JAPAN: Foreigners Can Live Here, But Not Vote
Rising opposition is likely to block the passage of a bill giving voting rights to foreign nationals who have permanent residency in Japan — even though the majority of this group has been born here.
The new bill, tabled by the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DJP), has already been watered down from previous proposals to permit permanent residents to vote but not run as candidates in local elections. Still, proponents say the chances of the successful passage of the bill in 2010 are slim, given mounting opposition among conservative politicians who are popular with the public.
'The bill remains hugely unpopular and therefore it looks very likely it will not be passed in the Diet this year,' points out Marutei Tsurunen, a DJP supporter and the first foreign-born Japanese member of the Upper House. Born in Finland, Tsurunen became a naturalised Japanese in 1979 and entered politics in 1992, when he ran for the Yugawara town assembly in western Japan.
Even as democratic Japan boasts one of the world’s largest globalised economies, the country continues to drag its feet when it comes to opening its doors to foreigners.
One of the biggest opponents to granting voting rights to foreign residents is the conservative Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP), which held on to nearly four decades of interrupted power from 1955 to 1993.
During its years in power, the LDP had turned down at least 13 attempts by opposition parties to get similar legislation passed, arguing that allowing foreigners local suffrage would pose a threat to national interests because they could push policies that favour their own countries’ instead of Japan’s.
Instead, the LDP proposes that foreigners who seek suffrage take up Japanese nationality as a measure of their loyalty to the country.
That sentiment is echoed in the media and is supported by the Japanese public, says Yasuyuki Kitawaki, head of the Centre for Multilingual Multicultural Education and Research at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.
Kitawaki says his research shows an overwhelming number of Japanese are against allowing foreigners suffrage and entering Japanese politics mostly because of distrust and fear.
'National education reinforces the concept that Japan is a privileged homogenous society that must be protected at all costs from outsiders,' Kitawaki explains. 'The foreigner is viewed as a risk to this carefully nurtured myth.'
This is manifested, Kitawaki says, in the government’s deliberate lack of acknowledgment of diverse populations and their cultures, such as the Ainu, who for centuries inhabited Hokkaido in Japan.
Experts explain that the resistance to the voting rights bill harks back to Japan’s historical ties with its Asian neighbours, China and Korea, which were colonised by pre- World War II Imperial Japan until its defeat in 1945.
During that time, hundreds of thousands of Chinese and Koreans settled in Japan — most of them against their will — and worked as cheap labour for Japanese companies or were conscripted into the Imperial Army.
The plight of a large number of these settlers, who opted not to return to their original countries but continue to struggle to be accorded equal social and political status under the law, remains a thorn in the side of Japan’s post- war diplomacy with both China and Korea.
There are more than 400,000 residents — most of them Koreans — who have special permanent residency status in Japan, which has more than 127 million people.
According to government figures released in 2009, the number of other permanent residents increased by almost a hundred thousand over the previous year, to reach some 535,000 people, one-third of whom are Chinese nationals.
'There is nothing wrong with allowing foreigners to work in Japan. But I draw the line when it comes to giving them voting rights,' explains Yorichiro Ameimishi, a city official in Musashi Murayama, west of Tokyo. 'Voting means taking responsibility for the development of Japan but this cannot be expected from foreigners.'
But Japan’s foreign residents disagree.
Groups representing third and fourth generations of Koreans living in Japan have long lobbied for voting rights in local assemblies, pointing out they pay their taxes and that their voices must be heard in the community.
The crux of the matter behind public resistance to the voting rights bill, Tsurunen explains, is the protection of the Japanese identity. 'If the bill was passed, it would have given foreigners the choice to keep their nationality while participating in the community they lived in,' he says.
Experts challenge the argument that allowing foreigners to vote will threaten Japanese security. 'If they are elected in local assemblies or they vote for Japanese candidates, it would mean they support the development and take responsibility for the community they live,' says Lee Young Chang, who teaches Korean studies at Keisen University.
Neighbouring South Korea, which allows foreigners to participate in local-level voting, has been putting pressure on Japan on behalf of ethnic Korean residents to follow suit. The passage of such a bill would also help ease the historical enmity between the two nations.
© Inter Press Service (2010) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service