Hundreds of foreign permanent residents, mostly Koreans who came to Japan before or during World War II and their descendants, urged the government Sunday to give them the right to vote in local elections so their voices can be heard.
Sunday marked the third anniversary of South Korea giving foreign permanent residents the vote in local elections, and activists here said it is now Japan's turn.
"We foreign permanent residents would like to convey our opinions, but because we don't have local suffrage, it is very hard for us to make problems we are facing known to authorities in our hometowns," Kim Jong Soo, head of the Korean Youth Association, told a meeting in Tokyo's Ginza district.