Japanese nationality law
Encyclopedia
Japanese nationality is a legal designation and set of rights granted to those people who have met the federal 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.
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:
A system for acquiring nationality
by birth after birth is also available. If an unmarried Japanese father and non-Japanese mother have a child, and 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.
A Japanese national may also acquire a second citizenship through no action of his or her own, 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. In these cases, if that person obtained dual nationality after 1985, he/she shall choose one citizenship/nationality before the age of 22. Failure to do so may result in loss of Japanese nationality. If he/she obtained dual nationality before 1985, failure to choose one citizenship before 22 years of age resulted in automatic selection of Japanese nationality.
The criteria for naturalization
are provided in Article 5 of the Nationality Act:
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.
For many years naturalized citizens were required to adopt a Japanese family name. This requirement was abolished in the late 1980s. 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.
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, Iran
ian nationals cannot renounce their Iranian nationality
until age 25. While Iranian-Japanese dual nationals born to an Iranian father 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, the post of Assistant Language Teacher is not open to Japanese nationals under Japanese law. 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 naturalizion, 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.
On November 14, 2008, The Japan Times reported that Liberal Democratic Party member Taro Kono
had submitted a proposal to allow offspring of mixed national couples where 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.
Nationality by birth
JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
is a jus sanguinis
Jus sanguinis
Ius sanguinis is a social policy by which citizenship is not determined by place of birth, but by having a parent who are citizens of the nation...
state as opposed to jus soli
Jus soli
Jus soli , also known as birthright citizenship, is a right by which nationality or citizenship can be recognized to any individual born in the territory of the related state...
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:
- When either parent is a Japanese national at the time of birth
- When the father dies before the birth and is a Japanese national at the time of death
- When the person is born on Japanese soil and both parents are unknown or statelessStateless- Society :* Anarchy* Stateless communism, which Karl Marx predicted would follow capitalism and socialism* Stateless nation, a group of people without a nation-state* Stateless society, a society that is not governed by a state...
A system for acquiring nationality
Nationality
Nationality is membership of a nation or sovereign state, usually determined by their citizenship, but sometimes by ethnicity or place of residence, or based on their sense of national identity....
by birth after birth is also available. If an unmarried Japanese father and non-Japanese mother have a child, and 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.
Dual nationality
Japan does not allow dual citizenship, and anyone who willingly applies and obtains foreign citizenship automatically forfeits Japanese citizenship. The exception is where one is given special honorary citizenship by a foreign state. In this instance, since the person in question did not apply to acquire foreign citizenship, that person will not forfeit Japanese nationality by retaining the foreign citizenship bestowed on him or her.A Japanese national may also acquire a second citizenship through no action of his or her own, 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
Jus soli
Jus soli , also known as birthright citizenship, is a right by which nationality or citizenship can be recognized to any individual born in the territory of the related state...
country. In these cases, if that person obtained dual nationality after 1985, he/she shall choose one citizenship/nationality before the age of 22. Failure to do so may result in loss of Japanese nationality. If he/she obtained dual nationality before 1985, failure to choose one citizenship before 22 years of age resulted in automatic selection of Japanese nationality.
Naturalization
The Minister of Justice must approve any application for naturalization in order for it to occur. Review of an application generally takes about one year.The criteria for naturalization
Naturalization
Naturalization is the acquisition of citizenship and nationality by somebody who was not a citizen of that country at the time of birth....
are provided in Article 5 of the Nationality Act:
- Continuous residence in Japan for five years or more
- At least 21 years old and otherwise legally competent
- History of good behavior generally, and no past history of seditious behavior
- Sufficient capital or skills, either personally or within family, to support oneself
- 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
Diet of Japan
The is Japan's bicameral legislature. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives, and an upper house, called the House of Councillors. Both houses of the Diet are directly elected under a parallel voting system. In addition to passing laws, the Diet is formally...
may confer Japanese nationality by special resolution to a person who has provided extraordinary service to Japan. However, this provision has never been invoked.
For many years naturalized citizens were required to adopt a Japanese family name. This requirement was abolished in the late 1980s. A well-known example of someone who did not adopt a Japanese name is Masayoshi Son
Masayoshi Son
Masayoshi Son , born a Zainichi Korean and now a naturalized Japanese citizen, is a businessman and the founder and current chief executive officer of SoftBank Capital, and the chief executive officer of SoftBank Mobile...
, 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.
Loss of citizenship
Loss of citizenship requires the approval of the Minister of Justice.A Japanese national is assumed to have renounced
Renunciation of citizenship
Renunciation is a voluntary act of relinquishing one's citizenship . It is the opposite of naturalization whereby a person voluntarily acquires a citizenship, and related to denaturalization where the loss of citizenship is not voluntary, but forced by a state.-Historic practices:The old common law...
their nationality upon naturalization
Naturalization
Naturalization is the acquisition of citizenship and nationality by somebody who was not a citizen of that country at the time of birth....
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
Multiple citizenship
Multiple citizenship is a status in which a person is concurrently regarded as a citizen under the laws of more than one state. Multiple citizenships exist because different countries use different, and not necessarily mutually exclusive, citizenship requirements...
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, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
ian nationals cannot renounce their Iranian nationality
Iranian nationality law
Iranian nationality law contains principles of both jus sanguinis and jus soli. Children acquire nationality of Iran through their fathers, but not their mothers...
until age 25. While Iranian-Japanese dual nationals born to an Iranian father 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, the post of Assistant Language Teacher is not open to Japanese nationals under Japanese law. 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 naturalizion, 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.
On November 14, 2008, The Japan Times reported that Liberal Democratic Party member Taro Kono
Taro Kono
is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet . Born in Hiratsuka, Odawara, Kanagawa and graduate of Keio University, he was elected for the first time in 1996...
had submitted a proposal to allow offspring of mixed national couples where 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.
See also
- Ethnic issues in JapanEthnic issues in Japan- Demographic :About 1.6% of Japan's total legal resident population are foreign nationals. Of these, according to 2008 data from the Japanese government, the principal groups are as follows....
- Foreign-born JapaneseForeign-born JapaneseA is a Japanese person of foreign descent or heritage, who was born outside Japan and later acquired Japanese citizenship. This category encompasses persons of both Japanese and non-Japanese descent...
- History of Japanese nationalityHistory of Japanese nationalityThe history of Japanese nationality as a chronology of evolving concepts and practices begins in the mid-nineteenth century, as Japan opened diplomatic relations with the west and a modern nation state was established through the Meiji Restoration....