The power of the Internet is unlikely to have a major impact on the results of Sunday's Upper House election because the Liberal Democratic Party is widely expected to win and the candidates are opting to campaign in person.

While the election is the first in Japan to let candidates and political parties campaign online, critics say it hasn't changed a thing because the tool is being left by the wayside.

"We haven't seen many updates to (candidate) blog posts since the election launch," said Kota Otani, editor-in-chief of Blogos, a site that aggregates the blog postings of 40 incumbent lawmakers. "As the election drew closer, they realized that it would be more effective to hit the streets or the campaign trail to shout their names from the sound truck."