This article analyzes election campaigns in Japan between 1925 and 1935, a period marking the early phase of universal male suffrage. The author takes up the case of Shizuoka Prefecture in order to identify the spatial extent to which those campaigns were held and why they were held in those regional spaces.
　The author begins with an analysis of the distribution of speeches given by the candidates, finding that they stumped predominately in urban areas due to constraints stemming from the dependence on automobiles unable to access rural areas due to the lack of adequate roads. A similar situation was encountered in trying to mail election information to those same regions.
　Next the author examines the specific causes of regional differences in road maintenance, by following the discussion on the subject in the prefectural assembly throughout the Taisho Period（1912-26）, in order to clarify how urban-rural conflict led to authorities cutting budgets for road construction and maintenance. That is to say, while up to around 1918, urban and rural areas were politically integrated in selecting election candidates, urban development gradually left rural communities behind economically, resulting in urban-rural imbalance and antagonism.
　In this spatial context, roads became an important means for rural areas to connect with external markets and foster economic development. The political parties took advantage of this urban-rural conflict to arbitrarily cut budgets for road construction and maintenance, thus denying election campaigns access to rural areas. On the other hand, the author notes that the lack of access also enhanced the importance of face-to-face campaigning in rural Shizuoka, thus redefining the meaning of personal contact with voters.