Key Points
- Representatives from the Overseas Voters Network met with Diet members Chinami Nishimura and Ichiro Aisawa to advance online voting for Japanese citizens living abroad.
- A new legislative provision mandates a government review of online voting measures within one year of the bill’s promulgation, moving beyond vague promises of future consideration.
- The Parliamentary League for Promoting Overseas Voting is aiming for a full system rollout by the 2031 House of Councillors election, citing the need for cross-party consensus and technical security.
- Advocates emphasize that current postal and embassy-based voting systems are logistically inaccessible for many of the 1.3 million Japanese nationals living overseas, framing online voting as a fundamental human rights issue.
Full Transcript (English)
Hiroyuki Takenaga (Co-representative, Overseas Voters Network NY): Today, I will first visit Representative Chinami Nishimura, who is the Secretary General of the parliamentary league. After that, I will meet with the league’s chairman, Representative Aisawa. Representative Aisawa is also the chair of the consultative committee regarding election movements, so I intend to ask him about that as well.
Chinami Nishimura (Secretary General, Parliamentary League for Promoting Overseas Voting): Regarding the bill, it states that a review will be conducted with a target of one year after promulgation, and necessary measures will be taken based on those results. This is written quite firmly. It doesn’t say “if necessary” or “consider adding a review.” It says “based on the results, necessary measures shall be taken.” It is quite specific.
Hiroyuki Takenaga: When it says “with a target of one year,” does that mean exactly one year or roughly one year?
Chinami Nishimura: It means roughly one year. Of course, it could be shorter, but it is rare for these things to move faster. When passing laws, we often include review periods, like a three-year review. This is included in the supplementary provisions of the law. Even then, these deadlines are often not met. We cannot let our guard down. Technically, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications will handle it, and they seem to have made significant progress recently. Previously, during hearings, everyone was frustrated because they wouldn’t commit to details. But now, the challenges are organized, and they seem to understand. Now it is about the system design with vendors and the bidding process. We have to decide to do internet voting first. You can’t just start with registration. We need to decide to do it, and then within that year, the Ministry will select vendors and build the system.
Tatsuhiko Wakao (Representative, Overseas Voters Network Japan): We want to support this with voices from overseas.
Chinami Nishimura: Mr. Takenaga previously collected signatures and submitted a petition to the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The government is watching that. If possible, it would be great to collect signatures for each session of the Diet. The number of signatures has a huge impact. Even if it’s just one or two more people, it matters.
Hiroyuki Takenaga: We are still collecting them. We have about 34,000 now. But these require physical signatures and addresses, and they cannot be done online.
Chinami Nishimura: Regarding the recent lawsuit, where are the plaintiffs located?
Hiroyuki Takenaga: Australia, France, Canada, and Germany. This is the third time. But this time is the real deal. Previously, people just couldn’t vote. This lawsuit argues that the system itself is unconstitutional because it is impossible to vote. We aren’t asking for something new to be created; we are saying the current “ship” of postal voting is sinking and doesn’t work. We need a way to vote. It’s a lawsuit about the violation of the right to vote.
Chinami Nishimura: Why have I devoted so much time and thought to overseas voting? It’s because I met Mr. Wakao in 2007. Just before the House of Councillors election, Mr. Wakao and others invited representatives from various parties to Los Angeles for a debate. When you are abroad, information about candidates and parties is limited, so they organized it themselves. I went as a representative of the Democratic Party. Hearing the actual situation there made me realize we had to keep working on this. Times have changed. Now that we are in an internet-driven world, everyone thinks this technology should be used for overseas voting. This has finally taken the form of a legal provision. Suffrage is a human right that must be guaranteed regardless of where a person lives.
Tatsuhiko Wakao: It all started when Representative Nishimura came to see us. She helped create this parliamentary league.
Hiroyuki Takenaga: We are aiming to introduce overseas online voting by the 2031 House of Councillors election. What needs to happen before then? We need to improve things like public relations for overseas voting and the application process at the time of departure. We need to make it better bit by bit.
Ichiro Aisawa (Chair, Parliamentary League for Promoting Overseas Voting): We reached a consensus between the ruling and opposition parties regarding elections and SNS. In that process, there was a lot of discussion about overseas voting. I will share the records with you. All parties expressed positive views. This is a formal record of the Diet, which is a significant achievement. The Ministry of Internal Affairs has been researching this for a long time. If asked for the earliest possible timeline, 2031 is the target we have in mind. We need to build a political foundation where all parties agree. We can’t have one party deciding everything. We need to create a foundation for democracy together. Then the government will move. There are technical issues and several laws, including the Public Offices Election Act and telecommunications laws, that may need adjustment. We need to ensure the role of overseas diplomatic missions is clear. It will take about five years to get all the details right.
Hiroyuki Takenaga: I heard that in the consultative committee, the idea of adding this to the supplementary provisions came from you, Representative Aisawa.
Ichiro Aisawa: Yes, I’ve worked on this with Representative Nishimura for a long time. All parties showed more interest and a sense of urgency than I expected. It was important to write it into the law. We need to ensure the fairness and integrity of the election—no cheating, no fraud. That is the most important thing. While domestic voting remains analog for now, for those overseas, the physical and spatial barriers make voting nearly impossible. We have a responsibility to fix that. We want to move this forward so that Japanese people, whether at home or anywhere in the world, can exercise their right and duty to vote.
Tatsuhiko Wakao: The Japanese community abroad acts as a breakwater and represents Japan to the world. We want our perspectives to be reflected in the Diet. That has been the goal of our movement.
Hiroyuki Takenaga: I’ll be back in December. I want to see this through to the end.
Tatsuhiko Wakao: I’m 80 years old now. I want to see this completed while I’m still alive.
