12-year-olds to vote

[thomas]

Nagano village gives voting rights to 12-yr-olds in referendum

The Hiraya village assembly on Wednesday unanimously passed an ordinance allowing residents as young as 12 years old to vote in a referendum on whether the village should follow a national trend and seek a merger with a neighboring community.

The ordinance granting the voting right to junior high school students gives Hiraya — a mountain-ringed community in southern Nagano Prefecture with a population of 641 — the lowest voting age in the country, according to central government officials.

=> http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content...at=9&id=243206

And what about 12-year-old foreigners??? [nag, nag, nag]