Very glad to have grown up in a society that still seems to ostensibibly respect democracy and the rule of law, I was delighted to visit the Australian Embassy in Tokyo and partake of democracy manifest in the form of a snag. The bleak, wet day (eerily reminscent of my native Melbourne) was the backdrop to consular officials serving democracy sausages as Aussies flocked to the embassy to vote ahead of the May 3 federal election. I’m very grateful to the Embassy staff for putting on the sausage sizzle, and got to spend a lot of time chatting with some…