Despite the public's reasonable disgust with the state of Japanese politics, voters must not lose hope that they can enact change, said Hatoko Shimizu, president of the Japan Housewives' Association.
"Despite the decreasing popularity of the incumbent government of Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, the Liberal Democratic Party tends to win when it comes to elections," she said.
And one big reason for this paradox is that the single-seat constituency system used in Lower House elections inevitably creates a good number of dead votes, she said. "Whatever parties or candidates you may support, your vote will hardly count as things stand today," she said. "People are irritated with this reality and such irritation has led to the prevailing trend of abstention from voting."