Will Lowering the Voting Age Change Japanese Politics?

Reaching Out

Students have hitherto been regarded mainly as staff workers or volunteers during election campaigns, and, with few exceptions, efforts have not been made to reach out to them as constituents or as party members.

This is because, in most major parties, individual politicians have been left to build electoral campaign teams and find backing on their own. Since university students have had little interest in politics or voting, have often not changed their registered addresses and thus cannot vote in the electoral districts where they are now studying, and are likely to move again after graduation, politicians have had little incentive to actively engage them or invite them into their party organizations. Given this state of affairs, their parties need to undertake the bulk of the outreach efforts. Most party organizations are weak, however, and little organized attempt is being made to broaden support among students and other young people.

An even bigger weakness in rounding up grassroots support has been the inability to attract voters—regardless of age—with a coherent set of policies. Voting patterns continue to be dictated by occupational or workplace interests and community ties. Such strategies are effective only when voters have fixed jobs and dwellings; they have almost no meaning for university students. On the other hand, building a network of young, likeminded cohorts is a task that can be better advanced precisely through an elucidation of policy goals.

Politicians and the media will no doubt begin giving greater thought to the kind of policies that appeal to younger voters. This is a task that that will require talking directly to young people, getting them involved in grassroots activities, and working with them to come up with policy solutions. Political parties today are not doing enough to build policies from the ground up, relying instead on bureaucrats, experts, and other elites with specialist knowledge to provide answers from on high. This is one reason for the rift between politics and people on the street.

Whether politicians and parties ultimately seize the opportunity that the lowering of the voting age provides depends on being able to reduce this gap and win back voters’ interest and expectations. Suffrage at 18 in itself will not be a solution, but it can prompt important changes in the activities, organization, and awareness of Japan’s political parties.