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Recently in my area they have sign on road for "manifesto" it is for politics and election. I ask some people around me and they do not know the meaning of the work. I think that is really strange for using word that nobody know meaning of. What do you think? This is English word, right?

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Well it's stupid and pretentious of course. But in so far as a Japanese political party has, in the early part of the 21st century, come to understand that perhaps they should have policies, a platform, some ideas, promises to make, it's a positive development. Obviously it's been a foreign concept, hence the use of a foreign word.

 

And if they keep it up, Japan may one day have a proper constitution too.

 

Are you going to vote for anybody sachiko?

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And when you ask them, and they don't know what it means, why don't they feel a) embarrassed about that and B) ask "what does it mean"? Are they not interested? wakaranai.gif

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Its a positive development O11? ;\) I hardly think using words that nobody in this country understands, let alone the supid politicians, is positive. They throw around big and fancy English words like they do their kickbacks and bribes to senior party members. In the end, it only benefits themselves by keeping themselves in power without doing anything.

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I disagree. In 1994, Ozawa Ichiro published "Blueprint for a New Japan: The Rethinking of a Nation" which was itself a manifesto of sorts. While it contains some debatable ideas, it was nevertheless revolutionary precisely because it contained debatable ideas rather than just throwing slogans and money around.

 

Now Ozawa is a power in the DPJ. And Kan Naoto, in spite of spouting some utter rubbish on occasion, nevertheless often spoke of what the DPJ would actually do if elected. This is not just more of the same thing - it's a departure.

 

Japan needs to develop a native political vocabulary - I would have thought 'yakusoku' would be a far more powerful slogan than 'manifesuto' - but compared with Japanese politics 10 years ago, I think that the concept of a manifesto is an advance.

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I find the actual photography in those Manifesto posters quite interesting. They look like old Hollywood movie posters from the 30s/40s, Jimmy Cagney, H.Bogart etc, with ultra-harsh single side lighting casting harsh shadows. The only difference is that this is colour, and the light is very slightly softer.

 

I have no idea why they use that kind of lighting - it just looks creepy to me.

 

1014100.jpg

 

casablanca13.jpg

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