Even Japan, which excels at many things (though politics is not one of them), cannot engage its youth in politics.

According to an article in Friday's Japan Times, voter turnout among Japanese 20-somethings in the 2007 election was a mere 34 percent, compared to the 59 percent overall turnout. This is still better than many countries for youth voter turnout, but the Japanese are perfectionists, so let them be.

A crazy fact - in Japan's 1962 Lower House election, turnout was 67 percent among 20-29 year-olds!

A professor's view of Japanese youth disengagement

The article quotes a professor from Tokyo's Keio University, Takeshi Kohno, who says that youth apathy is a vicious cycle (told you). "Young people are playing into politicians' hands because indifference equals no resistance to whatever lawmakers have up their sleeves," says Kohno, noting that youth disengagement from politics could lead to taxes being raised without young people even realising. Kohno explains that this may be due to the "lifestyle effect" (something we will go into more in future posts) - which basically says that as people age, they become more involved in politics, yet he worries that this generation may not evolve into political beings as their parents' generation did.

How to engage young Japanese

The Internet is suggested as a tool to engage young people (surprise, surprise). In fact, Japan's Prime Minister has his own channel on Japan's version of YouTube. However, oddly, Japanese election law does not allow politicians to utilise the internet for promotion during campaigns, and thus politicians are not allowed to update their official websites when the need for new information is most crucial.

Thus politicians have been exploring other means: Prime Minister Aso is reportedly a big fan of manga - so much so that manga stocks soared upon his inauguration. Manga is hugely popular among Japanese youth, and thus brings him closer to their generation. Similarly, TV stars have become politicians in Japan. But some warn that if these trends continue, young people may not take politics seriously in the future.

Kohno recommends lowering the voting age, which is currently a high 20-year-old cut-off, down to 18.

My thoughts on Japanese youth voter apathy

What surprised me most about this article was that politicians can't engage with the internet during political campaigns. This strikes me as very strange. This was one of the biggest factors in the massive youth turnout during the recent US elections. Youth were able to engage with the politicians online - something that has never before been possible to such an extent.

I, myself, spent a year in rural Japan. And I mean rural Japan. And I remember asking my students how many of them had internet at home. Keep in mind most of these students were the children of farmers. Almost all of them put their hands up.

With so many young people online, and Japan being at the forefront of technological advances, this is surely something that ought to be addressed in order to increase youth voter interest, and thus youth voter turnout.

Oh and uh...leave the manga out of it.