Japanese Society

Name:
Professor’s name:
Unit:
Date:
A review of the documentary ‘Campaign’
Introduction
The documentary Campaign produced by Kazuhiro Soda is about Yamauchi, a forty-year-old with no previous political interest or experience who is selected by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to vie for a crucial city council seat. The election year is 2005, and the campaign period is twelve days.
Selection of the candidate
The candidate is selected in a manner that suggests that the LDP still wants to prove its dominance in Japan’s politics. Kazuhiko Yamauchi is an individual who has had no political interest or experience in the past. Additionally, before his selection, he had no public recognition, therefore, indicating that for him to win the elections, then he had to conduct a thorough campaign. Since Kazuhiko has got no personal political ideology, he is selected by the LDP so that he can have the LDP’s ideology (Soda n.p.). Another reason that could have made Kazuhiko to be selected is that he was likable and humble hence indicating that the party bosses could steer his campaigns as they wished.
Challenges
Despite being selected by the Liberal Democratic Party, things were not easy for Kazuhiko and his wife. One challenge Kazuhiko encountered is being left out of his campaign meetings hence he could not know what the party bosses discussed. Apart from being excluded from the meetings, he was rarely allowed to attend his rallies despite the short campaign period (Soda n.p.). Lastly, Kazuhiko and his wife were expected to remain humble to both the party masters and voters hence indicating that most of the things they had to do were against their will.

How the candidate was viewed
It is certain that the party masters viewed Kazuhiko as a puppet since he had to do as was directed. The candidate did not have a political ideology of his own hence he was perceived as a person that would adhere to whatever instruction he was given. Other politicians viewed him as a failure since they could not dream of him getting into power.
Conclusion
Despite having had no political exposure in the past and going through a rough campaign period, Kazuhiko won the city council seat.

Work Cited
Soda, Kazuhiro. “Watch Online Free: Kazuhiro Soda | Campaign | POV | PBS.” POV | American Documentary Inc, 2008, www.pbs.org/pov/campaign/video/kazuhiro-soda/. Accessed 21 Mar. 2018.