As of Tuesday, 84,512 people were united in their call for laws banning restrictions on manga / anime content, at least 8,984 people had endorsed same-sex marriage, and 1,609 individuals wanted Panasonic to keep a speech aid for the physically impaired on the market.
The public knows about all this — and much more — thanks in part to ShomeiTV, the only professional Web portal in Japan specializing in petitions.
The website, which attracts around 100,000 unique users a month, is run by Yokohama-based IT firm United People, which is perhaps better known in Japan for having created an Internet-based charity service where users can donate to NGOs/NPOs of their choice every time they click on certain Web pages or buy goods from a plethora of sponsor companies.