After having surveyed the national election outlook, I’ve decided to take a short trip to check out a couple races that I think should be interesting: Kagawa’s first district, where the DPJ’s Ogawa Junya faces LDP incumbent Hirai Takuya; Okayama’s second district, which features a race between DPJ incumbent Tsumura Keisuke, the LDP’s Hagiwara Seiji, former LDP independent Kumashiro Akihiro, and the PNP’s Akamatsu Kazutaka; and Kyoto’s fourth district, where LDP incumbent Nakagawa Yasuhiro faces the DPJ’s Kitagami Keiro and former LDP independent Tanaka Hideo, as well as the JCP’s Yoshida Koichi.

Are you located in Takamatsu or Kyoto? As always, I’m happy to meet with readers in the places I visit. Send an email to observingjapan@gmail.com or leave a note in the comments.