Letting foreigners vote would stir ethnic sentiments and risk generating confrontation.
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Financial Services Minister Shizuka Kamei, who opposes a plan to grant local and regional but not national suffrage to almost one million permanent residents of ethnic Korean, Chinese and other foreign backgrounds, both those who were born overseas and their descendants. (AFP)
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0
Canukle
Ethnic sentiments?? Also, you need more discussion in Japanese politics - sometimes you need confrontation to shake things up! Sounds like thinly veiled racism to me.
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Pukey2
Does this mean he doesn't want to see non-Wajins vote - eg Ainus, Okinawans, ethnic Koreans (like Wada Akiko) who have naturalized? This doesn't make sense. And it's not as if people will be able to vote for non-Japanese politicians.
I really don't see where Shizuka The Hutt is going with this.
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Nessie
Weird. It seems that voting on local issues would be more relevant.
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XXXXX
ah the magic word.
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dolphingirl
What are ethnic sentiments?
Wouldn't want to risk any confrontation at a local level. That would be true democracy!
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XXXXX
it would stir their curry
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Cos
"Ethnic sentiment" is the automatic consequence of institutions that refuse to consider them as nationals. Why would someone with a North-Korean passport (for instance) would vote like a Nihonjin ? You cannot be "inside" and "outside" at the same time. As long as they have different rights from Japanese citizens, they cannot vote the same way. That's clear.
I am totally opposed to foreigners voting in elections. It's illogical. Give these people the possibility to acquire the nationality, even as a second nationality. Then they will vote as citizens... not as "ethnic people".
If at least we were discussing it about migrants, that would make sense as we/they are not naturally entitled to obtain the new country's citizenship. That should be something acquired for the others. That's a total absurdity that people born and growing up in a country cannot be full right citizens. I can't even believe that now in Osaka, there are kids that are 4th and 5th generation, and they are not officially "Nihonjins". Stop that joke someday !
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