But, in practice and in fact, a wise Governor, though he is an appointive officer of the central government, does not often put himself in opposition to public opinion, unless it be a case of the greatest importance; and the Department of Home Affairs is loath to exercise authority unless it is absolutely necessary. The central government holds the power to control these assemblies if it should be necessary; but it also respects public opinion, and allows local self-government as far as possible.[101] The extension of local self-government to cities, towns, and villages (_shi_, _chō_, and _son_) led to the introduction into the Japanese language of several special terms, like _jūmin_ (resident) and _kōmin_ (citizen), and to a careful distinction between the respective rights and duties of the two. The “residents” of a city [town or village] include “all those who have their residence in the city [town or village], without distinction of sex, age, color, nationality, or condition in life.” A “citizen,” however, must be “an independent male person,” that is, one who has completed his twenty-fifth year and has a household; he must be “a subject of the empire and in the enjoyment of his civil rights”; and for two years he must have been a resident of the given local division, must have contributed toward its common burdens, and must have paid therein a “national land-tax of 2 or more _yen_ in other direct national taxes.” The rights of a citizen over and above his rights as a resident are simply but comprehensively stated. They consist in the privilege of voting in the local elections, and of eligibility to the honorary offices. There is, however, a slight qualification of this seemingly universal citizen suffrage. Those whose citizenship, for reasons to be given later, is suspended, and “those who are in actual military or naval service,” are disfranchised. Companies, however, and “other juristic persons” are entitled to the suffrage on similar conditions with individuals.[102] But when we come to consider the duties of a citizen, we find peculiar conditions. The citizen of a Japanese city, town, or village, is under obligation to fill any honorary office to which he may be elected or appointed; and except for certain specified reasons he cannot decline official service without being “subjected to suspension of citizenship for from three to six years, together with an additional levy, during the same period, of from one-eighth to one-quarter more than his ordinary share of contribution to the city expenditure.” Here is compulsory “public spirit”! On the whole, citizenship seems to be regarded more as a duty than as a privilege; and the citizens best qualified to fill official positions of trust would find it much more difficult than in America to “keep out of politics.”