To all of our foreign friends living in Japan

February 2005

The Network of Japanese, Korean and Foreign Residents in Japan to Realize the Suffrage of Long-Term Foreign Residents in Japan in Local Politics

<Co-Representatives>

Hiroshi Tanaka, Professor, Ryukoku University

Aiko Utsumi, Professor, Keisen University

Kyongnam Park, Writer

Kyondok Kim, Representative, J & K Law Office

An Appeal for Your Support to the Communiqué

We are a civic group that aims for gaining the suffrage of long-term foreign residents in Japan in local politics, which is collaborated by Japanese and Korean residents in Japan and in partnership with Korean researchers, attorneys and civic groups, both in Japan and Korea.

In 1993, the City Council of Kishiwada in Osaka Prefecture, adopted a ‘statement’ that calls for bestowing foreigners their suffrage in local politics, and other municipalities nationwide followed suit. 1,522 municipalities have adopted a similar statement as of the end of 2004.

In February 1995, the Supreme Court decided, “The Constitution does not prohibit bestowing the suffrage in local politics to foreigners such as permanent foreign residents who have a close relationship with their municipalities. It is up to the Diet whether to take such a measure.” In 1998, both the Democratic Party and the Komei Party submitted their Bill to Bestow Permanent Foreign Residents their Suffrage in Local Politics to the Diet, which was the first ever. Since then, the bill has been continually debated on and repeatedly abolished, and there has been no progress in that deliberation.

Moreover, some Japanese politicians prepared a Special Bill for Special Permanent Residents such as Korean Residents in Japan to Gain Their Nationality, as if they were in opposition to this bill. It is something that suggests that “if you want your suffrage, first obtain your Japanese nationality.” But this does not correctly reflect the voices of foreigners demanding their suffrage in local politics.

This is because suffrage in local politics should be equally bestowed to all long-term foreign residents as their basic human right, regardless of their nationality or qualification to permanent residency, despite the fact that the movement to achieve suffrage of foreigners in local politics has been developed primarily by those from former Japanese colonies and Korean residents in Japan who are their descendants. The movement for their suffrage in local politics derives from their natural wish that they want to participate in their own self-government as residents who live in local communities and meet their obligations to pay their taxes and as members of their municipalities.

In view of these purposes, we have prepared the following communiqué.

If you could support this communiqué, please fill out the attached application form in support of that communiqué and send it to us by March 25. Then, we will include only the collected names and nationalities in our petition to be attached to the communiqué and submitted to Diet members at a meeting to be held in the Diet building on April 5, 2005.

Your cooperation would be greatly appreciated.

Let us send our earnest voices as citizens of a multinational and multi-ethnic society to the Diet on April 5.

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A Communiqué of Citizens of a Multinational and Multi-ethnic Society for the Suffrage of all Long-Term Foreign Residents in Japan

Today, there are more than 1.9 million foreigners living in Japan. Among them are 480,000 Special Permanent Residents such as Korean residents in Japan, 270,000 Permanent Residents, 250,000 Long- Term Residents, 260,000 Spouses of the Japanese, and 10,000 Spouses of Permanent Residents, partly constituting almost 1.3 million long-term foreign residents whose lives are based in Japan. In addition, there have been a growing number of foreigners who reside in Japan for a long term while repeating their renewal of their status of residency by one or three years as well as foreigners who get married to the Japanese.

As such, we who live in Japan either permanently or on a long-term basis have already established our lives and residences in Japan for a long time and will continue to live there.

We have wished to realize the suffrage of long-term foreign residents in Japan, a basic right that has already enforced in democracies in the rest of the world. The Supreme Court ruled in 1995 that bestowing suffrage to long-term foreign residents through legislation is not unconstitutional, making us assured that our wish is never impossible to be realized.

10 years have passed since the Supreme Court ruling, while the number of municipalities nationwide that enacted their ‘ordinances for local referendum’ that allows foreign residents with qualifications for permanent residency and others to have their right to vote has already risen to 175 as of the end of 2004.

We wish to participate in local referendum and local self-government as ‘residents’ in local communities and contribute to the development of the local communities. We firmly believe that the recognition of foreign residents as full members of the local communities means that the Japanese society becomes truly ‘internationalized’ and moves toward the realization of living together as a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society.

We urge that the suffrage of long-term foreign residents in local politics be secured.

April 5, 2004

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I support the Communiqué of Citizens of a Multinational and Multi-ethnic Society for the Suffrage of all Long-Term Foreign Residents in Japan.

１　Your Name (Please print using Roman alphabet):

２　Your Nationality:

３　Your Contact Address ＊This will not be made public.

If you need notices on gatherings and news, please indicate them as such.

○Your Address:

〒

○Your E-mail Address:

●Please send this to us by March 25, either by fax or E-mail at the following:

　　ＦＡＸ03-3359-8832　　Email:urikim@pop12.odn.ne.jp

Contact: The Network of Japanese, Korean and Foreign Residents in Japan to Realize the Suffrage of Long-Term Foreign Residents in Japan in Local Politics

J&K Law Office, 4^th floor, Espace Concert, 3-3, Yotsuya, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0004

PHONE: 03-3359-8831 FAX:03-3359-8832