Japanese politicians' advocacy of "the right to vote as soon as a baby is born" may seem absurd, but in fact it has another political purpose.
▲日本大阪街头。 图/IC photo
Text | Xu Lifan
According to Japanese media reports quoted by the Observer Network, on May 13, local time, Yoshimura Yoshimura, a co-representative of the Japan Restoration Association and governor of Osaka Prefecture, said in an interview that Japanese "should have the right to vote from the age of 0".
Yoshimura said that Japan is the most aging country in the world, so we should consider [giving 0-year-old children the right to vote]. He also said that he plans to make a campaign promise in the House of Representatives election in the Japanese Diet: children under one year of age should have the right to vote. He advocated that parents should exercise the right to vote on behalf of their children until they reached adulthood.
Currently, the minimum age for suffrage in Japan is 18 years old. This was downgraded in 2016 by the Japanese government in an effort to raise awareness among the younger generation to participate in politics.
As soon as Yoshimura's remarks came out, they "sparked a rift between two generations in Japan" on social platforms. Is it serious to argue about a gimmicky policy proposition that has no possibility of implementation? The bigger question is, even if babies have the right to vote on behalf of their parents, will the birth rate increase?
It is just a banner to solve the problem of declining birthrate
Whether or not the problem of declining birthrate can be solved has indeed been one of the issues that Japanese public opinion is most concerned about.
Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications released on May 4 a calculation of the number of children based on population projections. As of April 1, there were 14.01 million children under the age of 15, a decrease of 330,000 from the previous year. The data shows that the younger the age, the lower the number of children. Of these, only 2.35 million are aged 0 to 2. This is also the 43rd year that the number of children in Japan has decreased since 1982.
Currently, children make up 11.3% of the total population in Japan. By comparison, in 1950, children accounted for one-third of Japan's population. At that time, the high proportion of children in the total population was related to the emergence of the "baby boom" in Japan after the war, and this generation was later called the "lump generation", which was also the main force driving Japan's post-war economic development.
In contrast to the significant decline in Japan's total population of children, the proportion of people aged 65 and over in Japan is now 29.2 per cent, up from 4.9 per cent in 1950.
Japan's declining birthrate and aging population are severely restricting Japan's economic and social vitality. But with a little common sense, this is not a problem that can be solved by "you should have the right to vote from the age of 0". One can't even find a logical relationship between the two. Unless Yoshimura is really so anxious about the declining birthrate that he has no tricks and starts talking nonsense, he just has other intentions.
I want Osaka to be a different kind of "capital" than Tokyo
Yoshimura also has another political identity, being a "co-representative of the Japan Restoration Association". The Japan Restoration Party is currently the third largest party in Japan, behind the Liberal Democratic Party and the Democratic Party, and the only major party headquartered in Osaka rather than Tokyo.
One of the main policy propositions of the Japan Restoration Society is to weaken Tokyo's status as a "monopole" and promote the upgrading of Osaka Prefecture to a "metropolis" alongside Tokyo, with more autonomy.
During the reign of Emperor Meiji, the Tokugawa shogunate was abolished, and the Ryukyus were annexed by Japan to strengthen the imperial power. Since then, 47 first-class administrative districts have been formed, namely "one capital, one prefecture, two prefectures, and 43 prefectures", one is Tokyo, one is Hokkaido, and the other is Osaka and Kyoto.
The Kanto region, where Tokyo is located, developed after the Edo period, and is the most economically developed region in Japan, and its per capita income is higher than that of the Kansai region, which is represented by Osaka and Kyoto. Historically, Osaka and Kyoto were the political and economic centers of Japan. This situation made the Japan Restoration Association, which was founded in Osaka, extremely unhappy.
In its political program, the Japan Restoration Society clearly stated that Japan must "change from a centralized capital area to a multipolar decentralized system" and "establish a new mechanism for local governments to participate in national decision-making." In 2015 and 2020, there were two referendums to make Osaka Prefecture a "special district", and although they did not pass the test, they had many supporters. In the 2015 referendum, only 10,000 fewer votes were cast in favor of Osaka's escalation than there were opponents.
If Yoshimura's statement that "you should have the right to vote from the age of 0" is realized, then the side that supports the Japan Restoration Association is expected to receive more votes. In time, the new generation of babies will grow up with the same Osaka complex as their parents. This is probably what Yoshimura really intended.
Create momentum for expanding the scope of constitutional amendments
The hype that babies are born with the right to vote will also help build momentum for Japan's constitutional amendment. Because, to really lower the voting age to such an unbelievable extent, the constitution needs to be amended.
At the beginning of its founding, the Japan Restoration Society merged with the Sun Party of Shintaro Ishihara, a Japanese far-right politician, and also absorbed Shintaro Ishihara's political ideas, refused to reflect on the war, and actively demanded that the Japanese constitution be amended. It was only the Osaka local faction in the Restoration Association that regarded the upgrading of Osaka Prefecture to a capital and the realization of full local autonomy as its primary goal, so it always maintained a certain distance from Tokyo and did not support the various policies promoted by the Abe and Kishida governments, and its far-right color was weakened.
However, there is no actual difference between the position of the Japan Restoration Association and the Abe and Kishida governments on the revision of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, which states that "Japan will not maintain its army, navy, air force, and other war forces, and will renounce the right to declare war, but only the right of self-defense." It is only to call for the addition of "Article 9-2" to legalize the Japanese Self-Defense Forces.
Nobuyuki Baba, a representative of the Japan Restoration Party, also said that "peace in the Taiwan Strait is peace in Japan," which is no different from the fallacy that "if there is something wrong with Taiwan, there is something wrong with Japan."
Now, there is no way to achieve the "right to vote as soon as a baby is born". However, it is possible to enhance the so-called "rationality" of constitutional amendments by taking advantage of this topic of concern in Japanese society. This is a political maneuver that should be guarded against.
From this point of view, it may seem absurd that Japanese politicians advocate that "babies have the right to vote as soon as they are born," but in fact the hidden political purpose may not be absurd.
Written by Xu Lifan (Columnist)
Editor / Bruce Ma
Proofreading / Liu Jun
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