Many Japanese people may not enjoy talking about domestic politics, but when I introduce myself as an American, I get asked about President Donald Trump more often than my liking.
First there were questions about the 2016 election and now little jabs about our coronavirus response. Fortunately, I can clarify the situation in my homeland when asked with just a bit of useful Japanese vocabulary.
This November, we Americans have a chance to change our national course when we 投票する (tōhyō suru, vote) in our 大統領選挙 (daitōryō senkyo, presidential election). It will pit Donald Trump of the 共和党 (kyōwatō, Republican Party) against Joe Biden of the 民主党 (minshutō, Democratic Party) — not to be confused with Japan’s own 民主党, which merged with another political party in 2016.