The voting age 
has been lowered to 18 in Japan recently, and as part of a campaign to get young citizens to participate in elections, a little rice character called Komesuke has been created, reported the Wall Street Journal on Thursday.
Here’s a primer for politics in Japan: Japan has a parliamentary system of government like Britain and Canada. Unlike the Americans or the French, the Japanese do not elect a president directly. Diet members elect a prime minister from among themselves. The prime minister forms and leads the cabinet of ministers of state. Gun laws? The law basically says ‘No one shall possess a firearm or firearms or a sword or swords’ and very few exceptions are allowed. Gun deaths per year in the entire country? Zero. Or maybe two. TWO. (In the United States, the toll usually exceeds 30,000 in any given year).
P.S. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his coalition has declared victory 8 days after the national vote and a ‘long’ eight-week campaign.
