Young Voters Reach Out to Lawmaker Seki Hei

In 2016, the voting age in Japan was lowered from twenty to eighteen. However, nearly a decade later, voter turnout among young people remains weak. 

In a poll conducted in the spring of 2025, fewer than half of 18-year-old voters expressed interest in Japanese politics. Meanwhile, just under 38% said they would be casting a ballot in the upcoming national elections. Official Japanese government data reveal steadily declining voter turnout overall, and Japanese young people are no exception.

But at least one politician is working to change that. Seki Hei, a freshman senator from Osaka, recently took time out of his busy schedule to meet with some of my Reitaku University students at his office in Nagatacho, Tokyo. 

There, Senator Seki and my students exchanged views on taxes, Taiwan, social change, and other issues about which many young people often express interest. With his patient, convivial demeanor, Seki taught us about Japanese politics while listening to the students' views.

Foreign Policy and Palpable Tensions

Many of my students have recently shown a strong interest in Taiwan's geopolitical position.

In November 2025, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made remarks in the Diet regarding the potential influence that an incident involving Taiwan might exert on Japan's national security.

While Takaichi's remarks were grounded in reality and uttered in a spirit of preparing for contingencies that could emerge around the two island nations of Japan and Taiwan, China reacted with characteristic venom. 

A Chinese diplomat based in Osaka threatened to behead the Japanese leader, for example. 

The People's Liberation Army Navy sent the Liaoning aircraft carrier detachment through Japanese waters near Miyakojima, with Chinese J-15 fighter jets illuminating radar on Japanese F-15 aircraft monitoring the Chinese incursion – an extremely dangerous and aggressive maneuver. 

Regional and even global tensions increased dramatically following Takaichi's remarks. Seki, a naturalized Japanese citizen originally from China, has detailed knowledge of the Taiwan issue. 

Historical Reality about Taiwan

"The Republic of China, which is commonly referred to as Taiwan, is on the island of Taiwan and some surrounding islands because the Republic of China forces lost to the Communists in the Chinese civil war in 1949," he said. "And in that same year, the People's Republic of China was formed on the mainland."

"China claims that Taiwan is its territory, but this is an untenable position," he argued. For one thing, Seki said, China has never ruled over Taiwan. Moreover, the Potsdam Declaration of 1945 ordered that the terms of the 1943 Cairo Declaration were to be carried out. 

"The Cairo Declaration ordered that the island of Formosa, that is, Taiwan, was to be returned from Japanese rule to the Republic of China, not to the People's Republic of China. There was no such thing as the People's Republic of China in 1945," he explained.

To a ripple of laughter among my students, the freshman lawmaker asked rhetorically, "How can an island be returned to a country that didn't exist?"

Prime Minister Takaichi's recent comments about Taiwan, Seki added, were reasonable and based on historical fact.

Young Voters and Economic Realities

After we discussed Taiwan, Seki provided a brief introduction to the makeup of the Japanese Diet and the various committees that work behind the scenes. 

He included an overview of ongoing debates over whether to increase defense spending (a position Seki supports) and comments on the new coalition between the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and his party, Ishin no Kai.

Seki then asked my students about their other political interests. A first-year student replied that she was interested in deficit spending and the Japanese national debt.

"Japan indeed makes up the difference between expenditures and tax receipts by borrowing," Seki replied.

"There are basically two ways to increase government revenues," he said. "One is to raise taxes, the other is to grow the economy." 

The problem, however, is that the Japanese economy has grown at a very sluggish rate over the past few decades, he said. "The high-growth period of the 1960s will probably not return, but we want to have steady, sustained growth so we can continue to provide services to citizens, such as health and welfare services."

"You are students and will soon enter the workforce, so these issues will affect you directly," he noted cautiously.

Exchanging Views for a Better Japan

As our interview drew to a close, Seki asked my students for their views on lowering the consumption tax, another issue that has been widely covered in the past year.

My students responded with varying views. Yet each student showed that he or she had been listening carefully to Seki's overview of budgets and politics.

Our meeting ended as an impromptu colloquium, an exchange of views between new voters and a new politician, all aiming for a better Japan.

RELATED:

• Seki Hei on China's Rising Ambitions and Conservative Turmoil in Japan
• EDITORIAL | Urgent Need to Involve More Young Voters after General Election Turnout Was Dismal
• Takaichi Approval Remains High at 75%, Majority Support Taiwan Remarks

Author: Jason Morgan, Assistant Professor, Reitaku University