With the 衆議院選挙 (shūgi-in senkyo, Lower House election) set to take place on Oct. 31, we’re beginning to see more 選挙カー (senkyo kā, election cars) roaming the streets, blaring out repetitive and mildly annoying greetings.
They generally sound like this: 地域の皆様、田中です。どうぞよろしくお願いします。ぜひ田中に一票を (Chiiki no minasama, Tanaka desu. Dōzo yoroshiku onegaishimasu. Zehi Tanaka ni ippyō o, To everyone in the community, this is Tanaka. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Please vote for Tanaka).
Every 候補者 (kōhosha, candidate) seems to repeatedly call out the same information in hopes that it will help garner support from the 有権者 (yūkensha, voters). You may wonder, does this actually work?