Strolling about in the paddy fields the other day in Zama, just outside of Ebina, in the fair prefecture of Kanagawa.
Like most people, I am a bit of a student of Japan’s omnipresent electoral posters. Most are run of the mill, but some can be quite entertaining you know.
I was therefore very happy to spot this little gem by Mr. Hikaru Hasegawa. Your local Assembly man if you happen to live in this place called Zama.
Although I don’t know too much about Mr. Hasegawa or his policies, I think we can safely assume he holds a pretty safe seat. Looking at his poster, I just didn’t get a sense that he is overly concerned at the prospect of fighting the next election campaign.
Eventually I realized that it is all part of Hasegawa-san’s strategy to drive traffic to his website. Take me for example, I wasn’t home two minutes before I was on his website keen to see if his nose really did look way.
My hopes were dashed though, as it turns out he has quite normal shaped nostrils, nothing like the poster.
These disappointments soon took a backseat to my concern over Mr. Hasegawa’s horrendous necktie. I remember seeing the exact same one- At The Daiso Y100 shop back in 1997.
Mr. Hasegawa: For the love of god, starting tomorrow please let your wife pick out your ties. The one you have on looks like road kill.
He did manage to win me back with possibly the site’s only redeeming feature: a paid banner advertisement at the top of the page flogging Y990 domain names. It’s not often you see that these days in politics. Very classy.
What you see is what you get. Questionable taste.
