This time around, the Japanese general election came with a tasty twist—*Senkyo-wari*, or “election discount.” Snap a pic at your polling place, show it to a participating shop, and voilà—some sort of perk is yours for the taking. Naturally, I had to investigate. And so, I marched to *Echizen Soba no Sato*, camera-ready and stomach rumbling.
The Senkyo-wari perk? You could either upgrade your soba to a large size or get a mini soft-serve. Tempting. I figured I’d go with the regular *oroshi soba* and use the perk to super-size it. But alas—fine print! Only valid for orders over 1,000 yen. Oops.
That meant one thing: go big or go home. I ordered the full combo—soba with tempura and *saba-zushi*. A lot. A *lot* a lot.
Halfway through, I hit a wall. This wasn’t lunch anymore. It was a trial. A test of endurance. That “large” size? More like *two full bowls*. For someone who usually asks for a small portion of rice at lunch… it was a miscalculation of epic proportions. A soba showdown. And I lost.
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On a political side note, I was glad to see both the *Hoshu-tō* and *Sansei-tō* pick up three seats each. It was the Hoshu-tō’s first general election, and they cleared the 2% threshold to officially qualify as a political party. The next House of Councillors election should be interesting.
But I’m not thrilled that the Constitutional Democrats gained ground. And Inada getting reelected? No thanks. As for the LDP… what next? Probably another catastrophically wrong choice. Wouldn’t put it past them to try and install Ishiba as PM. Again. Yikes.
—THE END—
“The most important office, and the one which all of us can and should fill, is that of private citizen.” —Louis Brandeis
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