SUB-REGIONAL OVERVIEW: EAST ASIA SUB-REGIONAL OVERVIEW: EAST ASIA Japan Laws Citizenship Law Jus sanguinis provisions Japan’s citizenship laws operate through a jus sanguinis structure.998 According to Japan’s Nationality Law, children born to a Japanese national parent shall be considered a Japanese national, with no distinction between children born within or outside of the national boundaries.999 If the father of a child, who was a Japanese citizen, died before the child’s birth, the child will be a citizen by descent.1000 A child born in the territory of Japan to two stateless persons or to parents who are unknown will be a citizen of Japan.1001 Japan’s citizenship laws operate through a jus sanguinis structure. Another acquisition method, citizenship by acknowledgement, exists in Japan. Under Japanese law, a child born to a Japanese mother and a foreign father will become a citizen due to the fact that Japanese law establishes the relationship of the mother and child automatically at birth.1002 However, for children born to Japanese fathers and a foreign mother, an acknowledgement is required from the citizen father.1003 Due to a 2008 Supreme Court judgement, children born to a non-Japanese father and a Japanese parent can now gain citizenship if the parents are out of wedlock by acknowledgement of the relationship by the citizen father after the birth of the child.1004 Before the judgement, children born to a non-Japanese mother and citizen father out of wedlock would not be eligible for citizenship unless the father acknowledged the legitimacy of the child before the child’s birth.1005 A child can be presumed to be born in wedlock if the parents have been previously married and the child is born 200 days or more after the start of such marriage or 300 days or less after the divorce of such parents.1006 A child born out of wedlock to a non-Japanese mother and Japanese father may obtain Japanese nationality through acknowledgement after the birth if the child is under 18 years of age, a notification is made to the Minister of Justice, and the father or mother who has made the acknowledgement is a citizen at the time of the child’s birth as well as is currently a citizen.1007 If the Japanese father does not 90 STATELESSNESS ENCYCLOPEDIA ASIA PACIFIC (DETAILED VERSION) voluntarily acknowledge a child (nin’i ninchi)1008, then the child (or their agent) can seek compulsory acknowledgement (kyousei ninchi), a process to procure acknowledgement through arbitration, or if unsuccessful, a lawsuit.1009 administratively does not follow classification of stateless persons in accordance with international law which can lead to lesser reliance on official statistics due to duplication of numbers or can lead to misclassification.1016 There is no statutory protection such as a grant of residence status or nationality for stateless persons based on the fact that they are stateless.1010 Thus, stateless persons in Japan do not enjoy freedom of movement (Article 26 of the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons) or the benefit of expulsion prohibition (Article 31 of the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons). A 2015 report supported by UNHCR outlined the “convergence and divergence” between the statelessness conventions and Japanese citizenship laws and administrative policies, finding major gaps in the laws of Japan (including the lack of a definition of ‘statelessness’ or ‘stateless person’).1011 Stateless persons who do not have residence status in Japan (‘Non-resident Stateless Persons’) are deprived of nearly all of the rights and protections provided to persons with Japanese nationality or residence status.1012 On the other hand, stateless persons with residence status (Resident Stateless Persons) can enjoy the benefits of social insurance including pension and health insurance, financial support for disabled persons or childcare, and subsidies for residence.1013 Even for Resident Stateless Persons, there is a risk of receiving a deportation order upon being deemed to fulfil certain deportable conditions.1014 Practical difficulty in enforcing such deportation orders often result in such stateless persons remaining in Japan with an unstable status without any assurance of right to stay in Japan or to avoid further deportation.1015 A 2017 report supported by UNHCR showed that with the lack of a legal definition of statelessness, Japan Naturalized citizenship There is no statutory protection such as a grant of residence status or nationality for stateless persons based on the fact that they are stateless. A process for naturalization is available for foreign nationals, stipulated by Article 5 of Japan’s Nationality Law.1017 In order to be eligible, the applicant must have continuously resided in Japan for at least five years, must not have nationality of another country, and have never been involved in terrorist activities, among other requirements.1018 There is no naturalization process available explicitly to refugees or stateless persons. A process for naturalization is available for foreign nationals, stipulated by Article 5 of Japan’s Nationality Law. However, there is a provision stipulating a separate naturalization process for ‘aliens’.1019 ‘Aliens’ can be eligible for this process if they have residence in Japan for three consecutive years and are by birth the child of a Japanese citizen, they have residence in Japan for three consecutive years and was born in Japan, or who has had residence in Japan for ten consecutive years.1020 Therefore, to obtain a legal residency status in Japan, one would need to pursue recognition of refugee status. Dual citizenship Dual citizenship is not recognized in Japan. If a Japanese citizen acquires citizenship elsewhere, they will lose their Japanese citizenship.1021 Japanese nationals possessing another nationality must make a choice on which citizenship to take, and deprive themselves of the other nationality.1022 Treaty ratification status While Japan is not a party to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons REPORT 2024 91