Pros and Cons of Life Outside Tokyo | Rural Japan

I usually tell stories about what life is like in Tokyo, because that's where our family lives. But today we head out to Matsuyama in the prefecture of Ehime to find out what life in non-Tokyo, the countryside of Japan, is like.

The Voting Age Has Changed In Japan: So, Why Is Ehime Trying To Suppress Political Enthusiasm?

Japan has lowered its voting age from 20 to 18 with their first chance to participate in electoral politics in this summer's House  of Councillors elections.  But as with so many changes in Japan there's always an exception to what should be a straightforward  policy.  In this case the government sent a letter to every Board of Education in the country saying that schools could require pre notification if students engaged in political activities.  

If students are allowed to vote in an election and want to participate how are they to do so freely if they must inform their school? Will the students advisors try and dissuade them from involvement, pressure them to vote for their prefered party,  intimidate students or will they just try and bully them into avoiding the process altogether?      

Against this backdrop, the Ehime prefectural education board held a meeting of vice principals of prefectural high schools in December. At this meeting, it distributed handouts with examples of how school rules could be changed to ban any political activities on school premises and oblige students to give a week’s notice when they participate in such activities off campus.
An official of the board said it did not instruct schools to change their rules and left the decision up to them, adding that the handouts were for reference only. But the board asked the schools to report back if they implemented such changes.

One can understand disallowing campaign activities in schools.  That said in Japan when a person or group in a position of authority issue a recommendation that's taken as a regulation that must be enforced rather than as a guideline.