TAIPEI (Mainichi) -- Japanese people living in Taiwan are facing one more serious obstacle casting their ballots in the Oct. 27 House of Representatives election compared to fellow expats elsewhere in the world: In this island territory, there is no Japanese embassy or consulate, which play the role of polling station in other areas.

Japan's response to the tension in the Taiwan Strait, a high-profile international flashpoint, is one of the key issues in the lower house election. Some Japanese residents in Taiwan have voiced concerns, with one saying, "I want it to be easier to participate in the election that could affect my and my family's safety."

"When you're living abroad, you become keenly aware of being Japanese. It's frustrating that the government doesn't provide a clear direction on diplomatic issues," says Taipei resident Sachiko Fukui, 68, who has lived in Taiwan since getting married in 1983. Though she has a strong interest in politics, she has not voted in over 20 years.

Japan introduced an overseas voting system for national elections in 2000, which allows voting through three methods: casting a ballot at an embassy or consulate, mail-in voting where voters request a ballot from local authorities in Japan and send back the completed ballot, or returning to Japan temporarily to vote. In the 2021 lower house poll (proportional representation), about 92% of overseas voters cast their votes at embassies or consulates.

While more than 20,000 Japanese nationals live in Taiwan, Japan does not have formal diplomatic relations with the territory, and so the public interest incorporated foundation Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association handles practical tasks. The association's offices in Taipei and Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan are responsible for tasks such as protecting Japanese nationals and renewing passports. Under the Public Offices Election Act, however, only diplomatic missions are recognized as polling stations, meaning that these offices do not qualify.

Postal voting is possible, but the process of requesting ballots by mail from the election commission in the Japanese municipality where the voter last lived, filling it out and returning it is a hassle. And when the election campaign period is short, like the current one, there is a risk that the ballot won't arrive in time. Fukui tried mail-in voting once but found the complicated procedure discouraging and has not used it since.

A 55-year-old man working for a major Japanese manufacturer planned to take advantage of his first opportunity to vote since his assignment to Taiwan. However, due to the limited time between the prime minister's inauguration on Oct. 1 and the Oct. 9 dissolution of the lower house to call a general election -- the shortest in post-World War II history -- as of Oct. 17, he had not received the ballot he had requested from a local government in the Kansai region.

"Saying that there is no diplomatic mission in Taiwan so polling stations cannot be set up seems to be rigid reasoning. I hope they will consider a system that minimizes the loss of voting rights," the man told the Mainichi Shimbun.

The issue with the postal voting system has been pointed out by other Japanese nationals living overseas. Hiroyuki Takenaga, co-head of the Japanese Overseas Voters Network NY, says that with the quality of postal services declining in Japan and other countries, mail-in voting is likely to become even less reliable in the future. He has suggested introducing online voting for overseas voters, especially given that the My Number identification card can now be used after moving abroad.

(Japanese original by Teppei Hayashi, Taipei Bureau)