Japan's youth will finally get a chance to have their voices heard in politics.

Revisions to the Public Offices Election Law that would lower the minimum voting age to 18 from 20 are being deliberated in the Diet and are widely expected to be passed during the current session, which is slated to end in June but could be extended through early August.

The move, which would mark the first drop in voting age since 1945, when it was lowered to 20 from 25, will affect the nation's 2.4 million 18- and 19-year-olds. If it clears the Diet, they would be allowed to vote in next year's Upper House election, at the earliest.

Why is such a big change happening now? How would it impact the political landscape, long dogged by criticism that it favors the overwhelmingly elderly electorate and neglects the young? Would it also mean teenagers will be treated as adults in other ways? Here are questions and answers on lowering the voting age.

What is the premise behind submitting the bill to lower the minimum voting age?

The government set the stage for lowering the minimum voting age in 2007, during the first administration of Shinzo Abe, when it passed the national referendum law. The law, which took effect last May, has been a key part of Abe's longtime desire to amend the pacific postwar Constitution to allow Japan to play a greater security role overseas.

The national referendum law, which stipulates procedures for revising the Constitution, states people 18 years old and older can participate in national referendums, and that other laws — including the Public Offices Election Law and the Civil Code — should be revised to be consistent with the law. The rationale for lowering the minimum voting age has been that if the 18-year-olds gain the right to participate in such important decisions as constitutional amendments, they should also be allowed to vote in national and local-level elections.

Is Japan unique in giving 18-year-olds the right to vote?

No. According to a 2014 study of electoral systems in 191 countries and regions around the world by the National Diet Library, 176 countries and regions, or 92 percent, have 18 as the minimum voting age, with some countries, including Austria, giving 16-year-olds the right to vote.

Haruhiko Tanaka, professor of education at Sophia University in Tokyo, said many Western countries moved to lower the voting age in the 1970s, in response to growing student protests in the 1960s.

"Since student activism became so aggressive, Western nations moved to give young people more say in politics, to appease their frustration at government," Tanaka said. "Many developing nations in Asia and Africa, meanwhile, lowered the voting age because they wanted to lower the conscription age (to 18 or below). They judged it would be only fair for young people to be given the right to choose their government if they were forced to put their lives on the line for their country."

Will lowering the voting age affect the political landscape?

It's hard to say. While young people are said to be feeling more insecure about their jobs as many are engaged in part-time or nonpermanent work, and are more worried about the nation's mushrooming social security costs than elderly voters are, it's unclear how such sentiment will play out in future elections, considering that the 2.4 million new teenage voters make up only 2 percent of the entire electorate.

Also, young people have shown little interest in politics, at least at the national level. In last December's snap Lower House election, only 32.6 percent of voters in their 20s went to the polls, while 68.3 percent of those in their 60s did. But Tanaka of Sophia University said some municipal-level referendums held in the past, in which 18-year-olds or even 16-year-olds were asked to participate, have shown that young people were more keen to be involved in issues that affect their communities.

In addition, 20 percent of high school graduates are working and paying taxes — thus they should be allowed to choose politicians through whom they can express their political views, Tanaka said.

Also, if 18-year-olds gain the right to vote, many would cast their first ballots at public halls and schools traditionally used as polling stations in their communities, whereas many 20-year-olds have left their parents' homes and hometowns for college or jobs and thus are less familiar with voting venues where they live. If people go to the polls in their hometowns in their first elections, the chances are the experience will stick with them throughout their lives, Tanaka said, adding that if people acquire the habit of voting early, this will eventually help boost voter turnout for the entire electorate.

What are the implications for other laws?

The voting age change has sparked discussions on possible changes to the Civil Code, the Criminal Code and the Juvenile Law, so 18-year-olds can be treated as adults in a wider scope.

The recent murder of a 13-year-old boy in Kawasaki, for which an 18-year-old and two 17-year-olds have been arrested, has fueled calls from Diet members to hold 18-year-olds fully liable for crimes they commit. Currently the Juvenile Law protects those younger than 20, such as by keeping them anonymous and sending their cases to family courts instead of prosecutors.

But the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, in an opinion paper dated Feb. 20, voiced opposition to lowering the age of adulthood in the Juvenile Law, saying many 18-year-olds today are, due in part to a rise in the ratio of those advancing to college, not "truly grown up," and thus the law should keep its focus on rehabilitating, not punishing, minors.

Also, experts say reforming the Civil Code to treat 18-year-olds as adults will require a considerable amount of education as consumers. If they are considered adults and allowed to engage in private-sector transactions without permission from their guardians, they would need to be fully aware of the risks of falling prey to scams or even the possibility of themselves inflicting damage on others, experts said

How does the overall public view this issue?

Public opinion is divided. A March opinion poll by the Asahi Shimbun of 1,921 eligible voters across the country found that 48 percent of those surveyed were in favor of lowering the voting age, while 39 percent were opposed.

Considering 18-year-olds as adults in the Civil Code was contentious, with those agreeing and disagreeing at 43 and 44 percent, respectively.

Lowering the minimum age at which the Juvenile Law is applied to 18 from the current 20 was even less popular, with 81 percent of those polled saying the law should remain intact.