Japanese nationality law

Japanese nationality is a legal designation and set of rights granted to those people who have met the criteria for citizenship by parentage or by naturalization. Nationality is in the jurisdiction of the Minister of Justice and is generally governed by the Nationality Law of 1950.

Nationality by birth

Japan is a jus sanguinis state as opposed to jus soli state, meaning that it attributes citizenship by blood but not by location of birth. However, in practice, it is by parentage but not by descent. Article 2 of the Nationality Act provides three situations in which a person can become a Japanese national at birth:

1. When either parent is a Japanese national at the time of birth
2. When the father dies before the birth and is a Japanese national at the time of death
3. When the person is born on Japanese soil and both parents are unknown or stateless

A system for acquiring nationality by birth after birth is also available. If an unmarried Japanese father and non-Japanese mother have a child, the parents later marry, and the Japanese father acknowledges paternity, the child can acquire Japanese nationality, so long as the child has not reached the age of 20. Japanese nationality law effective from 1985 has been that if the parents are not married at the time of birth and the father has not acknowledged paternity while the child was still in the womb, the child will not acquire Japanese nationality. However, Japan's Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that denying nationality to children born out of wedlock to foreign mothers is unconstitutional.

Naturalization

Naturalization in Japan requires the applicant to give up their current citizenship(s) either before or after, depending on the nationality, the naturalization takes place if the loss of nationality does not occur automatically. The Japanese government does not have strict rules for the naturalization process, even though the documents that need to be collected for application from applicant's home country might take quite some time. Basic naturalization requirements differ from person to person regardless what country the applicant is from and depending on applicant's current status in Japan. Unlike most other countries, the applicant does not have to be a permanent resident to be eligible to apply for Japanese naturalization.

The criteria for naturalization are provided in Article 5 of the Nationality Act:

1. Continuous residence in Japan for five years or more
2. At least 20 years old and otherwise legally competent
3. History of good behavior generally, and no past history of seditious behavior
4. Sufficient capital or skills, either personally or within family, to support oneself
5. Stateless or willing to renounce foreign citizenship

The Minister of Justice may waive the age and residence requirements if the applicant has a special relationship to Japan (for example, a Japanese parent).

The Nationality Act also provides that the Diet of Japan may confer Japanese nationality by special resolution to a person who has provided extraordinary service to Japan. However, this provision has never been invoked.

Those that naturalize must choose a legal name, like other Japanese, that consists of all or any mix of Japanese hiragana, katakana, and approved kanji. Sometimes applicants were given advice on Japanese names, but choosing a Japanese sounding/appearing name was never a requirement; there are examples through history of naturalized Japanese choosing legal names that did not appear ethnically Japanese. However, in 1983, the Ministry of Justice revised its manuals and application guides and examples to make it clear that using names of non-Japanese origin can be acceptable, by making the "before" and "after" hanja/kanji name of fictitious example ethnically Korean applicants the same in order to emphasize that applicants who come from Chinese character name cultures can keep their names.

A well-known example of someone who did not adopt a Japanese name is Masayoshi Son, the wealthiest man in Japan as of 2007, who naturalized using his Korean family name rather than the Japanese family name he used during his youth.

The application has to be made in person to the Ministry of Justice branch office with responsibility for the city where the applicant lives. A booklet will be given to the applicant at the first visit which explains every needed document and processes explained in Japanese.

The naturalization process has three stages.

• First stage: Initial application in person and gathering needed documents; preparing and filling out all necessary forms in Japanese; and submitting all prepared documents to the Ministry of Justice in person. An application number is provided to the applicant for future correspondence with the case.

• Second stage: The Ministry of Justice checks the submitted documents. Oral and written interview are scheduled a month or two after submitting the documents.

• Third stage: Finalization. The Ministry of Justice sends all documents to Tokyo and the applicant is requested to inform any changes of address, telephone, work, marital status, etc. while application is being reviewed.

The booklet given at the beginning of the process lists every document that the applicant needs from their home country and their country's embassy in Japan. The applicant needs to be able to speak and express himself/herself in Japanese and be able to answer the interview questions in Japanese. The interviewer will ask questions about the form applicant filled and about why applicant wants to acquire Japanese citizenship. At the end, there may be a written test at an elementary school second grade level.

After the documents are sent to Tokyo for processing at the Ministry of Justice headquarters, it can take from 8 to 10 months (or longer depending on the applicant) from the first application. The applicant will be called by their interviewer about the decision once the interviewer gets the results from Tokyo.

Loss of citizenship

Loss of citizenship requires the approval of the Minister of Justice.

A Japanese national is assumed to have renounced their nationality upon naturalization in any foreign country.

Under the revisions made to the Nationality Law in 1985, Articles 14 and 15 require any person who holds multiple citizenship to make a "declaration of choice" between the ages of twenty and twenty-two, in which they choose to renounce either their Japanese nationality or their foreign citizenship(s). Failure to do so entitles the Minister of Justice to demand a declaration of choice at any time. If the required declaration is not made within one month, their Japanese nationality is automatically revoked. A renunciation of foreign citizenship made before Japanese officials may be considered by a foreign state as having no legal effect as is the case with, for example, United States citizenship.

Japanese nationals who hold multiple citizenship by birth, and who do not wish to lose their Japanese citizenship, are required to declare their desire to retain Japanese citizenship by the age of 21. Part of fulfilling this requirement is to "make an effort" to renounce other citizenships once they have declared their intent to retain Japanese nationality. This may be difficult for some Japanese with foreign nationality, for example, Iranian nationals cannot renounce their Iranian nationality until age 25. While dual nationals of Japan and Iran born to Iranian fathers may not have to renounce their Japanese nationality, exercising their other citizenship in Japan is considered an expatriating act that nullifies their Japanese citizenship. This is true for a Japanese national holding any dual citizenship. For example, people with Japanese citizenship cannot take part in the JET Programme. If a Japanese national obtains a visa for such a job in their foreign passport, that is deemed an expatriating act. If a child is born with dual nationality or acquires it as a child as a result of the parents naturalization, the child may hold dual nationality, but is not allowed to exercise his or her rights as a foreigner in Japan.

A Japanese national does not lose his or her nationality in situations where citizenship is acquired involuntarily such as when a Japanese woman marries an Iranian national. In this case she automatically acquires Iranian citizenship and is permitted to be an Iranian-Japanese dual national, since the acquisition of the Iranian citizenship was involuntary.

In November 2008, Liberal Democratic Party member Taro Kono submitted a proposal to allow offspring of mixed-nationality couples in which one parent is Japanese to have more than one nationality. The proposal also calls for foreigners to be allowed to obtain Japanese nationality without losing their original citizenship.

Dual nationality

It is generally difficult to have dual citizenship of Japan and another country, due to the provisions for loss of Japanese nationality when a Japanese national naturalizes in another country (see "Loss of citizenship" above), and the requirement to renounce one's existing citizenships when naturalizing in Japan (see "Naturalization" above).

There are still some ways in which a person may have dual citizenship of Japan and another country, including:

• They had dual citizenship prior to January 1, 1985, when the Nationality Law was enacted

• They acquire multiple citizenships at birth, such as being born to a non-Japanese citizen parent and acquiring that parent's citizenship as a result of that country's laws or by being born in a jus soli country. However, they must choose one citizenship/nationality before the age of 21 or within two years if the second citizenship is acquired after the age of 20, or they may lose their Japanese nationality (see "Loss of citizenship" above).

See also

• Ethnic issues in Japan
• Foreign-born Japanese
• History of Japanese nationality

External links

• Japan's Ministry of Justice: The Nationality Law (in English)