C is for Commies - the Japan Communist Party

So folks, are you sitting on the edge of your seats for the great epoch-defining general election that has to be called before September is out? That was a rhetorical question (that means only smart arses are supposed to answer). Well, see, it could be epoch-defining if the DPJ (go on look 'em up in Our Man's Stylebook) win. If they don't, then the reactionary party of government, the LDP (aka the forces of evil), will continue their almost unbroken reign since the war and the pundits will then say the next election or the election-after-next will be truly epoch-making.

Er, perhaps you might like to know who else you could vote for, if you had citizenship and if you gave a shit. Well, there are the Communists. Our Man kind of likes them just for the boldfaced cheek of still calling themselves followers of such an outmoded idea that government could sort out our problems. Imagine that! Now, you may come across some well-meaning (or hate-filled propagandist) reports on the unstoppable rise of the Commies thanks to the recession and a manga cartoon book of Marx's Das Kapital (typical such report here from French TV). Let Our Man set the record straight for non-Japanese residents alarmed at Commies in Our Midst: 

The Japanese hate the Norks and nobody out of full-time education bought the damn Marx manga book.

DON'T PANIC! If the Reds were a British Party, they would be the Lib Dems - forever holier than thou, occasionally spot-on, but always benefitting when the powers that be are in the doldrums.

For American voters, think Ross Perot or possibly Michael Moore on a bad, humourless day. So, if you see propogandist vids like the one below, just remember it was from 50 years ago. Sure, the Reds don't like having the Yankee imperialists stationed in Japan, but they also aren't too keen on the emperor, so it's all square on the democracy front. Japan has moved on, and so have the Commies.

Vid lifted from Japan Probe here.