A crowd like nothing I’d ever seen before had gathered around Hankyu Nishinomiya Gardens today, 11/16 (Sat).
At Nishitsu, we value sharing topics that matter to Nishinomiya locals, from small everyday happenings to major events in the city. This article was created from Nishitsu’s perspective to archive a historic turnout unique to Nishinomiya and an event that major media outlets may not cover in much depth. It is not intended to advocate for any particular candidate’s claims. We’ll continue keeping an eye on what’s happening in Nishinomiya right now, while staying relaxed and fun as always.(If you want to know each candidate’s policies or campaign messages, we recommend watching livestreams of their speeches rather than relying on Nishitsu〜)
Around 13:55 at Nishinomiya-kitaguchi
This was just after passing through the moving walkway toward Nishinomiya Gardens. The line on the left is people who wanted to hear Motohiko Saito’s speech〜
People were peering outside. I wonder if he had already arrived〜
So many umbrellas. Not sure if Mr. Saito had arrived yet, but I couldn’t hear his voice yet.
Still, this many people in this spot is pretty incredible.
The area going down the stairs. People were also watching from a less-used path inside Gardens〜
These stairs are in the opposite direction from the speech venue, but there were people watching from here too.
There were also tons of people at the first-floor entrance to Gardens.
Looks like the parking lot at the Gardens annex was full too〜 I wonder if they were here for this〜
Police officers seemed to be keeping watch for safety.
There were huge crowds at the crosswalk on the Prera Hall side too.
And huge crowds from the north-side crosswalk as well.
People stretched aaaaall along the deck. Packed tight.
It wasn’t just the front row. The crowd had serious depth.
Believe it or not, some people were even watching from inside Gardens.By the way, from inside Gardens, I couldn’t hear the speech at all.
Nishinomiya City Council member Kento Mori was really keeping an eye out to make sure there was no danger around.
Motohiko Saito’s campaign car arrived while caught up in the traffic.
People were waving from near the McDonald’s in the Plus building too.
He came in while waving〜
The car backed into the area beside the police box.
After arriving, just as he was about to head over to everyone gathered there…
He seemed to go, “Oh, my appearance!” and turned back.
Maybe he forgot to fix his pants. Kind of charming.
Using the window as a mirror, he straightened himself up〜
Then he looked sharp and restarted! That moment was really funny.
He started by shaking hands with everyone beside the police box, and they looked really happy.
And then with everyone on the opposite side too〜
And with that, the speech began.
Maybe because this was the final day of speeches, there were quite a lot of media people there. Kobe Shimbun, Friday, and even a kid from Japan Junior High School Newspaper.
TV Asahi’s news team was also filming with a video camera.
Maybe Sankei Shimbun〜
A camera from TBS’s program THE TIME.
Fukumaro was there too, livestreaming in his usual posture〜
Whoa! Freelance journalist Suda was here!!!
(Photo by Horenso)
Actually, he suddenly appeared right beside me and I was like, “Mr. Suda!!!”Looks like I was on the live broadcast of Toranomon News. The speech had just started, so I barely got to talk to him〜 I’ve been watching him a lot since Sokomade Itte Iinkai〜
As expected from a reporter, he was taking notes on what Mr. Saito was saying.
Ryousuke Iwaoka, an Ashiya City Council member, was also there.
