this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2026
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I was curious how common it is to be, say, a leftist in a very conservative area.

My county, family, and school are all very conservative. It makes it a bit intimidating to engage in any political discussion. I also rarely get to hear leftist opinion anywhere in person, which means i need to devote a lot of time to considering and thinking about arguments that are probably already solved.

Are you, or have you been, in a similar situation?

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[–] farmgineer@nord.pub 1 points 3 days ago

I'm left of many in my family, several of whom are in the christian nationalist side of things (as best I can tell), one of whom basically worships trump, and others who are mostly right of (US) center. However, they're all on the other side of the world from me.

Rural Japan is interesting. Japan's politics don't fit neatly in the same platforms that would be familiar to those in the US. Even "conservatives" are overwhelmingly in favor of social programs that would be anathema in the US. People in the countryside here range from ultra-conservative to live-and-let-live.

I doubt any would be for legalization of cannabis (where even speaking too positively of it online can get someone in trouble), nor for removing the koseki system (TL;DR every Japanese citizen has a koseki. Families can have exactly one name except in cases of foreign marriage where citizen can keep their name. non-citizens cannot have a koseki. Marriage must be between someone with a vagina and a penis (whether those are from birth of surgical doesn't matter) to have the same koseki and the same rights).

I doubt most people would care much about same-sex relationships nor trans people in general as there's a long history of things like that in Japan.

Exposure to foreigners in general tends to help dispel myths and racism generally and most people in my immediate area realize I'm a decent guy who cares about his family and his village. I'm sure some people hate me because of my skin color, but nothing I can do about that, but I think that would be people in the village rather than my immediate neighbors.

Rural Japan in some areas and demographics votes more for parties to the left. The JCP (Japan Communist Party whose name no longer really fits IMO), has been pushing hard in my area. We'll have to see how things shake out.