Local authorities in Tokyo are ramping up efforts to raise voter turnout ahead of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election on Sunday, rolling out a series of public awareness campaigns aimed particularly at younger voters.

Initiatives include partnering with public bathhouses amid Japan’s ongoing sauna boom and collaborating with high school students to create promotional materials.

According to Tokyo’s election commission, voter turnout in the previous election in 2021 stood at 42.39%. While over 50% of voters in their 60s and older turned out, rates were much lower among younger demographics, with only 25.8% of voters in their 20s and 34.22% in their 30s casting ballots — highlighting a persistent gap in political engagement between age groups.