Key Facts
• July 20: Voting for Hokkaido’s Upper House election (3 seats available).
• All 12 candidates actively use X (formerly Twitter) for campaigning.
• Notable candidates: Hide Onodera (180,000 followers), Kazutaka Nomura Patterson (19,000), Yoshito Tanaka (19,000).
• Tanaka gained 3,000 followers during the campaign by addressing illegal development issues.
• Onodera’s team avoids traditional methods like phone calls and mail, focusing on YouTube live streams.
• Nomura creates and posts five videos daily, leveraging his IT background.
• Masaki Suzuki’s team (Democratic Party for the People) calls SNS their “lifeline.”
• Ruling and opposition parties combine organizational strength with social media strategies.
• Candidates encourage audiences to share their content on social platforms.
• Some campaigns remain skeptical about the effectiveness of SNS outreach.
• A campaign official expressed uncertainty about whether followers are local voters.
Summary
In Hokkaido’s Upper House election, candidates are increasingly relying on social media platforms like X to connect with voters. While some, such as Hide Onodera and Kazutaka Nomura Patterson, have seen significant follower growth, others remain uncertain about the impact of these efforts. Campaigns are shifting away from traditional methods, focusing instead on live streams and video content to engage audiences. Despite the innovative approaches, the effectiveness of social media in influencing local voters remains unclear, with some campaigns expressing doubts about its reach and impact.
