Japan opens first polling stations in Taiwan for upper house vote

Taipei, July 5 (CNA) Japanese nationals living in Taiwan were able to cast early votes in Japan's House of Councillors election at a polling station in Taipei on Saturday, the first time they have ever been able to cast a vote in a Japanese election in person in Taiwan.

The Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association (JTEA) is holding early voting at its Taipei office -- Japan's de-facto embassy in Taiwan -- and a branch office in Kaohsiung, from July 4 to July 14 ahead of the election, which is scheduled to take place in Japan on July 20.

Previously, Japanese nationals in Taiwan could only vote by applying for ballots in advance and sending them by mail to Japan, or by traveling back to Japan to cast their ballots in person.

Voting is a fundamental right for Japanese citizens overseas, Yo Takaba, a deputy Japanese representative to Taiwan, told CNA, adding that setting up polling stations locally was a very meaningful way of expanding access to democratic participation.

The JTEA said there had long been calls to set up overseas polling stations in Taiwan and that the decision was made following consultations with Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to the JTEA, there are currently around 16,000 eligible Japanese voters living in Taiwan.

To be able to participate, however, eligible voters aged 18 and over must first register with the Japanese government in order to vote from abroad.

Once registered, they are given a voter card that they have to show along with a photo ID when appearing at a JTEA polling station in Taiwan to vote.

Masayuki Yamamoto, who has lived in Taiwan for two years for work, told CNA that he cast his vote outside of Japan for the first time on Saturday, with the hope that Japan would become a better country.

Yamamoto described the process as more convenient than the traditional mail-in method and in-person voting in Japan, even though additional paperwork was required to prevent identity fraud.

Unlike Taiwan's use of stamping to indicate a vote, Japan uses handwritten ballots, where voters write the names of their preferred candidates and political parties and hand their ballots in sealed envelopes to polling staff.