The town voters handed fresh-faced political newcomer Haruka Kuwahara a stunning victory in Sunday’s local election. Ms. Kuwahara, who just qualified to run for office a few months before campaign season began, blew away the rest of the competition. The independent candidate garnered over 15% of the nearly 7,500 total votes cast, more than twice the number of votes compared to the second-place winner. In all, 17 candidates ran for a council seat. Her victory means Ms. Kuwahara earns one of the 16 spots on the town assembly and will be one of the four rookies on the council.
That Tsunan, a pastoral town where more than one-third of the population is over the age of 65, elected a young woman and conversely, that a young woman wanted to run, is an unusual event in Japan. Despite the slate of new generation lawmakers elected when the Democratic Party of Japan swung to power in 2009, Japanese politics is still dominated by old men. Meanwhile, the younger population is often chided for its disinterest.
Read the complete story in The Wall Street Journal, published October 31.
The town voters handed fresh-faced political newcomer Haruka Kuwahara a stunning victory in Sunday’s local election. Ms. Kuwahara, who just qualified to run for office a few months before campaign season began, blew away the rest of the competition. The independent candidate garnered over 15% of the nearly 7,500 total votes cast, more than twice the number of votes compared to the second-place winner. In all, 17 candidates ran for a council seat. Her victory means Ms. Kuwahara earns one of the 16 spots on the town assembly and will be one of the four rookies on the council.
That Tsunan, a pastoral town where more than one-third of the population is over the age of 65, elected a young woman and conversely, that a young woman wanted to run, is an unusual event in Japan. Despite the slate of new generation lawmakers elected when the Democratic Party of Japan swung to power in 2009, Japanese politics is still dominated by old men. Meanwhile, the younger population is often chided for its disinterest.
Read the complete story in The Wall Street Journal, published October 31.