I think my attachment to pixel-based graphics is similar to my attachment to physical media--with vector-based graphics there's always this uneasiness that there's more interpretation by a programme involved and it could suddenly break for no reason and you could lose everything (regardless of whether that's realistic or not) whereas Paint is Paint.
The way I look at it, since I write the code myself, is that making a mistake when coding is conceptually not any different from making a mistake when trying to draw the picture by hand, you just have to go back and sort it out.
In one of those completely insane facts about Japanese politics: Somewhere between 35-40% of Japanese MPs literally "inherited" the consistency. It is an old data, but Shūgiin (lower house) between 2003 and 2005 had 38.5% of such MPs, and in LDP, whopping 51.6% of MPs had inherited their seats.
To give an example, out of 10 PMs who were in charge of Japan last 20 years, 7 had a father who was MP as well.
Used to be
far worse back when they still had SNTV. One of my first questions when I chatted with Steven Reed was bluntly why it took Japan so long to change the voting system. I noted that Prime Minister Hatoyama Ichiro had tried to change to pure first-past-the-post in the 1950s, but after this failed to pass through the Diet (owing in no small part to Hatoyama drawing up an insanely gerrymandered district map that he attached to the bill), the LDP more or less abandoned the project for thirty years. I compared this with Ireland, where Fianna Fail twice made very concerted efforts to change the electoral system in the 50-60s, and right up until their fall from grace in the 00s were periodically still complaining about the electoral system and "really, we ought to fix it, you know". Since the LDP would be so well-served by FPTP, why not change it?
Prof. Reed explained it to me as follows: while the LDP as a political party certainly would be much better served by FPTP than SNTV, individual Diet members were all much better served by SNTV, as it gave them more room for maneuver and more personal power. After all, if the LDP cast you out of their parliamentary (dietary?) party, you could run as an independent and still have a much better chance of retaining your seat in SNTV than in FPTP. This meant that it was easier to make threats, grand-standings, vote against the party leadership, make a name for yourself as a maverick, and all sorts of things. The LDP having started out as a very fractured party, the amalgamation of various right-wing parties in the Diet in the 50s, this tendency was there from the very beginning, and as time wore on, the system ensured that this tendency was allowed to flourish, the power of the central party machinery was further undermined, and there was even less of an appetite among LDP Diet members to change the electoral system.
The ultimate outgrowth of this was the so-called Koenkai system, which still persist in a form to this day (although as Reed notes, it has been much undermined since the electoral reform in the early 90s). Diet members, and prospective Diet members, not relying on the central party machinery for funding, support, etc. would set up their own personal campaign apparatus,
koenkais, which took care of all the things you needed to fight a campaign and win an election. They were the ones making the phone calls, knocking the doors, handing out the leaflets, etc. They often had no formal connections with the central party at all, and in many cases were staffed and run by individuals who weren't even party members. These little mini-machines all being private entities, and lacking any democratic oversight, often retiring Diet members would pass down control of them to their sons or nephews, as for all purposes, it was theirs to give away.
It being the strongest koenkais that won candidates their elections, winning elections allowed you to deliver more pork for your constituents, increasing the strength of your koenkai, etc., it became a self-perpetuating circle.
Just to clarify on my earlier post, if any clarification is needed: I am not against other people using SVG, and think it often looks quite nice, I just haven't cultivated the skills to use it myself.
While I appreciate your concern for my feelings, mate, I assure you I took no offense.
