DESK REVIEW ON POPULATIONS AT RISK OF STATELESSNESS A form of registration in Japan dates back to the 6th Century, while the modern system intending to encompass all Japanese citizens dates back only to 1872. Meanwhile, the law defining nationality in Japan did not appear until Japan’s 1899 Nationality Law.206 The history of the Family Register in Japan progresses from: • Introduction of the Chinese household registration system, which was a central part of the Great Reform (Taika) that began in 646. • Edict Restricting Change of Status and Residence (mibun tōseirei) in 1591 • A land survey (taikō kenchi) from 1583 to 1598 • Ninbetsuchō (Registry of households and social status organized according to occupation (warrior, farmer, artisan, merchant): limited mobility of the population, and change of social status was nearly impossible and only with the permission of feudal lords • Shumon aratamechō (Religious Inquisition Registry): order for everyone in Japan to register with a local Buddhist temple, • Shūmon ninbetsuchō: combined the ninbetsuchō with the shūmon aratame (religious inquisition registry) in 1670: combined registry of religion and social status, renewed every six years and lasted almost 200 years until the beginning of the Meiji period • Gonin gumichō (Five Household Registry): five family neighborhoods were responsible and accountable for each other. • The kakochō (Death Registry): monitored deaths and tied individuals and households to Buddhist Temples • Edict 170, Promulgation of the jinshin koseki (1872) • Introduction of the Nationality Law (1899) • Establishment of the household system as part of the Meiji Civil Code in 1898 (meiji minpō) • Japan Imperialism complicated the system, with Japan making a number of efforts to establish separate koseki laws to distinguish between the “mainland” with a domestic family registry (nai’chi koseki), and the “colonies” with an external family registry (gai’chi koseki).207 • 1871 Koseki Law, preamble, art. 1 (Dajōkan Edict No. 170 of 4 April); • 1898 Koseki Law, art. 170.2 (Law No. 12 of 15 June); • Nationality Law (1899) The 1899 Nationality Law (Law No. 66) was promulgated on 16 May 1899 and enforced from 1 April 1899. It was revised four times -- in 1916 and in 1924, and twice in 1947 (effective in 1948). It remained in effect until 1 July 1950, when the 1950 Nationality Law (Law No. 147), promulgated on 4 May 1950, came into force, thereby abolishing it. 206 Examples include: The Taiwan toguchi kisoku (Regulations for Taiwan households) established in 1905 and administered by the police. Okinawa and Chichijima (Ogasawara Islands) were two locations that were the target of intense US attack leading to the destruction of koseki records in both locations. 207 68 UNHCR / April 2021