The Civic and Political Participation of Non-Citizen Residents in Japan: Multi-Ethnic Cities in an Ethno-Nationalist Society

ABSTRACT This article examines the roles that local actors play in driving a transition to multicultural co-living, drawing on the lessons learned from the experience of two Japanese municipalities in facilitating civic and political participation by non-citizens. It seeks to ascertain the factors that drive the transition to forms of local inclusion that foster the rights of foreign nationals to civic and political participation. Effective transitions to inclusiveness in these Japanese cities, the article finds, resulted largely from effective policy entrepreneurship and leadership, which I argue was produced by forward-looking local mayors, ethnic associations, and support groups. Given their lack of voice at the national level, the two municipalities in this study had previously had little option but to act on the pressing need to extend the rights of civic and political participation to foreign residents in their local communities. Despite differences in their circumstances, the two cities both had the skills and drive to overcome challenges and seize opportunities at the local level that effected real change for their inclusive communities.