Dear all Japanese politics experts,

I have enjoyed the stimulating posts regarding the recent Japanese election. I am currently in Japan doing research on immigration policy as a visiting scholar at Waseda University, I wanted to ask those seasoned experts how Japanese political parties reach out to young voters? I have been talking to colleagues at various college campuses since the election was announced but to my knowledge there have been no campus debates or attempts to reach out to college students by any of the political parties. Perhaps I am not looking in the right places but many a few of my colleagues who teach undergraduate courses here bemoan the fact that when they have asked their students if they plan on voting, many have responded “no, because I do not know who to vote for and because political parties do not generally care about younger voters.” I was wondering if there are any recent studies on this.

Thank you and I look forward to receiving some informed responses on this.

Best wishes,

Nicholas A. R. Fraser