using 21st century tools like Twitter and Facebook to win votes.

This voter says Japan has all the technological tools in the world, but the laws have not kept up with the times.

There is something wrong with that picture.

At least one party agrees.

Suzuki says his Democratic Party has proposed four different bills to change the law and allow Internet campaigning.

None of the bills have come up for discussion in the parliament.

He says that if the law is preserved, people will continue to show apathy toward politics.

That works to the benefit of the ruling party.

But recent polls show that ruling party is in trouble.

The Liberal Democratic Party suffered an embarrassing defeat in the Tokyo Metropolitan Election a few weeks ago, and it is expected to lose its half-century hold on Japanese politics in the August 30th general election.


For VOA News, Akiko Fujita in Tokyo