If the below explanation holds water, I wonder why the voters reply as the most important issue of the day, the economy and social welfare, in all the surveys across to board, and why they have been selecting these two issues by a wide margin for some time?

Also, the explanation makes Japan a rare case in which economic voting has no relevance, and it makes the Japanese voters gullible enough to be tricked by Ishihara but attentive enough to follow his words: this image of the Japanese voter is quite odd, particularly in light of the fact that it is debatable whether the Ishinn no Kai won because of Ishihara or in spite of Ishihara.

Nobuhiro Hiwatari
Institute of Social Sceiences