Voters in Ishikawa Prefecture, struck by a strong earthquake on the Noto Peninsula on New Year's Day, are calling for government support for swift reconstruction, but some have lamented that "now is not the time for elections" given the region was also hit by record heavy rainfall last month.

At the Wakura Onsen hot spring resort in Nanao, one of the areas significantly affected by the Jan. 1 earthquake, staff from shuttered "ryokan" inns and others in the tourism industry listened to stump speeches by candidates in the upcoming House of Representatives election, advocating for reconstruction.

"If the inns do not reopen, the town will not regain its vitality. I want support to quickly restore our former hot spring town," said 88-year-old Tazuko Tada.

A fisherman in his 80s at a water supply station in Suzu expressed frustration that the city, hit hard by both the earthquake and torrential rains, was once again experiencing water outages, with many locals having left since.

With the earthquake rendering the port unusable due to coastal uplift, he said, "I won't be able to earn a single yen as things stand now. I hope efforts will focus on restoring the fishing port."

After losing his home in Wajima to the earthquake and moving to an evacuation center when heavy rains flooded his temporary housing last month, Yoshiaki Sakakado, 61, said he felt "unmotivated to go vote" as his car had been submerged.

According to Wajima officials, polling station tickets are typically sent only to the address listed on a voter's residency certificate and are not sent to evacuation centers. It may not be widely known that voting is still possible without the ticket, as long as the voter's identity can be confirmed.

"I wasn't aware," said a 62-year-old man living at an evacuation center, adding with resignation, "It's not as if anything will change with the election, and I don't know what to hope for."