Congress of local government in the pre-WWII era

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All male habitants in Home Territory above age of 25 had the right to vote
Voting in Korean letters was effective in the Empire of Japan
Korean and Taiwanese enjoyed equality of voting rights and candidacy

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The membership of candidates and voters of House of Representative of the Diet of the Empire Japan was dependent on where they lived, not on whether they were Homeland Japanese or not. As a consequence of that, some Korean were elected as member of not only the House of Representatives but local government congress in pre-WWII Japan.

Yoichi Masuzoe, former minister of welfare and labor, and governor of Tokyo Metropolitan Area, said an interesting story. The story is;

His father was a member of a local government congress in Kyushu, Japan. Many Korean habitants existed in Kyushu. For the election, campaign poster said “vote for Masuzoe” in both Japanese and Korean language. That is an evidence that however only Japanese was spoken in Home Territory, Korean had the right to vote. He needed to gain Korean voters for elected.

The equality among Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese was established for election on both national and local government level. All male habitants in Home Territory above age of 25 had the right to vote and to be candidate, while those in the Outer Territories didn’t.

As explained above, voting in Korean letters was effective in the Empire of Japan. I believe that no nations but Japan be so. Colonizing nations allowed to use only their own languages, such as English and French, for official language in the colonies. For instance, it would be no doubt ineffective vote if a Hong-Kong origin voter made his vote with Chinese character for general election of the British Empire as well as the Philippines origin voter did it in Tagalog language in the US.

Since 1931, Local Congress elections had been held in every four years in Korea under Japanese rule. In those elections, Korean voters could elect representatives among Korean candidates. The last election was held in 1943 during the WWII years.

It concludes that Korean and Taiwanese enjoyed equality of voting rights and candidacy under the rule of the Empire of Japan.