InsideJapan News Network

Japanese politicians have been taking advantage of modern media such as Twitter and YouTube in the run-up to the country's next general election, it has been reported.

Writing for the Associated Press, Yuri Kageyama said that the upcoming election - set to take place on Sunday (30th August) - is "testing the restrictions" in place in Japan over measures that political parties can take to get their message across.

In the country, political parties are limited to taking part in a certain number of campaign activities and can only be on TV for a restricted amount of time.

On top of this, campaign leaflets have to be a certain size and only a set number can be produced.

Now, however, the emergence of sites such as Twitter is seeing politicians get their message out through other mediums.

This is despite the fact that under an old law, the internet is out of bounds for campaigning.

A video recently seen on YouTube appears to poke fun at the current leader of the Democratic party Yukio Hatoyama, who is widely expected to be voted in as the next president of Japan, replacing current ruler Tara Aso.

Written by Mark Smith.