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Keerti's Heavy Influence In Japan

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In Japan, many politicians and important people of power are families who have heavy influence in Japan’s economy through companies for products, television, business, and the like. Through this financial power in advertisements and influence over what can be placed and expressed in media, there is power over what is considered and thought about within the country. Keerti explains that this aspect of Japanese life needs to be revised in order to achieve democracy so that all voices are heard equally and no voices are left or censored out. Keerti also expresses how political engagement and civics classes are mandatory within secondary school and college in order to prepare students to become informed citizens. She says there is room for corruption …show more content…

Since many millennials are moving to heavily populated areas, elder voters left in less populated prefectures have more of a say when it comes to policies and elections; therefore, the Japanese government is becoming more in favor of the aging Japanese population rather than millennials. But since my citizen lives in a primary rural area of Japan, his say would become more influential than if he were to live in Tokyo. Especially if he wants to vote against the construction of renewable energy sources within the prefecture, it would be harder to express his opinions when his is not equally weighted. Views of the older generation within Hokkaido who are not of the working force on farms don’t see the potential harm that it has for the environment as well as the employment risks. So for my Citizen X, it would be essential for his ideal democratic Japan to have equal votes not only with the elite in other prefectures, but also within his own prefecture amongst the aging …show more content…

One common aspect across the three personalities is the degradation of the power of the rule by the elite. All three agree that there is no good democracy that comes from a select group. Not only because it is the elite in Japan, but it is those in power who are the problem. In Japan, a majority of the House of Chancellors are passed down through bloodline or company relation. We cannot be certain that those individuals are trained and knowledgeable in the problems in the political view. However, this also brings up the concern of public awareness of political issues. Today, according to Ikeda, Kohno, and Yamada’s studies on citizen understanding political concepts between 1960-1990, many Japanese citizens feel that they had no say in political decision making and that they were not well educated in the policies and issues being discussed. As we discussed in class, this is a common problem amongst democracy as a whole, not having a well educated, well informed general public voting. Finally, the aspect of religious liberty brought within the political spectrum. Although this contradicts John Locke’s beliefs of keeping the politic and religious spheres separate, this unity of religion ties together an ideal form of democracy for all three individuals. It is through applying Buddhist values into Japanese government that would provide a sense of patriotism through

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