2026 POLLS: Youngsters Encourged in Various Ways to Go to Polls

Tokyo, Feb. 2 (Jiji Press)–As a snap election looms, various private-sector groups are stepping up efforts, both online and offline, to push up youth voter turnout. Ahead of Sunday’s election for the House of Representatives, the all-important lower chamber of the Diet, Japan’s parliament, election information provider Ichini Inc. calls on younger voters to use a vote matcher app on its Senkyo Dot Com website. “Senkyo” means “election” in English. After entering answers to multiple questions asked by the unique app, the user can find a like-minded political party, Ichini says. According to the operator, more than 4 million people used the matching service during last year’s election for the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, and roughly 60 pct of them were younger than 40. Kunikazu Suzuki, 36-year-old editor in chief of Senkyo Dot Com, also recommends that vote matchers by conventional news organizations and others be utilized simultaneously as questionnaires vary from app to app. “It’s important to think before answering,” Suzuki emphasized. A Minato Ward, Tokyo-based not-for-profit organization called No Youth No Japan, whose core members are in their 20s, is encouraging youngsters to go to the polls by helping them understand campaign issues and pledges through Instagram posts. “We’re always trying to make our posts look cute and easy to understand,” board member Mao Numako, 22, said, expressing hope that young readers will feel free to share those posts with people around. Numako also stressed that great care has been made to avoid causing misunderstanding about each party’s policies and to secure political neutrality. Senkyowari Inc., a not-for-profit association in the capital’s Setagaya Ward, is running a program to give price discounts to voters when they show pictures of polling station signs or their vote casting certificates at participating businesses, such as restaurants and “sento” public bathhouses, across the country. Its representative, Shotaro Sato, 52, displayed eagerness to see some 2,600 establishments join the initiative as in the 2025 Upper House election. “We aim to create an atmosphere that prompts even those showing their back on politics and elections to go and vote,” Sato said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]