What are elections and campaigning like?

I saw a few campaign posters when I was there in December, but would be very interested in the political layout of the prefecture. Are they relatively lively campaigns, or do they have debates more, or how do they compare to our politics?

While I am interested in how they deal with the same liberal and/or conservative issues that we in America do, I am more interested in the political process itself, and how it differs from oours here in the States.