This Sunday, Tokyo wards elect their mayors and Diet representitives. Forty five men and women are running for the Diet. Only two men are hoping to be Bunkyo’s mayor. Election signboards like this one are placed at intersections and other public property.

But campaigns aren’t entirely neat and tidy. People also paste posters to their garden walls and other surfaces. Things get pretty colorful around election time.

They get noisy, too. Many of the candidates have loudspeakers mounted on little vans and they drive around the city waving out the windows and thanking everyone for their support. They stop at train stations to get out and give speeches that none of the harried commuters listen to.