It wasn’t weird.

This Sunday, Kamogawa is having elections for the eighteen member city council. The election boards show nineteen candidates: thirteen running for re-election and six new faces. And as always, I spent some time checking out the posters. Hilarious poses, funny quotes, earnest campaign promises. These are our neighbors and they are all trying hard.

So I wasn’t surprised when I drove down Nagasa Kaido yesterday morning at “commute time” and saw clusters of candidates and their supporters waving and bowing at the cars driving by. At the intersection of Nagasa Kaido and Rte 410, each corner rallied for a different candidate. It was delightful. Lots of energy for 7 am on a Wednesday!

Except that one group along the road was wearing orange. That’s the the color of the “Japanese First” anti-foreigner party, Sanseito. The MAGA of Japan. Oh no. I didn’t know we had any of them here in Kamogawa. I was disappointed. And also confused. One of the supporters was a familiar face who smiled when she saw me behind the wheel. Huh? That didn’t make sense.

A couple of hours later, I was at Oyama Senmaida getting ready for a papermaking workshop when the orange-clad candidate arrived with her posse. In addition to campaign posters and roadside waving, candidates drive around town in loudspeaker trucks – announcing themselves, giving brief campaign speeches, and some even apologising for the noise.

“Is it okay if we use the restroom?” Yes, of course. But hey, I have a question…

I clumsily managed to ask if she was affiliated with the “Japanese First” movement because she was wearing orange. Her driver understood and filled in the party name that I had forgotten in my nervousness.

“Sanseito? No!”

They are wearing orange to bring to mind the safety hats of school children. Her campaign slogan is “A vibrant future for a town where people connect to each other” and she’s a member of the LDP, the ruling party of Japan.

I cannot vote in Japan, but I do have political opinions. My relief at hearing they were not Sanseito must have been clear. Shouji Tomoyo reached in for a motherly hug. It was lovely.

Local politics does bring people together.