Voting in Japan

Three AKB48 members encourage Tokyo citizens to vote. Yes, they're old enough to vote.

This month, on December 16th, Japan will be holding a major election for various seats due to 野田佳彦総理大臣 {NODA Yoshihiko sōridaijin} (Prime Minister Yoshihiko NODA) dissolving the lower house (House of Representatives, or 衆議院 {shūgiin}). Additionally, Tokyoites will vote for a new governor. It's a very important election, as there are major issues surrounding the debt crisis & raising the consumption tax, free trade liberalization with the TPP, foreign affairs & sovereign territory disputes, energy policy & nuclear power, and a potential shift in representation for the majority party (currently 民主党 {minshutō}} — the Democratic Party of Japan — which has no relation to the political party of the same name in the United States) as well as the governor of Tokyo, who presides over an area that has a larger population and GDP than many countries in the world.

How does voting work in Japan? Unlike some other countries, there is no voter registration or voter identification card. They send you a 投票所入場整理券 {tōhyōsho nyūjō seiriken} (Voting Place Entrance Ticket) in the mail from the city hall/ward office where you're registered every time there's an election. One envelope or postcard will arrive, and it will have a coupon/ticket for every registered voter in the household — both my wife and I received one — allowing you to throw away your spouse's ticket if you know they won't vote the same way as you. (Ha! That's a joke. My wife is over my shoulder reminding me to tell you all that doing this, or stealing somebody's mail, is very illegal) The voting ticket will look something like this:

(personal information and sensitive numbers and barcodes have been censored)

The voting place is open on Sunday from 7am to 8pm, and is usually held at some public facility near you — such as a primary school gymnasium for this ticket. You must vote at your designated voting area, even if there are other voting places in in your designated voting district (Tokyo voting district #6 — 第６区 {dai rok-ku} — for the above ticket). A map to this place is on the right side. This particular ticket allows you to vote for the following:

• 衆議院議員選挙 {shūgiin giin senkyo}（小選挙区） {(shōsenkyoku)} (House of Representatives / single seat representative election)
• 衆議院議員選挙 {shūgiin giin senkyo}（比例代表） {(hirei daihyō)} (House of Representatives / proportional representative election)
• 最高裁判所裁判官国民審査 {saikō saibansho saibankan kokumin shinsa} (national supreme court judge examiner election)
• 東京都知事選挙 {Tōkyō-to chiji senkyo} (Tokyo governor election)
• 東京都議会議員補欠選挙 {Tōkyō-to gikai giin hoketsu senkyo}（世田谷区選挙区） {(Setagaya-ku senkyo-ku)} (replacement local ward city councillor for Setagaya Ward, Tokyo election)

Surprisingly, you do not need to bring any sort of identification with you — other than the voting ticket you got in the mail. They may ask you for your date of birth, phone number, and/or some sort of information to assess your identity. Oddly enough, much like how Japanese immigration processes a Japanese passport of someone who doesn't appear to be racially Japanese, they don't seem to do a double take or doubt you when a non-racially Japanese person presents this coupon to vote. At least that's been my experience so far. There is special assistance for voting if you are disabled (such as blind).

Early voting is possible and they give instructions in the mailed envelope on how to do it. Early voting is acceptable for the following reasons:

• Work, school, or ceremony (wedding, funeral, etc) commitments on voting day
• On voting day you have plans to go shopping, some leisure activity, or you will not be in your voting district that day
• Illness or injury or weather + health conditions prevent you from making it to the voting place
• You have moved to another voting district and you have not yet registered your move at your new residence

You have to sign an oath (期日前投票宣誓書 {kijitsumae tōhyō senseisho}) at the voting place and present your the ticket to vote early. There are even special procedures for voting if you're on a ship as part of the crew (洋上投票 {yōjō tōhyō}), and they even allow voting via fax if you're on assignment in Antartica (南極投票 {Nankyoku tōhyō}). Overseas voting in other cases is allowed for special groups such as international relief, humanitarian, specialist, peacekeeping and medical workers and as well as self-defense forces in Iraq, etc.

One interesting quirk about Japanese elections is that if you're one of the very first people to the voting place the protocol allows you to inspect the voting box to see that it is indeed empty. I'm sure there are many other protocols to ensure an honest and fair election, but this is the one I happen to know because I've done it.

Another interesting unofficial quirk of Japanese elections: unlike going to work or even going shopping, where Japanese are known to dress nicer than non-Japanese, it's a bit of a joke that nobody really dresses up to go to the voting place. I certainly didn't see any salarymen that looked like bums at the voting place. But they were definitely dressed like they were making an after-hours run to the convenience store or trash deposit area, as opposed to being dressed like they expected to be seen by other respectable members of society. Some of my friends suggested I go to the voting place looking like this:

The Dude would be perfectly dressed for a stroll to the voting place to exercise his citizen's right.

Sorry, but that's a little too casual. Even for me.