Why Japanese People Don’t Talk About Politics

A matter of manners.

During election times, we are accustomed to asking our friends or family about who they decided to vote for among the many campaigns that have postulated. In Japan, this might come off as unnecessary to ask, as people don’t feel the need to know about other’s political choices.

This doesn’t mean you won’t see posters on the street where candidates can put up their picture on the number they have been designated.

As organized as always, the country provides candidates an specific spot on each street with different numbers, that way there’s no need to illegally put up posters on every wall and saturate the city with propaganda. The aspirants also tend to stand on the streets or in front of train stations to promote themselves to the public, promising and explaining their campaign vision.

It isn’t really a taboo subject, but Japanese people find it unnecessary to share these type of opinions with their closest ones, given they would rather avoid unneeded conflict. It is a difficult topic to discuss about, even though once assimilated you can better understand it and start having opinions, whether they’re controversial or not.

This whole matter also let’s us better understand how social relationships and interpersonal relationships work in Japan. How people interact with each other when it’s time to emotionally unite with others.

It is better explained by Gregory Clark in his book called “Yuniiku Na Nihonjin” (ユニークな日本人) translated as “The Unique Japanese ”, Where he does an analysis of the Japanese society and defines it as “a society based on interpersonal relationships”, as it’s called in Japanese “Ningen kankei shakai” (人間関係社会).

When the common Japanese person interacts with someone else, they feel identified with the company they both (or all) work in, the golf club they frequent with their friends, the community they live in or the neighborhood association they’re part of. At the end, every interpersonal relationship is based off those kind of human contexts, the simple daily constituents.

On the other side, Gregory Clark divides other nations like the United States of America, Germany, Spain, and many other occidental countries, defining them as “societies based off laws and regulations they have created on their own.” also known in Japanese as “Gensoku kankei shakai” (原則関係社会).

This means that every interpersonal interaction in societies from the United Sates and the rest of these occidental countries, it is taken more into account whether you participate in the Left or Right wing parties, or which religion you practice. Things that seem to be really important and surge a lot during the typical casual conversations.

Even users online who don’t know each other at all and sometimes using their real name and information, tend to ask and share these type of opinions or choices in different forums or social media.

It is the way people have managed to classify others in their social circles. If you promote this political campaign then you’re put at the top or the bottom, and so you can be judged based off your beliefs, ideologies and points of view.

Compared to Japan, you are classified depending on your age. If you are speaking to an older person, you have to show a different level of respect than you’d use with your equals. Or if you’re working at a company and you’re the new employee, you will have to show respect to those who have been there long before you, as they’re more experienced; until you are able to establish trust between you and them. That way you are positioned no matter your political views or religion.

Politics is often not a topic you will hear of while having a conversation with a friend or a stranger, not even if you happened to eavesdrop someone else’s dialogue. If you push it too hard, people will get annoyed and avoid it, and even if they don’t say it to your face they will ask themselves “Why are you asking me this? Why do you need to know this about me?”.

What happens with this is, when people realize their opinion about politics does not matter enough to be shared, they think their votes are just as irrelevant.

Eighteen- and 19-year-olds, given the vote amid much fanfare three years ago, said en masse, in effect, no thanks — 68.67 percent of them didn’t vote; 48 percent of respondents aged 18–29 told the Asahi they had “no interest in politics.”

— Michael Hoffman in The Japan Times

There are many other motives why people don’t participate in their democracy. One of the popular ones is because people are too busy working to take time off to wait in line to vote. Some citizens have expressed that if they had the chance to vote from home online, they would be open to do so, but it’s easier said than done considering it would be a huge opportunity for fraud.

Another reason is some people aren’t able to choose. Usually the two big political parties are very similar, so it wouldn’t make a difference. People believe that if everything is okay and they are able to live peacefully, nothing needs to be changed.

We also have to keep in mind that Japan there’s more elderly people than young people. For example, if we imagined all the senior citizens voting for one single political party, and the younger ones voting for the other, the first one would be elected.

“More than 20 percent of Japan’s population is over 65 years old, the highest proportion in the world. By 2030, one in every three people will be 65 or older, and one in five people 75-plus years old.” says Thomas E. Smith in The Diplomat. Consequently, political campaigns tend to aim to senior communities to convince them to vote for them, putting aside the young population.

This doesn’t mean politics isn’t relevant in Japan. Many people do in fact care about politics even if they aren’t always bringing it up. People watch the news, people read the newspapers, and it is noticeable how after every election, the subject is trending in social media. There are also a T.V. channels that discuss about politics, but at the time people step out of their house, all that information and opinions stay at home.

It is considered a personal matter, just as much as no one likes being asked how much they earn monthly. It’s all part of an extremely respectful society.