SAITAMA (Kyodo) Saitama Gov. Kiyoshi Ueda said Tuesday he is against a bill that would give permanent foreign residents the right to vote in local elections.
The Hatoyama administration is considering submitting the bill to the Diet this session.
"I have long been opposed to such a bill. I don't think it is a matter to be decided by a majority of votes (in the Diet)," Ueda said.
A former member of the Lower House from the Democratic Party of Japan, Ueda said he doesn't understand why third-, fourth- or even fifth-generation foreign residents don't just seek Japanese nationality. He was apparently referring to Korean residents.
Ueda said national security can be the focal point of a local election, citing this Sunday's mayoral race in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, where the long-delayed relocation of a U.S. military base is the crux of the campaign.
Residents of Korean descent comprise most of the permanent foreign residents in Japan. The government grants special permanent resident status to people from the Korean Peninsula and Taiwan who have lived in the country since the time of Japan's colonial rule over those areas, and to their descendants.