Amid nonstop Olympic broadcasting, this essay stresses the decisive importance of Japan’s general election. It argues that no sporting event outweighs a vote that determines the nation’s future and calls for civic responsibility and awareness.

I am an avid sports enthusiast, yet for today and tomorrow I cannot allow myself to be absorbed in watching sports.
That is impossible.
NHK is broadcasting the Milan Olympics almost continuously.
But no sporting event can outweigh the importance of tomorrow’s general election.
Women’s ice hockey has been heavily featured by NHK and other legacy media.
At first I was interested.
I thought I might watch.
But now it was simply on, so I let it play.
I watched casually.
Germany scored heavily.
I thought they would lose.
Nothing more and nothing less.
Because at this moment, that is not what matters.

Japan’s course, Japan’s fate, depends on tomorrow’s general election for the House of Representatives.
A mere victory is not enough.
What is required is a landslide victory of historic scale, one that the world will view with admiration and respect.
Only through that can Japan recover from its lost thirty years.

And yet, what was that response on NHK’s 7 p.m. news tonight?
NHK can no longer be forgiven.

What NHK, which functions in reality as a national broadcaster, should be reporting.
I state this unequivocally.

They should broadcast the following poem and tell every voter that they must go to the polls despite rain, wind, or heavy snow.

To all voters across Japan:

Be not defeated by rain.
Be not defeated by wind.
Be not defeated by snow nor by summer’s heat.
Possess a strong body.

Have no greed.
Never lose temper.
Always smile quietly.

Eat four bowls of brown rice a day,
Miso and a little vegetable.

In all things,
Put yourself last.
See, listen, understand,
And never forget.

In a small thatched hut
In the shade of a pine grove in the fields.

If there is a sick child in the east, go and nurse them.
If there is a weary mother in the west, go and carry her sheaves of rice.
If someone is near death in the south, go and tell them not to fear.
If there is quarrel or litigation in the north, tell them to stop their foolishness.

In drought, shed tears.
In cold summers, walk in concern.

Called a fool by all.
Neither praised nor blamed.

Such a person
I wish to become.