Sansei desu!

Yahoo! Japan has recently launched "みんなの政治 (Minna no Seiji)" ("Everyone's Government"), a site that includes profiles of Representatives and Senators in the Japanese Diet who can, at their option, indicate not only how they actually voted on bills that have come before the Diet, but can also indicate their 本音 ("honne"), or true feelings, about whether the bill should have been passed or rejected. About a third of all Diet members are currently participating.



Curiously, regular old U.S. Yahoo doesn't seem to offer anything remotely similar. Also, no Diet members seem to have yet indicated that their honne was in fact the opposite of how they actually voted; the closest they come is to indicate その他 ("other") in the honne column, with a link to further comments.

I think this virtu-space for comment and explanation at Minna no Seiji is a fantastic opportunity for politicians and voters to address the complex compromises inherent at the "yes/no" nexus of legislative voting. Don't you?