Before Japan Votes, Mum's the Word, Twitterwise

Until Dec. 3, Koei Aoto, the Internet guru for Japan's Social Democratic Party, was busy posting information online about candidates for a coming election. Now, with the election just days away, he is busy excising it.

Aoto is making sure stump-speech schedules and other materials on the party website are scrubbed of candidates' names and photos. On Dec. 4, he even asked party leader Mizuho Fukushima to delete a tweet in which she mentioned a candidate by name. The self-censorship stems from a 1950 law that lays out—in great detail—what candidates for public office can and can't do in the official campaign period before election day. Feeding supporters lunch is a no-no, but tea and light snacks are permitted. Leafleting is OK, but no more than two kinds of fliers and only up to 70,000 pieces per candidate.