The Name's the Same
Today is election day in my prefecture. The election is being held to fill a seat vacated by former Environment Minister Yoshio Mochizuki, who died in December at the age of 72.
The interesting thing is that there are two candidates with the same names and the same kanji characters, 田中健. Ken Tanaka, 42, is endorsed by four parties - the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the Democratic Party for the People, the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party. Ken Tanaka, 54, is from the NHK Kara Kokumin wo Mamaoru To (The Party to Protect the People from NHK). Other candidates include Yoichi Fukazawa, 43, of the Liberal Democratic Party and independent Kenzo Yamaguchi, 72.
In Japan, voters hand write the name of the candidate they are voting for on the ballot. To distinguish between the two Ken Tanakas, the election board is asking voters to write the age as well as the name of the candidates.
Ken Tanaka, 42, is the candidate featured on this political advertisement. He is the one on the left.
7 comments:
That is a fascinating problem! What will they do with votes where the age is not mentioned, I wonder? Discard them? Or distribute them in some way?
I don't think that's ever happened here - not that I can remember. It sounds like it's under control but you'd really have to read the ballot!
That makes for confusion when voting!!
Wow two with the same name, do you think they are related? just curious.
Stay Healthy
Catherine
I am sure this is the first time this kind of problem has ever occurred in a Japanese election.
I've heard tht in a small village candidates have the same first name. But I have never heard of this case.
What an interesting conundrum! You'd think in Japan this was less likely to happen (what with the different ways of writing names) and yet coincidence finds a way!
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