Interview videos have been uploaded in which young people, including university students from Nishinomiya, interview the three candidates running in the Nishinomiya mayoral election to be held on March 27.
Here they are↓
Believe it or not, this project involved the Wakamono Ouen Bank, Sensei, a GPS runner and Nishitsu writer, the Nishinomiya app CiPPo, and even Nishitsu quietly had a hand in it too.
The interviewers included university students from Kwansei Gakuin University, Mukogawa Women’s University, and Konan University, a 17-year-old high school student, and Sensei from Nishitsu, who is just barely still a “young person” at age 35. (We mistakenly wrote Sensei’s age as 30. He wasn’t shaving years off.)
Videos for Each Candidate
These are interview videos with the three candidates running in the Nishinomiya mayoral election. Each interview was held within a 30-minute time limit.
We’ve listed the questions that came up. Click a question to jump straight to that part of the video. Very handy!
Masakazu Yoshioka
These were the kinds of questions asked.
- If you were a student in your 20s today, what would you want to say to Nishinomiya City or the mayoral candidates?
- What can you promise young people during your four-year term?
- What kind of people do you hope your own children and Nishinomiya’s children will become?
- What is a strength that only you have?
- Why does it have to be the mayor’s position?
- What do you think of the other candidates?
- Support for community activities, events, and other non-infrastructure aspects
- How can youth voter turnout be increased?
- What do you like about Nishinomiya?
- What do you keep in mind when giving speeches or speaking in public?
- What do you do when election campaigning gets tough?
Toshiro Ishii
- If you were a student in your 20s today, what would you want to say to Nishinomiya City or the mayoral candidates?
- What can you promise young people during your four-year term?
- Why does it have to be the mayor’s position?
- What makes a good city? What is the ultimate goal?
- How will you handle disability welfare services going forward?
- How can youth voter turnout be increased?
- Why does Nishinomiya City have income restrictions on its child medical expense subsidy system?
- Your personal principles for deciding, prioritizing, and selecting policies
- What is one strength you have that you absolutely won’t lose to anyone else on?
- About the idea that schools should provide menstrual products
Makoto Masuyama
- If you were a student in your 20s today, what would you want to say to Nishinomiya City or the mayoral candidates?
- What can you promise young people during your four-year term?
- Why does it have to be the mayor’s position?
- What kind of people do you hope your own children and Nishinomiya’s children will become?
- What do you do when criticism or backlash makes you feel discouraged?
- On differing opinions
- Creating a sports environment that everyone can get excited about
- Why did you want to become a company president as your future dream?
- How can youth voter turnout be increased?
- When was a moment you felt truly happy?
- What is something that makes you think, “That’s an occupational habit of being a politician”?
- What should people be careful about in an age when all kinds of information are flying around?
- Why do you think higher education is important?
- What good things would happen if young people chose Masuyama?
- What kind of mayor do you want to be?
- What kind of team do you want to build?
- What do you like about Nishinomiya?
The number of questions varied depending on the candidate, but all of them spoke for the same 30-minute length.
There were fresh questions from university and high school students that seemed to catch the candidates off guard at times, along with some sharp ones too.
Come to think of it, a little while ago there was also a public debate hosted by the Nishinomiya Junior Chamber and an online debate by Kobe Shimbun.
In Closing
The mayoral election begins on February 27, and these videos may be fairly helpful for anyone thinking, “I don’t know who to vote for.” It’s an interesting project that gives you a glimpse of each candidate’s personality and way of thinking. If any of the questions catch your attention, definitely check them out. We’ll add links later so you can jump straight to the conversation for each question. Direct links to the questions have been added!
