Raw Japan
Slices of Japanese business, politics and life
Youth appeal a bonus for Japan Democrats?
In the rural prefecture of Fukushima, north of Tokyo, you can’t help but notice it: The opposition Democrats are quite simply younger than their ruling Liberal Democratic Party counterparts.
The youngest member of the Fukushima prefectural assembly, Tomo Honda, is a 34-year-old Democrat. On a visit to the local LDP headquarters, though, I failed to spot anyone whose hair was not grey.
“I support them because they have a lot of young people,” 41-year-old real estate agent and Democratic Party fan Hideyuki Miura told me outside Fukushima city station last week. “They listen to what young people have to say.”
The Democrats’ policies to support parents, such as with monthly cash handouts of 26,000 per child for those with young kids, are a factor for some voters in next month’s election. But they won’t necessarily alienate Japan’s growing ranks of older people, some of whom are also eager to see a new direction.
Geriatric porn star at work
As photographers, we’re always looking for quirky and exceptional feature items, so when we got a chance to shoot Japan’s oldest porno star on the job, we knew we couldn’t miss it.
It took six months to open the door to this underground industry before we got to meet 75-year-old Shigeo Tokuda at work this week.
