Caveats: But only LEGAL RESIDENTS, with gobs of paperwork and photo ID etc. required when voting, and only for long-term residents of Japan who have both Permanent Residence status (kind of similiar to a green card) and are Japanese taxpayers in the local Japanese tax system, but they can only vote in muncipal elections. It will not be allowed for prefectural or national level elections. The theory is, if they pay taxes and are legal, they should at least have some voice in local elections.