Chapter 1 : GENERAL INFORMATION Section 1: Situations relating to statelessness in Japan 1. Japanese law and criteria for the determination of statelessness There is no provision that defines statelessness in Japanese laws or regulations. 18 Moreover, no independent procedure has been established for the protection of stateless persons. However, determination of nationality is sometimes required as a precondition for conducting individual procedures under specific laws and regulations. In relation to such situations, provisions have been established with the assumption that an individual may be stateless. Additionally, in the process of carrying out specific procedures, government agencies do consider whether or not an individual possesses a nationality, and if so, of which State. As a result, there are cases where the concerned individual is considered to be stateless.19 The various procedures relating to residence stipulated by the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act (hereinafter ICRRA) are conducted under the jurisdiction of the Immigration Bureau of the Ministry of Justice; and the eight regional immigration bureaus under the command of the Immigration Bureau are responsible for handling individual applications. (See Act for Establishment of the Ministry of Justice, Article 21(1), Article 4(xxxii), (xxxiii).) In contrast, the procedures relating to the acquisition of nationality stipulated under the Japanese Nationality Act come under the jurisdiction of the Civil Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Justice; and the eight legal affairs bureaus as well as the 42 district legal affairs bureaus located across Japan are responsible for handling individual applications. (See Act for Establishment of the Ministry of Justice, Article 18(1), Article 4(xxi).) In addition, procedures relating to the family register, 20 such as birth, marriage, divorce, and recognition of parentage, are under the jurisdiction of the heads of municipalities. (See Family Register Act, Article 1(1), Article 4.) Nevertheless, the head of the legal affairs bureau or the district legal affairs bureau which has the jurisdiction over the relevant municipality may, under certain circumstances, provide advice or instruction in relation to the processing of Japanese family register-related cases. (See 18 Arakaki Report, supra note 2, p.34. In addition to the Japanese Nationality Act, ICRRA, and Act on General Rules for Application of Laws which are mentioned below, Article 7 of the Diplomats Act, for example, makes stateless persons and persons of dual nationality ineligible to be a diplomat, by stipulating that, “… a person without nationality or with nationality of a foreign country cannot be a diplomat”. 20 For explanation regarding koseki [family register], see Chapter 2, Category M [Persons without a Japanese family register] 1. (1). 19 22