Hina, 28

I’m not registered so I can’t vote. I’ve been out of the country traveling for a while and haven’t had the chance to re-register. If I was voting, though, I would choose the Japanese Communist Party. Though I don’t know too much about politics, I know this party is the best possibility for change. But I don’t think it’s possible for them to win — communism has too much of a negative image due to the way it has been attempted in the past.

Morihiro, 24

I’ll definitely vote; I decided this morning who I’ll vote for in my district. There are three candidates for Kita Ward, and I’ll vote for Tadashi Shimizu of the JCP, who wants to change society a bit and try new things. The others are right-leaning and don’t really offer much change; they want to carry on promoting nuclear power so as to keep a good relationship with the U.S. I stand on the center-left, and Shimizu is the only one who has a liberal manifesto.

Takehiko, 49

I’ll vote for the Liberal Democratic Party. The main thing I look at when deciding who to vote for is national defense; I want my party to take defense seriously. In this election the schools problem is in the spotlight, but there are much more important issues. I want our politicians to think about these. The first is the North Korea issue, and sooner or later China will also be a big problem. We can think about the smaller domestic issues later.

Atena, 23

Maybe I’ll vote. Maybe. I’m not so interested in the election. I know young people should vote, but I think many young people have given up on the elections. The older generations far outnumber the younger population of Japan, so when we go to vote we don’t really have a chance to change much. Maybe I’ll vote for the LDP, but I don’t think my vote will make a difference.

Yuji, 29

[Prime Minister Shinzo] Abe is very right-wing and I don’t agree with that or what he says, so I’ll vote for [Constitutional Democratic Party chief Yukio] Edano. I feel like almost every country is moving right — like Trump in the U.S. — and I worry about the government here leaning further that way. Some people feel powerless, like their vote wont change anything, so that’s why they don’t vote, but with each vote we can lead our society in a better direction. Hopefully.

Maka, 39

I don’t vote. I’ve never voted. It doesn’t really make a difference who we vote for — it’s already decided; we can’t change anything. Government elites and other powerful people — people like the Rockefellers, the Rothschilds — they get together and talk about how they’re going to influence the world. It’s all decided already — they influence who is in power in every country. We have no power.

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