Campaign and Competition

The picture below is most of a board that is posted right out in front of the main entrance to campus. These are scattered all over the place. They represent all of the people running for the city council. I didn't understand why there are so many but it was explained to me that there are many seats to fill.

I really wish I could get a good picture of the campaigning vans I talked about last time. It's really crazy. Besides the megaphones and signage there are usually about 4 people hanging out of the windows in matching jackets (i've seen metallic pink among other colors) waving to the people they pass. I tried to get a picture last night but they were going to fast.

I have found it interesting to learn a little about Japanese politics - but far be it from me to try to discuss it here!

Speaking of things that are somewhat political....

The civil engineering department shares the same building as the architecture department and this poster, aimed at architecture students, is posted at the entrance of our building. At first I thought "wow, something like this would NEVER fly in Champaign County or many other places in the US." But I looked up the website and kind of pieced together the gist of the competition (it's in Japanese so I translated it with Google and got a pretty choppy translation). I think that the idea is to create a space where smokers and non-smokers can socialize together without the non-smokers inhaling any smoke (or limited smoke ?). It sounds strange and their pictures are really odd but I kind of like the idea (if it's possible). See, in the U.S. the local and state governmets take away the rights of private property owners by imposing smoking bans (the result of which I generally appreciate). But in Japan, they think "let's try to accomodate everyone!" What a great idea!