Tokyo - Japan is set to take a baby step towards rebalancing the age scales when lawmakers lower the voting age to 18 from its current 20, allowing teenagers into polling booths for the first time.
The move will bring Japan -- where political power resides firmly with the grey of hair -- into line with other developed countries and will extend the franchise to an extra 2.4 million 18- and 19-year-olds.
And not before time, say teenagers.
"Age 18 is not too young," said 17-year-old high school student Shiori Toshima of the rule change, expected during the current parliament session ending in June.
"I will definitely go to vote," she said. "I'd be happy to see my opinion affect politics, even just a little."
Japan last changed its voting rules in the punch-drunk months after its 1945 surrender in World War II, altering the age at which citizens could cast their ballot from 25 to 20.
"Japan was one lap behind but is eventually catching up" with global standards, said Ryohei Takahashi, who teaches at Chuo University in Tokyo and runs a nonprofit group that promotes youth participation.
"In Japan, politics has excessively reflected elderly people's voices, which we call silver democracy," Takahashi said.
Around a quarter of Japan's 127-million population is aged 65 or over, a result of low birth rates over the last few decades and no significant immigration. The proportion is expected to grow to around 40 percent in a few decades.
The inverted age pyramid that this represents has combined with a Confucian respect for elders and left Japan a country primarily run by, and for the benefit of, old people.
AFP
