Foreigners Voting in Japan?
Last night, I foolishly got suckered into a heated debate with a Japanese friend on the issue of extending voting rights to foreigners with permanent residency. Opponents of a new bill granting foreigners voting rights tend to strongly claim that Zainichi Koreans living in Japan would take advantage of the system by continuing to refuse to naturalize here yet reap the benefits of living in Japan the same way a born-Japanese citizen could.
And, sadly enough, my friend even made it clear that she believes foreign powers control Japan enough as it is, and granting foreigners voting rights will seal Japan’s doom as Koreans and Chinese with PR desire to take everything they can from Japan and bring down Japanese society from within, eventually robbing the Japanese of their identity.
As usual, paranoid thinking with regards to foreigners rarely leads to logical conclusions.
She was such a good friend, too… What a shame.
Here’s a quote on the issue from an opinion piece submitted to the Chuo Online from a Japanese college professor at Chuo University:
To maintain a friendly relationship between Japan and China, we should keep a minimum distance. Excessive courtesy can often result in the destruction of friendships. We should avoid stupid acts such as letting friends attend family meetings, which cause unnecessary conflict and tension. The bill granting voting rights to foreign residents not only threatens Japan’s security, but also adversely affects international peace.
A brilliant piece of logic from Professor Paranoid…
Anyway, for more on the issue, check out the following links:
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/adv/chuo/dy/opinion/20100301.htm
An American living in Tokyo. Can be seen bounding through Shinjuku Station most mornings, teeth gnashing, eyes bulging, a cup of cheap coffee clenched in one fist and a satchel in the other. God help those who don't see him coming.
March 21st, 2010 at 11:11 am
Yeah I avoid such discussion at all costs because I want to maintain the few good Japanese friends i have. Not that I’m dying to vote here anyway. But I would like to have a say in things that affect me directly, but who wouldn’t? I tell myself if i want to have a say I had better go home (US) and say it. LOL
Good post!
Loco
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March 21st, 2010 at 11:54 am
Professor Paranoid is something else! LOL!
But seriously, I am against foreigners voting. I’ve lived in a few other countries, and the story was always the same - you want to vote? Then become a citizen.
What Japan should do is allow for dual citizenship and make it easier for people to naturalize.
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March 21st, 2010 at 2:38 pm
@locohama:
Like I said, I kind of got suckered into this one. But said friend hung herself with her paranoid comments. I tried to change the subject…
@Ms. Trouble:
I don’t know how I feel about someone who got PR after 10 years of life in Japan all of a sudden having a say, but for Zainichi Koreans born in Japan, where’s the harm? It’s amazing how protective Japanese are of their so-called “identity”, which, let’s face it, has evolved so much over the last century and a half that really, all we’re talking about is DNA.
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March 21st, 2010 at 8:29 pm
Politics and religion, war starters every time.
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March 21st, 2010 at 11:30 pm
I had this argument a month ago with a Japanese friend.
I don’t really care one way or the other about whether someone who chose to immigrate here can get the vote without naturalization, but the Zainichis? Come on. They deserve the vote at the municipal, prefectural, and national level.
The most common argument is “but they can naturalize if they want to!”.
These people have spent their lives being second-class citizens because of, essentially, their names. They grew up having a hard time getting an apartment, getting a job, getting into schools, getting a loan to buy a car or a house… Despite being born and raised here, and having no other home in the world, speaking no other language in the world, they’re looked down on and marginalized. And then, what do they get told? ”If you want to do anything about it, if you want to have the vote, you need to join up with and declare your allegiance to the very same people who held you down.”
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March 22nd, 2010 at 1:50 am
‘Tis like I’m saying, make it easier for them to naturalize. The longer they stay “Korean” the longer they will play that “ooohhh, everybody looks down on us, we have it so hard here” card. They want to vote, they should get the passport. Japan is not the only country that has this issue. Turkish people in Switzerland, living there for generations, born there, etc, are not citizens, yet Switzerland is the only country they know. And even though the Swiss make it ridiculously difficult for them to become citizens, they know this is the only way to improve their standing and have a say in how things are done in their “homeland.” The Koreans should get the chip off their shoulders and do the same. Harsh? Yes, but that’s the law. At least here the community doesn’t vote on whether or not to grant them citizenship (like it’s done in Switzerland).
-says Ms Trouble who actually knows a whole Zainichi family who “turned” Japanese - for the sake of their kids, and a couple of others who did it and, if anything, now they say, it opened a lot of doors for them, not only in Japan.
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March 22nd, 2010 at 3:25 am
@-Paul:
You know it!
@Drew and Ms. Trouble:
I guess I’m a pretty proud individual and authority hater. I don’t know how I would feel if I were a Zainichi Korean, but I live by a code and I never waver. Yeah, I’m stubborn as hell, but I think I would fight tooth and nail to have things changed if I weren’t satisfied. So, I don’t blame the proud, stubborn people who are doing the same. But, as Ms. Trouble has stated, reality’s a bitch and the law’s the law. I hope that if the law does change, it’s for the better.
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March 22nd, 2010 at 9:21 am
I got into a discussion about this with my gf (Japanese) recently. We never got into an argument about it. Just agreed to disagree, but it sounds as if your friend’s views are the same as my gf’s.
I really couldn’t care less about voting here really but fundamentally I don’t see why you have to be a citizen to have the right to vote. I know that in New Zealand we have a system where anyone resident for three continuous years gets the right to vote in local and general elections. I think that’s a fair system. I don’t see how such a system would undermine the Japanese parliament from within. I heard that foreigners can’t run for office here so any PR voters could only vote for Japanese anyway.
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March 23rd, 2010 at 5:05 am
All the politicians are bullshit motherfuckers anyway. Let’s get that clear from the jump.
Besides. If you wanna vote you should be a citizen. And while I make very nice money over here I’m still a “thank GOD I am American” type of American. Being here for 6 years has only made me feel luckier.
If you don’t like where you live…move. The Japanese for all their flaws are their own thing and can do whatever the fuck they like as long as they don’t stare at me too long or cause an animal to go extinct or ignore child porn laws much longer.
The now recovering but previous long decline in the birthrate along with companies moving factories to China and India just to stay competitive are going to have HUGE effects on this country. They will have to increase the # of non citizens just to function. The average wages will drop ,the drug, gun and social ills will rise along with unemployment. This is an unavoidable scenario that is even now beginning to play out. The tax and pension system are a looming disaster that’s timing couldn’t be more worse. The amount of people paying into the pension system compared with those drawing off of it are at a staggering gap.
Watching the 2 major parties making promises they can’t keep almost feels like home.
Japan is fighting a social battle it has already lost. Their slow to move head in the sand mentality is why Korea and other asian powers recovered relatively quickly 10ish years ago while Japan never really did. Their was no real recovery between the 2 most recent economic crashes. An entire “zero growth” generation has grown up under these conditions.
I have an adult woman who was a Elementary student when the bomb was dropped in Hiroshima. She watched the cloud from a town called Yu. (near here) She said Japan’s collapse is from within. Nobody is taking away it’s identity. They are giving it away or selling it. She is a wise old sage with a lifetime of knowledge about her own country. She is a Nationalist conservative but so am I and we respect each others views. She is like a breath of fresh air. I learn a lot from her and I hope my honesty is valued by her.
Vote?
Vote for what?
I’m paraphrasing a woman who grew up during and after the war and went to college when it was rare for women. She’s pretty blunt and harsh on anything that doesn’t seem kosher ( a shout out to the heebs in the house) and she said it just right in my book.
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March 23rd, 2010 at 3:24 pm
@Jehovah:
Yeah, not surprising they have like-minded views. Seems like too many people here do.
@Chris B:
Yeah, like I said, I have no interest in it for me, but there seems to be a lot of controversy surrounding the Zainichi Korean issue.
Either way, I’ll have forgotten about it by next week.
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June 7th, 2010 at 3:34 am
the Zainichi Koreans should be able to vote
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